Review of What We Can Know about Thunderman by Alan Moore

Note: this novel is not sold individually at the time of this review. It is included in the short story collection Illuminations: Stories by Alan Moore.

For the unaware, Alan Moore is one of the most celebrated comic book/graphic novel writers of the late 20th/early 21st century. Coming to the foreground in the 80s and 90s, a time far removed from the heyday of Superman and the dime store superheroes of the boomer generation, Moore has made a name for himself with darker, more mature material for people interested in the medium beyond muscular men wearing leotards. Decades of time in the industry giving him a unique perspective, in the novel What We Can Know about Thunderman (2022) readers get that perspective, or rather perspectives, on the people who make the comic book superhero world spin.

What We Can Know about Thunderman is the sliced and diced, semi-fictional history of a comic book series called “Thunderman”. By necessity “semi-fictional”, Moore utilizes fictional IPs, including the titular Thunderman, but parallels the real world evolution of the comic book industry with the sharpest, most snarky of wit.

Each chapter in essence a short story told from a new point of view, Moore presents the industry top to bottom, left to right, inside and out. From children to adults, businessmen to editors, publicists to convention attendees, a Reddit thread to creative directors, film reviewers to graphic artists, there are approximately twenty different perspectives on the prism of superhero comic books. Several characters appearing and re-appearing in other chapters as secondary characters, Moore keeps the whole cleverly interlinked, in turn allowing the full history of Thunderman to take shape across the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

What We Can Know about Thunderman savages the superhero comic book industry in bitingly clever, sometimes puerile fashion, which in itself may seem complementary given the adulthood of people involved is called into question. Presenting the adults who attend to the superhero industry as children who never grew up, the immaturity of the medium is reflected in the people who read it, collect it, and go to conventions. Likewise, Moore berates the manner in which the art is/became a commodity, including the cheapening which results from merchandising and screen adaptations.

Criticism extended, Moore likewise has a laugh at politicians who credit comic books with the degradation of society, paralleling them to the immature people who like comic books to begin with. Aligned personalities not enough, Moore likewise presents Trump as a symbol, a “superhero”, who duped the immature masses into making him a president of the most powerful nation of the world, all the while being just as soulless and empty as any comic book superhero. For the intelligent reader, the manner in which Moore goes about disparaging these aspects of recent history is glorious regardless whether the metaphor rings wholly true.

In the end, What We Can Know about Thunderman is a brilliant piss take on the superhero comic book industry. For people who don't know who Moore is or his body of work, doesn't matter; the novel remains highly readable as a work of social critique. Style reminiscent of William Gibson's penchant for tiny details that matter, Moore's precision engages, in turn making the satire cut all the deeper. Though including +/-20 different characters/perspectives, Moore does a good job mixing voice, keeping things appropriate to the person/scene. Where so much mass media these days is devoted to superheroes, the novel provides a needed counter-point, and for that could be of interest to any reader, regardless their superhero interest.