Once they teamed up to fight dull comics and superhero tropes with the twin pillars of ’80s dark and edgy — THE DARK KNIGHT and WATCHMEN — but now they find themselves on opposite sides of a political battle!
Okay it’s not really a fight, it’s middle-aged comics creators speaking their minds, but Alan Moore has rebutted Frank Miller’s disparaging comments on the Occupy Wall Street movement. While Moore’s work has actually become something of a symbol for the various protest movements springing up around the world as the V for Vendetta mask has become an icon at the rallies, Miller called the protesters losers who needed to go home to their momma’s basement. And as usual, Moore just has no time for it:
Well, Frank Miller is someone whose work I’ve barely looked at for the past twenty years. I thought the Sin City stuff was unreconstructed misogyny, 300 appeared to be wildly ahistoric, homophobic and just completely misguided. I think that there has probably been a rather unpleasant sensibility apparent in Frank Miller’s work for quite a long time. Since I don’t have anything to do with the comics industry, I don’t have anything to do with the people in it. I heard about the latest outpourings regarding the Occupy movement. It’s about what I’d expect from him. It’s always seemed to me that the majority of the comics field, if you had to place them politically, you’d have to say centre-right. That would be as far towards the liberal end of the spectrum as they would go. I’ve never been in any way, I don’t even know if I’m centre-left. I’ve been outspoken about that since the beginning of my career. So yes I think it would be fair to say that me and Frank Miller have diametrically opposing views upon all sorts of things, but certainly upon the Occupy movement.
As far as I can see, the Occupy movement is just ordinary people reclaiming rights which should always have been theirs. I can’t think of any reason why as a population we should be expected to stand by and see a gross reduction in the living standards of ourselves and our kids, possibly for generations, when the people who have got us into this have been rewarded for it; they’ve certainly not been punished in any way because they’re too big to fail. I think that the Occupy movement is, in one sense, the public saying that they should be the ones to decide who’s too big to fail. It’s a completely justified howl of moral outrage and it seems to be handled in a very intelligent, non-violent way, which is probably another reason why Frank Miller would be less than pleased with it. I’m sure if it had been a bunch of young, sociopathic vigilantes with Batman make-up on their faces, he’d be more in favour of it. We would definitely have to agree to differ on that one.
Aqualung vs. Disgruntled failed movie director.
Let the games begin.
~
Coat
Who cares?
Both of these guys are part of the 1%. Take whatever they say w/a grain of SALT.
“It’s always seemed to me that the majority of the comics field, if you had to place them politically, you’d have to say centre-right. That would be as far towards the liberal end of the spectrum as they would go”
Uh, what? As in pretty much any artistic field, it’s always seemed to me that most people in comics lean more or less to the left. Well, the creators anyway. Don’t know about editors and publishers and such.
I’ve always thought of Miller as the Leni Riefenstahl of the comic book world.
“it’s middle-aged comics creators speaking their minds”
Are their opinions less valid because they are middle-aged?
Yes
As I get nearer to middle age, my opinions lose validity with every breath.
Alan Moore’s superpower is grouchiness. Frank Miller has no superpowers.