Alan Moore speaks out against Blackest Night

[Andrew NDB]

http://www.mania.com/alan-moore-refl...le_117529.html

AM: That’s it. It’s the paucity of imagination. I was noticing that DC seems to have based one of its latest crossovers [Blackest Night] in Green Lantern based on a couple of eight-page stories that I did 25 or 30 years ago. I would have thought that would seem kind of desperate and humiliating, when I have said in interviews that it doesn’t look like the American comic book industry has had an idea of its own in the past 20 or 30 years, I was just being mean. I didn’t expect the companies concerned to more or less say, “Yeah, he’s right. Let’s see if we can find another one of his stories from 30 years ago to turn into some spectacular saga.” It’s tragic. The comics that I read as a kid that inspired me were full of ideas. They didn’t need some upstart from England to come over there and tell them how to do comics. They’d got plenty of ideas of their own. But these days, I increasingly get a sense of the comics industry going through my trashcan like raccoons in the dead of the night.

KA: [laughing]

AM: That’s a good image, isn’t it? They weren’t even particularly good ideas. For Christ’s sake, get some of your own ideas! It’s not that difficult. You used to be able to have them! I’ve also heard that, apparently, a fifth of the direct sales market in comics is my work—twenty percent! I’d imagine that the sales in places like Borders and the big book shops, which are increasingly where the bulk of the market is, it’s probably a higher percentage.

[Old School]

nothing for nothing, I'm sure as older folks that when we played with our gi joes, star wars figures, he man etc.. that 1/2 of these storylines that are used since comics began came from someones childhood imagination or we played these same kind of storylines when we were kids with our action figures

[Limelantern]

So....


....writers shouldn't try to maintain any sort of continuity at all by following up on stories from the past?

[Spider-Lantern]

Someone is a little full of themself...

[Andrew NDB]

I really hope Geoff doesn't take what he said to heart -- it's just Alan's Way. I know Geoff is a huge Alan Moore fan from forever ago so my gut is that it might hurt a little.

[Old School]

im sure geoff will be ok

[Spy Smasher]

He cerainly has a point.

How many breakthrough characters have been created in the past 30 years? Damned few.

All these reboots and stuff that the companies constantly do -- Geoff Johns has given us 999 Corps and lots of blood and gore, but the real creativity was that of John Broome, who wrote comics for small children.

Over at Marvel, they're still basically living off what Stan Lee created between 1961 and 1968.

[Keyser Soze]

Meh, reading the whole interview just heightens my distaste for Alan's points here. He was a great writer in his time (though funnily enough, his work has become a lot more cold and austere and a lot less engaging since he rose above those lowly superhero stories that were so beneath him and started telling "real" stories), and I have a whole lot of respect for him, but I disagree with much of his views on the world of comics.

Don't get me wrong, Alan Moore always makes for a fascinating interview, and a lot of the stuff he says is very astute, but generally speaking, I don't agree with how he views the comic book industry. I don't think it's arrogance, per se, so much as it is a kind of jaded cynicism stemming from his percieved mistreatment by the various major comics companies.

I don't think his assessment of Blackest Night is at all fair. Like much of his criticism of today's comics, it seems rooted in the kind of ignorance that comes from not actually reading the comics or even researching too deeply what they're about. For example, even a cursory look into Blackest Night would show that it's not leeching off his idea, but rather taking his concept as a starting point for something fresh and exciting.

And Alan Moore's views are a shining example of one of the problems of the comics industry as a whole. In the interview, they talk about it being an "incestuous" industry, but I don't think that's it. The problem is that it's this oddly self-loathing industry, ashamed of what brought it to the dance. Superheroes (when handled to their fullest potential) are not an "embarassment", as Eddie Campbell called them, but are the example of everything that makes comics great and unique. Like Geoff Johns says, superheroes are the one genre that was born in comics. They are the beating heart of the comic medium, and to dismiss them would be like Hollywood dismissing the Western or the gangster film. The fact that there are characters whose myths have been building and evolving for 40, 50 or 60 years isn't pathetic, like the interviewer makes it out to be, it's something wonderful that only happens in comics.

