Long before HBO debuted a single-season adaptation of Alan Moore’s “Watchmen”, Moore distanced himself from his groundbreaking comic because it was widely misinterpreted and even far-right and was embraced by white supremacists.
as moore said gq, He hadn’t even learned that a “Watchmen” TV adaptation was in the works for former “Lost” creator Damon Lindelof (whom he does not mention by name) until he received a surprise package, told me via Federal Express. Received a heavy parcel, that came here in my quiet living room. It consisted of a powder blue barbecue apron with a hydrogen emblem on the front,” he told GQ, referring to the symbol that his creation Dr. Manhattan sports on his forehead.
He was not encouraged by the gift, or by the opening line of the letter: “I think it’s ‘Dear Mr. Moore, I am currently one of the bastards destroying the ‘watchmen.’ He was not the best opener. It went on for a lot of what seemed to me, neurotic gambling.”
Moore’s response was “a very abrupt and perhaps hostile reply” that Warner Bros., which owns the rights, had apparently neglected to ask Lindelof not to contact the writer “for any reason”.
“I said, ‘Look, this is embarrassing for me. I have nothing to do with you or your show. Please don’t bother me again.'”
Moore never watched the series, which starred Regina King as Detective Angela Aber, aka Sister Knight, as she left Zack Snyder’s 2009 film. “I’ll be the last person to sit through any adaptations of my work. From what I’ve heard of him, it’s going to be very punishing. It would be annoying, and for no good reason,” he told GQ.
When the show was nominated for 26 Emmys and won 11, Moore was surprised that the show had not only interpreted his comic as “a dark, gritty, dystopian superhero franchise that was rife with white supremacism.” had something to do with it,” but it was now winning prizes.
“When I saw the television industry awards that the ‘Chowkidar’ television show had clearly won, I thought, ‘Oh my god, maybe a large part of the public, this is what they thought ‘Chowkidar’ was? He said . “It makes me feel less than fond of those things. They mean little to my heart.”
He explained that “Watchmen”, as well as his “Miracleman,” comics were critiques of the superhero genre. “They were trying to show that any attempt to realize these figures in some kind of realistic context would always be bizarre and nightmare. But people didn’t take that message out of it. They used to think, uh, yeah, Dark, hopeless superheroes are, like, cool.”
