Writer Alan Moore seems set to retire from comics with the release of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. IV, The Tempest #6, on which he's working with artist Kevin O'Neill. However, the legendary comics writer didn't leave the business without making a statement on Comicsgate.

The letter reads, "Dear Al and Kev: As a middle-aged conservative incel sitting wedged behind my keyboard, trolling Alexandria Ocasio Cortez with my Batman T-shirt covered in Pringles, can I just ask, with a straight face, why you're leaving the comics business? Yours, Hiram J. Comicsgate III, Oklahodahio." The response from Moore and O'Neill is an equally tongue-in-cheek response, reading at one point, "You're the most intelligent and appreciative we could ever have hoped for."

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The letter is a joke written by Moore, as each issue of the series features obviously fake letters for the creative team to answer.

Although Moore has been slowly withdrawing from mainstream comics for years, he first publicly announced his intention to retire in a 2014 interview. He later reaffirmed this in 2016, saying The Tempest#6 would bring his career as a comics writer to an end. Moore is still expected to work on other writing projects in different mediums.

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League of Extraordinary Gentlemen debuted in 1999 with the story of team of powerful individuals from English literature -- Mina Murray from Dracula, Captain Nemo, Allan Quatermain, Dr. Jekyll and Hawley Griffin the Invisible Man -- assembled to stop the machinations of Fu Manchu and Professor Moriarty, and save the British Empire. That miniseries inspired a 2003 film adaptation that panned by critics, and by Moore and O'Neill.

Comicsgate is a group that considers itself against "forced diversity" and progressive values the comic book industry, claiming it's led to a decline in sales. The movement has previously been denounced by such creators as Jeff Lemire and Bill Sienkiewicz.

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