Alan Moore’s daughter, Leah, defends his crankiness: “[T]he medium he adored was ruled by corrupt despots”
![Alan Moore’s daughter, Leah, defends his crankiness: “[T]he medium he adored was ruled by corrupt despots”](https://img.pastemagazine.com/wp-content/avuploads/2019/12/14171029/m7bpae5icpabkpkyl2im.jpg)
Alan Moore’s reputation as a shakes-fist-at-cloud sort is a well-documented thing, one that’s come into conversation with increasing frequency as Damon Lindelof’s spiritual sequel (or “remix,” as he describes it) thrives in HBO’s Sunday night block. Moore is commonly called one of the greatest comic book writers of all time; while perhaps best known for Watchmen, which he co-created with Dave Gibbons, his list of titles includes several of the most acclaimed titles of this and last century, including The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell, and Batman: The Killing Joke. He is also well-known for getting well and truly screwed.
So, yes, he’s grumpy about comics. And his daughter Leah, also a comics creator, would like to remind the general public that he’s got a really fucking good reason. In a Twitter thread from mid-November—one that’s picking up additional traction now, as HBO’s Watchmen nears its first-season conclusion and people keep asking film auteurs about comic movies for some ungodly reason—Moore lays out the reason for her father’s “crankiness.”
(Some quick context: Moore, an anarchist, announced in mid-November that he’d be voting for the first time in 40 years because “some leaders are so unbelievably malevolent and catastrophic that they must be strenuously opposed by any means available.” Moore is a British citizen, so he’s speaking about the Tories, not the American President, but it’s a quote with multiple applications.)
“Can you imagine if he hadnt been fucked over? If instead of being Grumpy Alan Moore Shouting From His Cave he had spent the past 40 years putting out book after book for DC and the rest? Creating vast worlds full of the superheroes he loves? Enjoying comics? Its a damn shame.”