There are very few comic book writers who have attained the status of ‘legendary’. Comic book enthusiasts unanimously agree one of them is Alan Moore, who took DC comics to its heights during the 80s and 90s. He revived a number of forgotten supernatural characters, especially through his run with Swamp Thing, such as Spectre, the Demon, the Phantom Stranger, Deadman, and introduced John Constantine.
Moore’s contribution to the comic book world is immense, and being an industry expert for decades, he knows all the ins and outs. He understands how times have changed, and how several concepts that worked before won’t work today.
He realizes that as he reads more printed material, he cannot help but reminisce about the time comics were just… comics.
Alan Moore has to be careful while reading The Hobbit to his grandkids
J.R.R. Tolkien’s contribution to English literature is legendary – he has a subject named after him. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were written at a time when tensions in Europe and the United States were really high, and people looked for an escape. Despite being aimed at children of that era, Tolkien’s works can no longer be completely treated as such, as reiterated by Alan Moore. Moore told ScreenRant:
“I read The Hobbit and I was reading T. H. White’s Once and Future King, which was a book that I very much enjoyed when I was 12 or 13. I even read some Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers, who I held and still do hold as one of the most imaginative of children’s authors. But, it has to be said, that reading them with a 21st Century mindset is a bit of a minefield. There’s a lot of the imperialism, the racism, the class snobbery, the air of misogyny.”
He added:
“I suppose I have to remember that these attitudes were the prevalent social attitudes when these books were written. That doesn’t excuse any of the material in them, but it makes it a bit difficult, and there’s something about traditional fantasy, even horror fantasy, which to me is too reassuring.”
He realized this when reading those works of fiction to his grandkids. Moore also finds the modern-day epic Game of Thrones falling short of his expectations.
Alan Moore called Game of Thrones “The Sopranos set in 5th Century”
Game of Thrones is unarguably one of the greatest works of fiction of the 21st century. Hence, being a fan of the fantasy genre, Moore was bound to watch it. However, he couldn’t watch it beyond a couple of episodes. He said:
“I am perhaps too scathing of it, I’m sure that it serves its purpose for its audience, but having seen only a few episodes of Game of Thrones, and this is not a condemnation of it, I’ve not seen more than that, but it did seem to me to be The Sopranos set in 5th Century Dorset. That was my impression; that it was a family saga with bloody betrayals and all of the rest of it, but it was in 5th Century Dorset rather than in New York State or whatever.”
He went on to comment that Game of Thrones “wasn’t for him”, which was perhaps the same of a lot of fans who watched the show’s last season. Times sure have changed, writers have it very difficult nowadays, trying not to hurt the sentiments of one particular section of people. But we can always go back to old classics to look at history through a different lens.
The Hobbit series can be streamed on Max.
