No one has ever seen John Galt and Rorschach together! Hmmmm...

□ [“The Rorschach Question"]

I don't want to call it a cult, but I can't think of a better term.  This article comes from a site of basically right-wing creative types and it's about trashing Alan Moore.  Not for any sensible reason like paganism or something, it focuses on the development of a fictional character with seemingly no understand of how creating fictional characters works.  In this case it covers Rorschach, who they're trying to establish as not remotely Alan Moore's creation.

The article is citing an interview Moore gave in 2008, explaining his thinking on the 1985-6 comic, thinking that a Batman in real life would be pretty dislikable.  But no, it's not Batman he stole everything from, it's Steve Ditko's The Question.  And then the article covers Moore as a leftist and Ditko isn't.  And that's basically it has to say.

This is deliberately avoiding how creation works.  Moore gave a lot of thought to Batman, and superheroes in general, because he was a fan and became a professional.  'What would this be like in real life, or with some other change?'  Then he gets the opportunity to use some of DC's newly-purchased IPs and starts working on the story.  Then DC refuses because most of them end up dead - back when that was a big deal to the superhero genre - so he's told to change the name, costumes and a few details.  That's a new character!

Rorschach is not the Question or Mr. A.  Complaining about this is like complaining about William Shatner [Captain Kirk]'s recent problems with the Wagon Train tv show's corporate owners.  What, you don't know about that?  Star Trek was just Wagon Train in space, it was a total rip-off, that's all you need to know.

Steve Ditko loaned Jack Kirby his copy of Atlas Shrugged, Kirby read it and created the High Evolutionary as a response, is that the same thing?  Wouldn't be hard to find a story or tv show where the lead female is based on Marilyn Monroe or Romeo and Juliet.  Nothing is original, so attack anyone you don't like.  

The article also mentions the inspiration from an Arthur C. Clarke story, there's reference to the Kitty Genovese case.  Not that Moore knew anything about them, he was just thinking about whatever while he wrote various titles, including Watchmen, and took a lot of drugs.  So why bring them up?  It's only a difference of degree from saying you're writing the same language as Mark Twain, so you should be ignored because you're just a thief who steals from Mark Twain!!!

If you want valid reasons to criticize Moore, look at what he's done the last couple decades.  If you want valid reasons to criticize Watchmen, I suppose they exist.  But focusing on one character in the story is cult-like obsession which isn't that different from the reaction fans had to Rorschach in the first place.  I defy you to name one story where Mr. A/the Question never bathes or speaks in coherent sentences.  Yet they're still totally the same character.

Moore had spent years thinking about the genre of comics focused on muscular men punching each other in skin-tight outfits, which is very popular in big Hollywood corporations, and he wrote a story criticizing that genre several decades ago.  But he's the bad guy?