That said, nobody is arguing that Moore isn’t well-read. Nobody is calling into question his motivation for writing (although I doubt money never comes into play) or his technical skills. In terms of sheer craftsmanship he’s still virtually unparalleled. We’re arguing about the actual content of his recent work. The point isn’t that people don’t get the references in the Black Dossier. It’s questioning wether or not there’s any merit to the references being there in the first place. That’s the thing with pastiche: Take away the original material and it doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

Also, your comment about the perceived differences between American comic book readers and British comic book readers is incredibly arrogant and generalizing. Please don’t do that.

I’m afraid this is just another demonstration of how badly-versed american comic book readers are in English Literature. Back here in Britain, we celebrate our authors and their works. In America, I’ve yet to hear of anyone who knows who Alan Quartermain is, especially having not seen the Godawful Film.

Bottom Line: This is an agonised whine focusing on the reviewer’s own tragic ignorance, a fact proven at the comment ’stop being so clever’. Alan Moore does not write to appease consumerist drones. He does not write to make money. He doesn’t write like Grant Morrison writes, saying he’s some sort of artist superior to everyone else.

He Writes…To Write. For a good writer – a TRULY good writer – that’s all there is to it. And if you can’t understand that, then by God, you’re reading the wrong books.

I’ve never gotten big into Moore either, but I don’t think it’s fair to rag on him for a premise. If anything, his major flaw is a lack of real heart. (Heart? I dunno. Whatever you call that sumptin’ sumptin’ that makes people like Morrison more’an Moore.)

I think we need to stage an intervention. What do you think, me, you, Joe, and Chris take Pedro out back at NYCC and beat him until he stops talking about “continuity porn for Rodney King aficionados?”

I’m confused. How is what Moore is doing any different than any other comic ever? Certainly everyone at DC right now is engaging in continuity porn, all of them with a fraction of Alan Moore’s talent.

It isn’t different from any other comic ever, though I’d take issue with the idea that “everyone at DC” is engaging in continuity porn. I don’t like continuity porn– so I don’t read Countdown/Infinite Crisis/Whatever.

You could be the greatest writer in the world, but if you’re writing a series of novels based on the farming habits of Tunisians between the ages of 8 and 11 in the year 1632, but that still sounds boring and irritating and like something I don’t want to read.

Moore’s legacy is in place, yeah. That doesn’t mean that it is flawless.