Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts. Also, the climate conversation is sadly spot-on. That said, I have to disagree with both the idea that there isn’t a mass cultural form inspired by our era and that the comic book stories don’t grapple with the real world.

To the first point: Batman existed for 30 years before Adam West and Burt Ward suited up on TV, but that show IS very representative of the 1960s cultural changes. It only really works as it does BECAUSE the characters were invented during the Silent Generation’s coming-of-age. Same is true today. I’d also argue that the modern superhero films do grapple with real-world issues, just in the subtext. The MCU’s Phase 4 alone is something like 50 hours of storytelling about the ways in which grief and loss devastate us.

To the second, guys our age, let alone Moore’s, are not going to be able to accurately identify the mass cultural form. It also won’t be something we easily recognize like books, cinema, or television. Maybe it’s streaming. Maybe it’s just memes. But generational expressiveness is not in danger of being lost. It’s that unlike in Moore’s generation or ours, all one needs to participate in the cultural milieu is a smartphone and a good internet connection.

Still, part of the reason I wrote this is to have discussions like these with readers. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. You’ve given me something to think about, and I hope I did likewise. Cheers!