Watchmen co-creator Alan Moore takes up prose writing

11 October 2022

British comic book writer Alan Moore, whose credits include the Watchmen series of stories, and work in the Batman and Superman universes, is swapping graphic novels for prose writing.

Speaking with Guardian writer Sam Leith, Moore makes some blunt observations regarding superhero comics, and the part that a thirst for such comic books among adults, rather than children, has contributed to the current state of the world.

I didn’t really think that superheroes were adult fare. I think that this was a misunderstanding born of what happened in the 1980s — to which I must put my hand up to a considerable share of the blame, though it was not intentional — when things like Watchmen were first appearing. There were an awful lot of headlines saying ‘Comics Have Grown Up’. I tend to think that, no, comics hadn’t grown up. There were a few titles that were more adult than people were used to. But the majority of comics titles were pretty much the same as they’d ever been. It wasn’t comics growing up. I think it was more comics meeting the emotional age of the audience coming the other way.

It’s well worth reading the full article.