Is reddit right, Sup Forums? Is Watchmen the worst thing to happen to comics since "Seduction of the innocent"?

Is reddit right, Sup Forums? Is Watchmen the worst thing to happen to comics since "Seduction of the innocent"?

I'd have to hear their reasoning.

Well it got Snyder in the eye, which led to him destroying DC film ambitions. So maybe.

But they likely just mean spurring on the edgy crowd of comics.

Watchmen and Killing Joke were "critically acclaimed" and lead to all the edglelord grimderp comics of the late 80's and 90's.

DC's whole "comics aren't for kids anymore" campaign which really ran off a large portion of new DC readers and led to the neckbeard culture of the LCS really helped destroy the industry

Can someone post that comic calling The Dark Knight the nazi of Batman comics

>[Deleted]

He's living in your head rent free

No, it was a well written story. What could be considered the worst thing to happen is probably the tone shift that comics had after Watchmen and the Dark Knight Returns, specially in the mid 80s and the 90s where everyone wanted to be Frank Miller and brought grittiness and guns and chains and pouches everywhere regardless if they were actually valid within the story. Perhaps its the fact that Watchmen and DKR became a fad that 'ruined' comics.

I disagree with that too, it wasnt so bad and honestly the problem will always be that creators can and will create shit but that doesnt ruin anything because they can also create amazing stuff, hacks will always be aping the next big thing but that big thing isnt responsible for those poor imitations.

All that edgy shit from the late 80s to the mid 90s was a direct response to moralmajority and other christian conservative groups that rose thanks to reagan.

What was "Seduction of the innocent", and why was it bad?

Watchmen is great. It's not Moore's fault that everyone took the wrong lesson from it.

It was a book saying comics were degenerate trash corrupting the youth into homosexuality and violence. Which led to comic code and banning of most other types of comics.

It killed the horror and true crime genres of comics, which adult men were into, and the romance genre, which adult women were into. All that was left afterwards were cape comics, which weren't allowed to do anything serious or complicated or else they'd risk fines and senate hearings.

It had a very biased sampling surveying kids already spending time in psychiatric hospitals and other troubled youth. This book is the reason why capeshit is pretty much all that's left of comic books and why the silver age happened because of the strict self-censorship from the comic code authority.

Remember the moral panic about video games leading the youth astray? Back in the 50's Comics went through it after the publication of Seduction of the Innocent, and it was probably the most damaging moral panic has been to a medium. It lead directly to the Comics industry developing and enforcing the Comics Code, believing it was better to censor themselves than have the Government do it. Entire genres died as a ton of shit related to things like crime and horror were banned. In effect only cape comics survived.

No, it had zero influence on comics overall. There's also nothing special or masterful about it. It was never and has never been seen as such except people who pretend to like it to seem hip.

Luckily, other genres thrived in Europe with the Franco-Belgian comics.

>Is reddit right

they never have been and they never will

>Is Watchmen the worst thing to happen to comics since "Seduction of the innocent"?

It brought fedoras in to the fandom, which didn't help, but Watchmen's worst offense is just being overrated. It didn't "hurt" comics. It didn't even have as much influence as The Dark Knight Returns.

Geoff Johns brainwashing is working.

You're an idiot. Kids stopped reading the moment comics went to LCSes instead of magazine racks.

And the fedoras came in because of Watchmen, nothing else. And that's not even as big of a thing as you think it is.

It's not like before Watchmen, comics were all light hearted and family friendly. Watchmen was part of a progression in comics becoming more serious, adult, and "realistic." You might as well blame Green Lantern/Green Arrow or The Night Gwen Stacy Died

Comics were already becoming a bit more serious during the 70s till late 80s of the bronze age

The book wasn't even that significant. Congress was 100% responsible for the CCA. That book was just a scapegoat.

It's amazing how stupid a namefag is.

And conservatives say that government intervention is never the answer

>comics were degenerate trash corrupting the youth into homosexuality and violence

So it predicted modern Marvel?

...

Exactly, so the argument that Watchmen is singularly to blame for comics being edgier is wrong

Meant to reply to

I'd say Superman's Death and then rebirth harmed comics more than anything

Yeah pretty much

Really DC in general is the worst thing to happen to comics but watchman is the thing that kept them from going under completely so yeah

Guys, I got into an argument on reddit, tell me how i'm right.

i wish you would get banned for this post OP.