Alan Moore’s ‘Grit!’ (starring Dourdevil)

[Silver Nemesis]

Back in the early eighties, Marvel UK published a short-lived anthology comic titled Daredevils. It included comics, text stories and nonfiction articles geared towards a more sophisticated readership than the average superhero title. Alan Moore's Captain Britain stories were a regular staple, as were reprints of Frank Miller's Daredevil run. One particular issue of Daredevils included a 4-page story by Moore spoofing Miller's Daredevil comics. It reads more like something out of Mad Magazine than a typical Marvel comic, but it's the closest we'll get to a Moore-penned Daredevil story. In case anyone hasn't read 'Grit!', here it is:

Obviously I adore Miller's Daredevil run, but I thought this was pretty funny. The story also gives us some early insight into Moore's attitude regarding the dramatic shift in the tone of eighties superhero comics. Based on this, he seems rather disdainful towards the grittier, more violent approach Miller was taking. Moore had already begun work on the equally gritty V for Vendetta by this point, but that was a science fiction story and not – as Joel Silver claimed – a superhero comic. Yet just a few years later Moore would embrace the grittier, more grounded approach to superheroes when writing Watchmen and The Killing Joke. Was he pandering to a trend he didn't actually like, or was he sufficiently intrigued by the evolution of the genre to explore that trend himself?

[The Joker]

Interesting for sure. I don't think I was even aware of this spoof.

[Silver Nemesis]

I only learned about it myself a few years ago. A lot of comic fans like to compare Miller and Moore and dig up quotes where they reference each other's work, but it seems like most of those quotes are from the past ten or fifteen years. This parody is one of the earliest insights we have into Moore's attitude towards Miller. For that reason alone, I find it quite interesting.