Legendary comic book creator Alan Moore has accused superhero movies of 'blighting' the industry of cinema.
The 66-year-old is known for his outspokenness concerning adaptations of his work – The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendetta and Watchmen among them – and actively disassociates himself from anything that sees the light of day on screen.
In a recent Deadline interview, he cast his critical eye while discussing retirement from comics.
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"When I entered the comics industry, the big attraction was that this was a medium that was vulgar, it had been created to entertain working class people, particularly children," Moore explained.
"The way that the industry has changed, it's 'graphic novels' now, it's entirely priced for an audience of middle class people. I have nothing against middle class people but it wasn't meant to be a medium for middle aged hobbyists. It was meant to be a medium for people who haven't got much money.
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"Most people equate comics with superhero movies now," he pointed out. "That adds another layer of difficulty for me. I haven't seen a superhero movie since the first Tim Burton Batman film. They have blighted cinema, and also blighted culture to a degree."
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The writer also weighed in on the mindset of superhero worshippers: "Several years ago I said I thought it was a really worrying sign, that hundreds of thousands of adults were queuing up to see characters that were created 50 years ago to entertain 12-year-old boys.
"That seemed to speak to some kind of longing to escape from the complexities of the modern world, and go back to a nostalgic, remembered childhood. That seemed dangerous, it was infantilising the population," he suggested.
"This may be entirely coincidence but in 2016 when the American people elected a National Socialist satsuma and the UK voted to leave the European Union, six of the top 12 highest grossing films were superhero movies. Not to say that one causes the other but I think they're both symptoms of the same thing – a denial of reality and an urge for simplistic and sensational solutions."
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy, NME and Yahoo Entertainment.
In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.
