Alan Moore, creator of The Watchmen, tells manchildren to take their medicine

What's the difference between superhero worship and worship of celebrities, politicians, or athletes? That's not worrisome?

Alan Moore doesn’t like anything

I'm not a big fan of superhero movies these days and the gluttony that adults consume them - but adults did consume Superman and Batman (1989) - yet those were rare movies.

But an obsession with Superhero movies as a grown man is no different than that grown man wearing an Alabama jersey of a school he never attended and going to every Alabama game and yelling at the players on the field...and saying "we won" like he's on the team and crying if the team loses. That's even more weird.

Why did you leave this part out?

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He claims the lack of diversity in the comic book world suggests books and iconic characters are "still very much white supremacist dreams of the master race".

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Slanted way to present this aside, he's both right....and wrong. And he makes the same mistake as Scorcese does. He's putting a significant amount of weight on one thing in culture that is part of a much larger whole.

See this is correct:

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The writer claims adults enjoy superhero films because they don't wish to leave their "relatively reassuring childhoods" behind, or move into the 21st century.

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As is this

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He adds the popularity of the genre among adults suggests a "kind of deliberate, self-imposed state of emotional arrest".

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But two problems exist:

1. You can be a well adjusted individual who likes comic books or sports
2. Super heroes are part of a much larger problem

How is the guy in the Captain America shirt any different from the guy in the oversized Drew Brees jersey? There is no difference. Drew is a product, as much as we'd hate to believe it, and is built as something to consume.

Any kind of overly overt fandom, mixed with any kind of emotion or allowing the thing you are a fan of control your life IS the problem. And that extends FAR beyond super heroes. Hell, even politics, as real as they are, have become a fan enterprise. Most of culture has started to define themselves by the things they like/believe or the things they DON'T life/believe rather than by who they are. Again, that's a much bigger problem. And a much bigger discussion.

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He says superheroes are perfectly fine for 12 or 13-year-olds but adults should think again.

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I want to preface this by stating I know very little about the superhero genre. I can probably count on 1 hand with a couple left over how many of the superhero movies I've seen in the last 10 years.

That being said, I am watching Watchmen and like it so far, but is there really that big of a difference from Watchmen and the Superhero stuff?

Watchmen is essentially about wanna be superheroes, no? They dress the part. They don't have powers, but can do some shite that seems kinda superhuman ish.

I just didn't see it as this complete opposite thing from a superhero, but again, I legit knew absolutely nothing about Watchmen when i started this series, so take all of that with a grain of salt.

yeah I think the difference is, sports or video games aren't so astronomically dominating that they've made it so that there's nothing else on TV

super hero movies and other long-running franchise shite (fast and furious, transformers, marvel, etc) dominate the film industry to such a degree that the only way people can get a decent original concept standalone film is from companies like A24 who take a loss every year. even though they make objectively incredible cinema

Take Moore with a grain of salt. He's talented but grouchy and has had more than a few bitter battles about creator rights and proper payments on legacy media (meaning the guys before him).

He also had to write a Fish Rape story to pay his taxes that time.

But people flocking to Rorshrach as a hero has always been a bit baffling to him. So I'm pretty sure 7th Cavalry fits his view as what leads to.

All I'm interested in is a good story. I dont think the frickers are real.

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I am watching Watchmen and like it so far, but is there really that big of a difference from Watchmen and the Superhero stuff?

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Moore was big on deconstructing (while disrespecting) superheroes in an extremely entertaining manner that sometimes left the reader with a lingering, bad aftertaste.

With Watchmen he wanted to take apart existing characters from one of the comic companies (first Archie's Mighty Crusaders then the Charlton heroes). When he couldn't get them he made up his own characters (which, I think, is why it's a complete classic).

He took down the Justice League with their avatars in his Top 10 series, he massacred the Silver Age Superman family in Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, and he wanted to brutalize the entire DC Universe with his Twilight of the Superheroes (which DC wouldn't greenlight). But the thing is, he does it in such a clever, visceral, and entertaining manner that even the biggest superhero fans love the hell out of it.

Then he can turn around and do a love letter to the pulp superheroes with Tom Strong.

He's basically a creative genius with a love/hate relationship with superheroes.

If he didn't want adults reading his super hero stories, why did he make sure there was a blue penis every few pages? He wrote that for children?