[Knuckles]

keyser said it

from that lil bit posted here i could tell alan hasn't read up on the entire thing, he heard that his couple of pages was used and assumed the entire thing is his 3-5 pages.

that was merely a starting point...picked here and there even ...the full out thing was inspired by other GL writers and even from his own stuff he wrote (infinite crisis, led to a couple of the same ppl he killed off as somewhat key characters durin the SCW and BN)

[Willpower]

Well, I'd better make sure I don't buy any Alan Moore books, I don't want to up the alleged 1/5th percent. Asanine idiot. Not only does he insult the current writers, but he backhandedly insults the whole country.

To tell you the truth, his stories were cool back in the day, because not too many people could come up with good, deep stories. But nowadays, maybe in part because of him, there are good stories all over the place. He must feel less important somehow, so he acts like a little kid.

[Mewzard]

Alan Moore's such an arrogant ass. Apparently, he would have all comics as having no continuity.

Johns likes having throwbacks to older stories in his own, but he also has created many original characters of his own on his run of Green Lantern. And, while it does refer to the prophesy, a majority of it has changed. I don't remember Alan Moore writing about Black Lanterns appearing for Blackest Night.

The man needs to quit brown-nosing himself. I enjoy many of his stories, but damn. He acts like he's the last person to ever write an original story.

[FrEaKjOkErXXX]

I've always been on the border of Moore fandom. I love League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but I think Watchmen is extremely overrated and boring.

I think alot of this comment, like Willpower said, comes from the fact that when a new Alan Moore book comes out, it isn't big news like it used to be. The fact that John's is getting all this hype over Blackest Night makes Moore mad cause he thinks he created it. All he did was say that "The Blackest Night was a great disaster, fueled by the Guardians enemies" but in no way made any indication about who those enemies were.

[Colonel Xonic]

Yeah... owch, poor Geoff.

[Limelantern]

I don't understand why he's pissed though. He even said it was an obscure story from 20 years ago.

What is so wrong with someone finishing an unfinished tale that he wrote and obviously never cared to elaborate on?

[Tazer]

Yo.

he called Geoff a leech...........LAWL!!




Tazer

[TEN_RINGS]

What an as$hole.....did he fu#$ing invent the green lantern franchise?,he wrote one dumb story 20 years ago that in itself was a retcon......geoff has even given him a lot of credit and still he acts like he is some sort of comic god. I hate the guys attitude everone in comics copies off of someone or adds on to someones work so he should get over it .

[Keyser Soze]

Originally Posted by Tazer

Yo.

he called Geoff a leech...........LAWL!!




Tazer

To be fair, Alan isn't really calling Geoff anything. I doubt he even knows who Geoff Johns is.

[irongreen2814]

Wow, I thought Alan Moore didnt give a shit.

[Godmera]

Touchy, touchy.

[ion.nai]

Ah... to be bitter and old.
I have had a hard time dealing with Johns' writing during the pass couple of years. I complain about him all the time... but i'm just a fanboy... it's practically my duty. Moore is a respected comic writer, we all know his stance on the way the comic industry is. There is no need for him to take further stabs at it. Even if i agree with Moore... as a professional he should keep his personal thoughts and opinion to himself.

[Tazer]

Yo.

unless, of course, if somebody asks him for it.......




Tazer

[Spy Smasher]

It's not about Geoff Johns. It's just that not much has been created in comics in a long time. That's a fact, and I don't think Moore is gloating about it.

It reminds me of guys like Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and John Fogerty asking why it's the old geezers like them who had to stand up and tell off the Bush adminstration. Why didn't younger people do it? That was a good question.

[Agent Purple]

Quick, somebody, ANYBODY, find the number for the UK's Wambulance department! We've got a seriously butt-hurt man on our hands!


Seriously, though, Alan, grow the fuck up.

[Requiem]

Alan Moore is nothing more than a jealous old bastard. Besides, he's crazy.

[Dr. Naysay]

http://www.thegreenlanterncorps.com/...ighlight=Moore


Looks like some of you can suck it.