From a Wired interview with Alan Moore

Instead it seemed that the existence of Watchmen had pretty much doomed the mainstream comic industry to about 20 years of very grim and often pretentious stories that seemed to be unable to get around the massive psychological stumbling block that Watchmen had turned out to be, although that had never been my intention with the work.

Ain't that the truth. Sure there were some gems here and there, but the 80s seemed like a pretty grim and gritty time for comics.

There's also this little gem in the interview. Made me smile. You really should consider checking out the rest of it. :-)

When I returned to work for—well, I didn't return. I was kind of press-ganged. I had DC buying the company I had just signed contracts with, which is flattering in one way and very creepy in another. It's like being stalked by a very rich demented girlfriend who can just buy your entire street in order to be close to you.