Acclaimed author and comic book creator Alan Moore confirms his retirement from the world of comics.
Speaking to The Guardian, Moore made his retirement from comics official following a years-long hiatus from the medium. "I'm definitely done with comics," Moore definitively declared. "I haven't written one for getting on for five years. I will always love and adore the comics medium but the comics industry and all of the stuff attached to it just became unbearable."
Moore's career in comics began with writing and illustrating comics for alternative magazines in 1978, which eventually landed him in the offices of 2000 A.D. His catalog of works includes fan-favorite runs on titles such as DC's Swamp Thing, which included the introduction of John Constantine, and Marvelman (Miracleman) alongside iconic artist Garry Leach, who tragically passed away in March 2022.
Several of Moore's other recognizable works have been adapted to the silver screen, including The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a reboot of which is reportedly being produced by Hulu. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was previously adapted into a feature film in 2003. The film was critically panned upon release and has long been attributed in part to star Sean Connery's retirement from acting.
Alan Moore's Dislike of Superheroes
Moore also touched on his general distaste for how superhero comics in particular have become so ingrained in pop culture. "I didn’t really think that superheroes were adult fare," Moore explained. "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."
Since leaving comics, Moore has delved into the world of prose fiction, with his first collection of short stories entitled Illuminations set to release on Oct. 11 from Bloomsbury Publishing. Moore remarked on taking to the medium, saying, "I'm really enjoying just writing prose fiction. Because, in some ways, to me, that seems the purest medium. You've got 26 characters, and a peppering of punctuation. With that, you can describe the entire conceivable universe."
Source: The Guardian