After nearly 40 years in the comics industry, legendary writer Alan Moore says he’s ready to retire from the medium. At a press conference for his upcoming novel Jerusalem, the Watchmen creator told The Guardian that he had "about 250 pages of comics left" in him, and that, after completing his next few project, he’s "pretty much done."

"I think I've done enough for comics."

"I think I have done enough for comics," Moore said. "I’ve done all that I can. I think if I were to continue to work in comics, inevitably the ideas would suffer, inevitably you’d start to see me retread old ground and I think both you and I probably deserve something better than that."

Moore is a giant among comics creators, and is credited for taking the graphic novel to new heights during the 1980s, when the medium was getting mainstream attention for tackling mature themes like war and politics. In addition to his groundbreaking work with Watchmen and V for Vendetta, he also won numerous accolades for his work for DC Comics, where he reinvigorated Swamp Thing, wrote some of the most iconic Batman and Superman stories of the time, and created future Justice League Dark member John Constantine.

Moore has continued to produce comics in recent years: he’s still working on the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Providence series, and he launched the Electricomics app last year. However, he has also moved slowly but surely into literature, making his decision to leave comics unsurprising. In addition to Jerusalem, which explores the history of Northampton, Moore is also working on an occult textbook titled The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic.

"I don't need to prove anything to myself or anyone else."

Ultimately, Moore is intent on trying new things, though that doesn't mean he won't ever try his hand at a comic in the future. As he told The Guardian, areas like film, where he has no skillset, interest him because they offer new challenges. "I know I am able to do anything anyone is capable of doing in the comic book medium," he said. "I don’t need to prove anything to myself or anyone else. Whereas these other fields are much more exciting to me."