Veteran comics writer Alan Moore, who left the industry long ago, is now insulting pop culture fandom in a UK Guardian op-ed, where he predictably complains about Donald Trump, and Comicsgate, claiming fandom is “toxifying”:
About a decade ago, I ventured my opinion that the adult multitudes queueing for superhero movies were potentially an indicator of emotional arrest, which could have worrying political and social implications. Since at that time Brexit, Donald Trump and fascist populism hadn’t happened yet, my evidently crazy diatribe was largely met with outrage from the fan community, some of whom angrily demanded I be extradited to the US and made to stand trial for my crimes against superhumanity – which I felt didn’t necessarily disprove my allegations.
Ten years on, let me make my position clear: I believe that fandom is a wonderful and vital organ of contemporary culture, without which that culture ultimately stagnates, atrophies and dies. At the same time, I’m sure that fandom is sometimes a grotesque blight that poisons the society surrounding it with its mean-spirited obsessions and ridiculous, unearned sense of entitlement. Perhaps this statement still requires some breaking down. […]
There are, of course, entirely benign fandoms, networks of cooperative individuals who quite like the same thing, can chat with others sharing the same pastime and, importantly, provide support for one another in difficult times. These healthy subcultures, however, are less likely to impact on society in the same way that the more strident and presumptuous fandoms have managed. Unnervingly rapidly, our culture has become a fan-based landscape that the rest of us are merely living in. Our entertainments may be cancelled prematurely through an adverse fan reaction, and we may endure largely misogynist crusades such as Gamergate or Comicsgate from those who think “gate” means “conspiracy”, and that Nixon’s disgrace was predicated on a plot involving water, but this is hardly the full extent to which fan attitudes have toxified the world surrounding us, most obviously in our politics.
Elections that decide the fate of millions are conducted in an atmosphere more suited to evictions on I’m a Celebrity …, in which contestants who are insufficiently amusing are removed from office. Saleability, not substance, is the issue. Those who vote for Donald Trump or Boris Johnson seem less moved by policy or prior accomplishment than by how much they’ve enjoyed the performances on The Apprentice or Have I Got News for You. And throughout the UK, we’re now familiar with what a Stephen Yaxley-Lennon fan convention looks like.
Such a groaner this is, because it sounds like Moore only sees what he wants to. And while of coruse there’s valid arguments that all fandoms have their downsides and darksides and rotten apples, it’s also vital to consider there’s industrialists out there who can be very bad people too, and have brought down comicdom in all its incarnations. Unfortunately, Moore seems to have let his disillusionment with the USA industry get the better of him, and now, he can’t look beyond all these absurd political cliches hostile to conservatives, because apparently, his leftist circle is just that important to him to remain a part of. So all he can think of now is attacking Comicsgate without any proof it’s the evil he claims it to be. Moore did a pretty good job writing Captain Britain and Swamp Thing stories 40 years back, but today, he seems to have completely disowned it all, for the sake of petty liberal politics. At least that makes it easier to separate the art from the artist.
All of this is very on-brand for Alan Moore pic.twitter.com/Sl3d0RY39A
— Chris Braly (@chrisbraly) November 1, 2024
When Entertainment Weekly followed up on his pitiful article, they noted that:
In the 21st century, Moore moved away from writing comics in favor of short stories (like 2022’s collection Illuminations) and novels (like 2016’s Jerusalem and this year’s The Great When, the first of a planned series). In 2022, he confirmed that The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Tempest would be his last comic, saying then that “I will always love and adore the comics medium but the comics industry and all of the stuff attached to it just became unbearable.”
But he won’t specify who exactly makes it so, and if he’s never condemned Joe Quesada for breaking up the Spider-marriage, that too is decidedly a serious show of weakness, to say nothing of a demonstration how detached Moore actually is from realities. Why can’t he just retire already? Or at least stick to writing his silly novels? Moore’s a prime example of somebody who just can’t let go of stuff that’s only getting the better of him, and now, once again, he proves himself an embarrassment who’s desperate for relevancy he no longer has.
Originally published here.
English (US) · 