I like Moore a lot, although I do think he’s as mad as a balloon.
His work, from Miracleman on, still influences comics and the movies that are now so ridiculously popular. Without Miracleman there would have been no Frank Miller Dark Knight Returns or Tim Burton’s Batman, and those characters would still perhaps be in the public consciousness the province of the Adam West style camp of the 60s TV Show.
The only thing I do have reservations about is how much Moore has unintentionally contributed to the demise of the comics industry in that time. Lesser talents tried to emulate his hyper-realistic style and since the eighties the decline in sales has been inexorable. As fun as it is to see those characters up on the screen they belong on the printed page. I watch a two hundred million dollar Marvel movie and think how much more exciting it was with Kirby and Ditko and Buscema et al doing the imagining.
As an aside the critical acclaim for the latest Mister Miracle relaunch prompted me to buy a TPB of the 70s Kirby original which I have vague memories of buying an issue of on holiday in Tenby as a kid. I hated it then, but I’m in love with it now. It’s a glorious thing.