Alan Moore says the superhero craze is a precursor to fascism

Comic book fans won’t like this…one of the industry’s greatest caped crusader writers says our superhero craze is teetering on Nazi Germany territory.

Really … we’re talking about Alan Moorewho wrote some of the most famous comics/series of the 20th century, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the VERY famous Batman installment … and more.

The dude is an absolute legend in the business… but as he’s gotten older – and stepped away from writing comics – he’s become more and more cynical about the craft he’s helped shape… and these latest comments double down on what he consider a problem.

Namely, he talks about fascism … and how he feels the superhero genre as a whole lends itself to extreme political ideology — and not only that, but how our total obsession with them in Hollywood is a sign of the worst … according to him, anyway.

For starters, AM kind of berates the adults who love it…saying, “Hundreds of thousands of adults [are] line up to see characters and situations that were created to entertain 12-year-old boys – and that was always boys – 50 years ago.”

He goes on to say that at the end of the 20th century there were a lot of headlines saying that comics were “growing up,” but he refutes this by saying… “It wasn’t comics that were growing up. I think it was more of a comic book that matches the emotional age of the audience going the other way.”

Alan proves his point with this comment… “In 2011 I said that I thought it would have serious and worrying implications for the future when millions of adults would be lining up to see Batman movies. Because this kind of infantilization — a longing for simpler times, simpler realities — which can very often be a precursor to fascism.”

He points to Donald Trumppresidency and the sheer number of superhero movies that were pumped out at the time (and since). Part of that is why he says he’s done with comics… apparently because they subconsciously do more harm than good.

As for what he means with the whole superheroes being fascist thing – that’s an age-old argument that’s been debated ad nauseam … which you can read about here.

In essence, some argue that superheroes – by their very nature and story arc – support the idea of ​​one man holding ultimate power over society…but doing so for the greater good. It’s very weedy on a sociological level, but this POV has been around for a while.