I don't think anyone's going to argue Alan Moore's talent. But in his last interview he professes, basically, that any time his friends don't get work from DC, it's because they're blackballed, and whenever they do get work, it's an attempt to hold him hostage. He claims DC used the life-threatening illness of his friend's brother against him out of spite. He claims that there aren't any good creators working at either of the two companies (despite the fact that he probably doesn't read comics from either). He claims (admittedly somewhat tongue in cheek) that nothing has been as good as Watchmen in the past twenty-five years. And he explains how he throws away friends he's had for twenty-five years over minor slights.
I love Alan Moore. I think he's written some truly magnificent things. But as a human being, he comes across as immensely paranoid and self-centered.
Alan Moore has said that when it comes to DC, Marvel, Hollywood, he over-reacts purposely because he wants nothing to do with them. And, since he's probably the greatest comic writer of all time, they want a lot to do with him and his past works. Whenever I see him interviewed in person or by a magazine that talks to him about stuff that isn't Marvel/DC-related, he seems to be a genuinely terrific, sensible man. But when people bring up Hollywood, he either makes jokes about it, or goes on a rampage. And I think the rampage is more of an intentional overreaction - a venting if you will.
That's I how I see it.
Seriously???
I'd argue that non-superhero comics have for more volume and exposure than they've ever had since arguably the 1950's. Both major publishers have at least one major imprint devoted to literary and non-superhero publications. Admittedly, Icon is still a young imprint, but it's doing a good job of growing. Image, which started as basically the worst representation of 1990's era superhero comics has become a deep source for clever creator owned properties. Vertigo is still putting out a robust number of creative, independent works while also seeding these clever writers back into their superhero lines in an attempt to revitalize the genre. And then there's Dark Horse. And the brief superhero cinema glut seems to have been outpaced by the production of non-superhero comic book adaptations. Sure, superheroes dominate the shelves, but there are far more windows for more clever, fringe publications than there have been in decades and in all honesty, it's no different than any other artistic medium, whether it's big budget blockbuster films and romantic comedies crowding out clever indie films, or the fact that purple prose/yellow pulp genre fiction sells thousands while literary fiction sells hundreds.
Comfort food while always sell better than cuisine. It's true for any medium.
I completely agree that there is terrific non-superhero comics out there, and there's a lot more than there was say, 10 years ago. But in the 90s there was much more because the market was so huge, but in the 50s there was much more because superheroes were not the dominant genre. Comics was spread between romance, funnies, crime, horror, and superheroes.
While there is diversity, and that diversity is
definitely growing, superheroes, no matter how delightful, are a stranglehold on the industry. Everything goes through them. The superheroes outnumber the non-superhero stuff by a ludicrous degree. In a book shop you might get a manga shelf, a graphic novel shelf, and a superhero graphic novel shelf.
The diversity in France or Japan is much higher.
Look at it like television; how many genres are there on tv? Sure, cop shows are plentiful, but you also get courtroom dramas, hospital dramas, soap operas, sitcoms, and, cartoons. Now sure, you get a bunch of genres in comics, but no genre is
dominant in television. Or cinema. Or novels. There are genres that are very popular; the spy thriller, the summer blockbuster, but while they may get more money, commercial success, and hype than the other genres, they don't outnumber them, they don't have the same presence in the industry as superheroes do in the comic world.
And just as tv writers lament the amount of cop shows, it goes double for superheroes and comics. The problem is not that there's a lot of superhero comics, but rather the disproportionate amount
combined with the homogeneity of those superhero comics.
It's getting better, no question, but it is still a problem.
