The cynic in me says that DC would brush it off as an Elseworld or something if they had published it, or shown another future with a message about the future not being set.
I'd have loved to read it, though.
I've got two guns pointed west and a broken compass.Re-reading the outline makes me think it's even better than I remember it being.
I doubt this would have affected the industry too much though. Other writers tried to emulate the dark and edgy aspects of Watchmen et al but I'm not sure what they would have copied from this, most of the key concepts have been widespread at some point anyway
Am I a good man or a bad man?Any summary of this would inevitably leave things out, this is after all Moore's unorganised summary of his undevolped plan. The plot isn't so important as what Moore wanted the story to do, basically give a definitive conclusion to the DC universe whilst still leaving it open ended. But that's a horrible summary.
Could anyone refresh my memory, was this outright rejected or did it fall through because of the rift between Moore and DC?
Am I a good man or a bad man?Looks like it would have been a good read, though as Seamus mentioned, it would have been dismissed as a mere elseworld.
What's more interesting to me is the introduction, where Moore basically predicts what happened to the comic market in the years that followed.
Ukrainian Red CrossAnyone want to sum it up for me?
It's kinda hard to keep in my head even though I just now read it, but an extremely barebones summary follows thusly:
Rip Hunter(who I am only familiar with by vague mentions of his name in connection to Booster Gold) and John Constantine come from the future to prevent a Bad Future.
Bad Future follows thusly:
BOO ALIENS, THEY ARE EVIL OR SOMETHING!!!! Superman doesn't count. The Green Lanterns are exiled from Earth. The governments of the world go kaput so now the superheroes are in charge. Superman and Captain Marvel and people to that general effect form their own dynasties. Hilarity Ensues. The Green Lanterns are conspiring with the Rannians and the Thanagarians and the Martians from their secret base on Mars to take back Earth. And a bunch of other stuff happens and everyone dies.
This is still a signature.Moore is a good writer and with the fitting art, this sounds as if could have been an actual comic epic
. As the end point of the DC Universe however, I see too much OOC behavior and all drama between the characters.
Respect the Red Right Hand
One thing you have to remember is that Moore came up with Twilight of the Superheroes before the "darker and edgier" boom of the 90's that Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns spawned. The story has an incestuous Captain Marvel, a leather/domination fetishized Green Arrow and Black Canary (shocking for an Alan Moore comic, no?) and Dick Grayson as a crueller, more ruthless version of Batman. Loads of character derailment and Moore's signature hobby-horses. I doubt it would have been accepted into canon as a possible future. It probably would have been quite good. I'm sure though, given the turn comics took, Moore is quite happy he didn't write it.
Its funny that Kingdom Come was basically a Cover of this story.
I personally disliked the moral behind it, but the idea is pretty sound.
Although I disagree with the nature. If you look to the original Twilight from Norse myth, the gods are ended by a natural extension of their epicness, rather than a degeneration. They ascend they dont die. So when I think of the "Last Superhero Story" I prefer the Morrisonian Method of All Star Superman and Batman Rip where the achieve a mythic status.
Basically Morrison writes stories about the SUPE Rman and Moore writers stroies about the superMAN. As in Grant's narratives revolve around the extensions and aspects of a fundmentally "enhanced" world while Alan prefers to showcase such a world from the lenses of baseline human expression. To play it up, one has the premise "What if men were Gods" and the other "What if Gods were men?"
Casual talk is a debate you have to win.Wow, that was a cool idea. Reminds me a lot of Kingdom Come. That bit with Constantine and that chick in the bar at the end was depressing.
The very best, like no one ever was. Check out my Spider-Man fanfic here! [1]
From what I've heard, it wasn't really an "influence," at least not at first. Alex Ross had the idea for Kingdom Come and, in discussing it with others, was pointed towards Twilight of the Superheroes. It have had an impact on the end result, though, so yeah...I guess you could say it was an influence. Forget I said anything.

Let's discuss Alan Moore 's proposal and how the industry might have changed if it came out.
http://fourcolorheroes.home.insightbb.com/twilightfree.html