Could Harry Potter, the boy wizard who inspired a generation of children to pick up books again, who starred in a massive, blockbuster film franchise that generated billions of dollars globally, who is one of the most beloved fictional heroes of all time, be the Antichrist?
I guess it all depends on who you talk to and in this case it’s comic book writer Alan Moore, the mastermind behind Watchman and the long-running League of Extraordinary Gentleman series, to name a few.
For the past few years, the author has strayed away from the comic book medium, only returning to Extraordinary Gentleman series, which is vastly different from the 2003 film adaptation starring Sean Connery.
Unlike the horrible film, Moore has built up a satirical comic over the last decade, filled with countless references and allusions from the history of Western literature, featuring appearances by an array of fictional British character. Most recently, Moore has released a second volume of his three-part arc Century, which included a visit from a black haired man who taught magic at a school “up north” that went by Tom, with a last name that was a “conundrum.” Also known as Tom Riddle, or “he who should not be named,” or more famously, Lord Voldermort from the Harry Potter series.
The appearance of the Dark Lord is only a warm-up compared to what Moore has coming up in 2009, Moor’s third and final volume of Century. According to Laura Sneddon of London’s Independent, Moor has written something that will probably be considered blasphemy by avid Potter fans: their beloved wizard has been transformed into the Antichrist.
“At no point does Moore use the words “Harry” or “Potter”, but a magical train hidden between platforms at King’s Cross station, leading to a magical school where there are flashbacks of psychotic adolescent rage and whimpering children pleading for their life, all strewn with molten corpses, does rather suggest a link to the Boy Who Lived. A hidden scar and a mentor named Riddle, though possessed as he is by the real villain, completes the picture,” Sneddon wrote.
Sounds like some pretty obvious references to “the boy who lived” and an extremely controversial comic. Even if this latest depiction of Harry Potter is intended to be satire, it will inevitably spark controversy amongst Potter fans and possibly J.K. Rowling herself, who has been famously protective of her series in the past.
The author sued a Harry Potter superfan after he created his own online Potter encyclopedia, viewed as a big PR mistep, so there is no telling what the author might do when she reads that her creation is “high on anti-psychotics.”
A showdown more epic than the one between Harry Potter and Voldermort may be brewing. Stay tuned for Moore vs. Rowling upon the release of 2009.