Also, about this idea Moore has that Marvel and DC should have some top-flight talent capable of creating a book that takes the public by storm like Watchmen did: Watchmen came out in 1985. Before home computers, the internet, the universal popularity of videogames, the near universal reach of cable and satellite TV. People read a lot more comics back then. These days the potential audience for a game changer akin to Watchmen is a mere fraction of what Moore had at his disposal. Also, although I'd argue that Watchmen is simply Moore riffing (albeit brilliantly) on other people's work, it had the advantage of being first: it was revolutionary, not in content but in style. Before Watchmen comics were universally regarded as kiddie stuff and the very idea of a moody, noirish thriller starring superheroes was brand new to the general public. These days we've seen it all before. In order for a comic to break big like Watchmen did it would need a similarly revolutionary style, and also, unfortunately, a potential audience that simply doesn't exist anymore.

I've said this before and I'll say it again: the general public doesn't read comics because they've rejected the medium, not the content. The Spider-Man movies made a billion dollars but 99% of those same people who loved them wouldn't be caught dead buying a Spider-Man comic. I don't think there can ever be another Watchmen because no one wants to read a comic anymore and kids are playing videogames. But I'd say that, just for example, Ennis's Preacher or Vaughn's Runaways are just as good as Watchmen and also just as wildly different from what came before. In fact if either of them had first appeared in 1985 they might have made the same kind of splash that Watchmen did.