“The average age of the audience now for comics, and this has been the case since the late 1980s, probably is late thirties to early fifties—which tends to support the idea that these things are not being bought by children. They’re being bought in many cases by hopeless nostalgics or, putting the worst construction on it, perhaps cases of arrested development who are not prepared to let their childhoods go, no matter how trite the adventures of their various heroes and idols.”

-Alan Moore, putting a perhaps-unsupportable weight on “probably”

Wired magazine has an interview with Alan Moore in which he presents his thoughts on the state of comic books, the influence of Watchmen and future plans for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. As the quote above implies, he’s seems to enjoy playing the role of the scold, and an egotistical one at that. He’s often revered as the greatest writer in comics—and I’m a fan of his work—but he’s not the only one capable of doing worthwhile work in the genre, as he seems to imply.

Undermining his “hopeless” analysis is the admission, “I have to say that I haven’t seen a comic, much less a superhero comic, for a very, very long time now—years, probably almost a decade since I’ve really looked at one closely.” But sit down and tell us about those superheroes today, with their hippity-hop and capes hanging down below their asses, Grandpa Moore.