Alan Moore on American Superheroes

[Rasputin911]

From Total Film:

I've recently come to the point where I think that basically
most American superhero comics, and this is probably a sweeping generalisation, they're a lot like America's foreign policy.

America has an inordinate fondness for the unfair fight.
That's why I believe guns are so popular in America -- because you can ambush people, you can shoot them in the back, you can behave in a very cowardly fashion. Friendly fire, or as we call it everywhere else in the world, American fire. [...]
I believe that the whole thing about superheroes is they don't like it up them. They would prefer not to get involved in a fight if they don't have superior firepower, or they're invulnerable because they came from the planet Krypton when they were a baby.
I genuinely think it's this squeamishness that's behind the American superhero myth. It's the only country where it's really taken hold. As Brits, we'll go to see American superhero films, just like the rest of the world, but we never really created superheroes of our own.
And as Londoners, when we had that little bit of bother on the 7th July, 2005 - after America had two big buildings blown up... Terrible shame, but we had a lot more than two buildings blown up during the '40s when America was providing most of the munitions to Hitler...
But when it happened in England, what was the reaction of the American forces on the 8th of July, as soon as those bombs went off? They pulled the American servicemen outside of the M25, because London was too dangerous for the armed and trained American military men.
Then after a few days, they thought, actually, this does look kind of bad, even for America, let's creep back into London and pretend we've been here all the time....
​

Wow. I have to say my respect for Moore just went down a little (maybe more). I have a few reasons:

1. Moore wrote the Killing Joke, which is at least in the top 5 darkest Batman stories ever (i'd put it at #2 behind Arkham Asylum)

2. Moore clearly doesen't know jack**** about History. America was arming the allies in 1940, and it was clear that FDR wanted to fight Hitler.

3. Insulting/criticizing the American Government/foreign policy is a-ok in my book, but here Moore is ****ting all over the culture and troops of the country that supplies most of his readership (how lucky he is to live in the Uk where the people are unarmed and therefore unable to battle tyranny-you'd think an anarchist would be against gun control)

what do yall think?

 

[SuperFerret]

From Total Film:

I've recently come to the point where I think that basically
most American superhero comics, and this is probably a sweeping generalisation, they're a lot like America's foreign policy.

America has an inordinate fondness for the unfair fight.
That's why I believe guns are so popular in America -- because you can ambush people, you can shoot them in the back, you can behave in a very cowardly fashion. Friendly fire, or as we call it everywhere else in the world, American fire. [...]
I believe that the whole thing about superheroes is they don't like it up them. They would prefer not to get involved in a fight if they don't have superior firepower, or they're invulnerable because they came from the planet Krypton when they were a baby.
I genuinely think it's this squeamishness that's behind the American superhero myth. It's the only country where it's really taken hold. As Brits, we'll go to see American superhero films, just like the rest of the world, but we never really created superheroes of our own.
And as Londoners, when we had that little bit of bother on the 7th July, 2005 - after America had two big buildings blown up... Terrible shame, but we had a lot more than two buildings blown up during the '40s when America was providing most of the munitions to Hitler...
But when it happened in England, what was the reaction of the American forces on the 8th of July, as soon as those bombs went off? They pulled the American servicemen outside of the M25, because London was too dangerous for the armed and trained American military men.
Then after a few days, they thought, actually, this does look kind of bad, even for America, let's creep back into London and pretend we've been here all the time....
​

Wow. I have to say my respect for Moore just went down a little (maybe more). I have a few reasons:

1. Moore wrote the Killing Joke, which is at least in the top 5 darkest Batman stories ever (i'd put it at #2 behind Arkham Asylum)

2. Moore clearly doesen't know jack**** about History. America was arming the allies in 1940, and it was clear that FDR wanted to fight Hitler.

3. Insulting/criticizing the American Government/foreign policy is a-ok in my book, but here Moore is ****ting all over the culture and troops of the country that supplies most of his readership (how lucky he is to live in the Uk where the people are unarmed and therefore unable to battle tyranny-you'd think an anarchist would be against gun control)

what do yall think?

Moore either lost his grasp of what a superhero is or this is fake. Read most superhero comics, the hero is nearly always out-matched power-wise. It's their determination that gets them to succeed.

Also:

(how lucky he is to live in the Uk where the people are unarmed and therefore unable to battle tyranny-you'd think an anarchist would be against gun control)

:facepalm

 

[Rasputin911]

why the face-palm?

 

[SuperFerret]

You do not need to be armed to "battle tyranny". Gandhi proved that.

 

[ScarecrowMan666]

I agree with him about the Government and such, but he wrote some of the better comics that we have in America...so in a sense, hasn't most of his own work become americanized?

 

[Pinkypants]

Moore is a *****e bag.

 

[[A]]

3. Insulting/criticizing the American Government/foreign policy is a-ok in my book, but here Moore is ****ting all over the culture and troops of the country that supplies most of his readership (how lucky he is to live in the Uk where the people are unarmed and therefore unable to battle tyranny-you'd think an anarchist would be against gun control)

:facepalm

couldn't agree more (with the facepalm)

 

[SuperFerret]

Please, let's remain on topic. I don't want to derail the thread. This is less directed at Aekhyron than to others who will be posting here later on. Let's discuss Moore's views on the American Superhero.

 

[Rasputin911]

Superheroes are more a product of America's status as a superpower i think. They are our equivelant of the Greek Gods, not a symptom of cowardice.

Anyone else a bit offended by his WW2 comments?

 

[Rasputin911]

Moore is a *****e bag.

i'm starting to lean that way too. Anything that isn't written before him or by him is trash in his opinion

 

[Rasputin911]

You do not need to be armed to "battle tyranny". Gandhi proved that.

yes, because the Brits were relatively lax as far as empires are concerned. They cared about world opinion and were becoming more liberal at home. How long do you think Ghandi would have lasted in Nazi or Soviet-occupied Europe? Don't use one example as your basis