Alan Moore recently did an interview where he talked about how superhero comics were for children and that adults who read them are in arrested development and are susceptible to fascism.

While my gut reaction was to disagree with him, spending time on Reddit’s various comic book subs have made me wonder. A lot of people in these subs have pretty juvenile takes on heroes, can’t hide their racism/homophobia/misogyny well, seem to miss nuance as a sport, and are affected by this neoliberal view of looking at the world that really just plays into fascism.

I love comics, but man my peers are QUESTIONABLE.

Edit: Wow this blew up today! I really didn’t anticipate it being so debated and it’s pretty interesting to see all the responses to it. I just want to say that I never meant that this problem only affects comics or that comics specifically lead to fascism. I think this is a broader issue about men, honestly!

I am really just an avid comic book reader who loves good writing and good art. I just get sad that there are a lot of people who supposedly love the same thing, but feel super alien to me.

Edit 2: I’m seeing a lot of people talking about how I’m just focused on Reddit/other social media and how all that is a “vocal minority.” I think that this is actually deflection and that what we see online is a crude reflection of the things we see offline!