There's been a graphic novels thread, but surprisingly not one about Alan Moore.

What do you think about him?

I've not read much other than Watchmen, but have just started Promethea, which is extremely psychedelic.

Thoughts? Recommendations?

I recommend the first two volumes of Top Ten, set in a place where everone is a superhero, it's very witty. Old Gangsters Never Die, the amazing B Side of a single where he sings his words with friends on music in 1983, and the legendary spin on Jack the Ripper From Hell.

The guy's an outright genius, I'd recommend every damn thing he's ever written. As for the music, 'Grand Egyptian theatre of wonders' (or something like that) is packed with BIG ideas & 'The Highbury Working' is a fine thing too. You just have to get over the shock of his broad Northampton accent...

i'm sure i'm in the minority, but i thought from hell was too wordy and suffered from it's epic pretensions. he tried to do a lot with that book, which i commend him for, but i think he was only partially successful in pulling it off.

okay, go back to praising him.

he's quite a character bless him.

and prinicipled/eccentric enough to give up his payments from hollywood.

he also worships a snake god. or so he tells folk.

i have to admit, i far preferred him in his 80s heyday, when he seemed to be able to combine pretty heavy and cerebral ideas with a bloody good yarn.

i think since he left DC comics, his work seems more polarised: the adult stuff is all very clever, but imho a bit on the dull and unreadable side, whereas his more straightforward comics seem a little one dimensional and flippant.

having said that, i've not read top 10 and i seem to remember my girlfriend's brother recommending it not so long back.

as much as i like moore's 80s stuff and admire him as a person (certainly more than i admire his newer comics work), i much prefer grant morrison (who moore doesn't like, by all accounts). now he's a character...

I've heard that Moore/Morrison animosity thing but have seen no actual evidence. One thing I don't like what Moore does is - even though he disowns movies made from his stuff, he will gladly let someone take over one of his comics such as "Tom Strong" etc, which leaves us persons with a standing order at our local nerd-emporium stiffed with substandard work.

Another legendary figure I've not read. Is Watchmen a good place to start? (the book obv., not the film;))

Alan Moore does that thing sometimes where he sends shivers up your spine. He claims to be a magician now, and there's certainly an element of the magical at times in his writing. There's a bit in From Hell where some characters seem to be flashing into the future then back to the past that is quite terrifying an incredibly effective.

I'd start with From Hell. But Watchmen also highly recommended if you ever read comics as a kid. Swamp Thing is good too. Takes a ridiculous premise and gives it a heart and soul. And a good amount of horror. Top Ten is fine. Promethea goes a bit into a literal journey through the magical kaballah for me. For about 10 issues if I remember rightly, they just explore this mystical path and babble on about the significance of numbers. It was interesting, but not especially enjoyable.

V for Vendetta and Captain Britain (fantastic art in this one) also highly recommended.

Thanks - and may I say how cool it is hearing your letter read out by Peel on that Fall doc? I watched it again last night, thought "that was a stroke of luck"

You may. :D

i think i watched him on an alternative channel.. a beardy bloke who uses a sinister voice all the time.

Well, that's his voice.

Pure genius. The equivilant to The Fall circa 1979-1982 :D

I would recommend:

V for Vendetta - much better than the film, the best thing he's written. Made me cry.

Watchman - brilliant

Captain Britain - very early but combined with Alan Davis artwork this is great stuff, the Jim Jaspers character is one of the best he created, fanatstic storyline. Don't be put off with the fact it's Captain Britain. Available in collected edition I think.

The Saga of Swamp Thing - comic writing doesn't get any better, the genius was to take a redundant one-dimensional character and turn him into something that covered so much. Essential AM reading.

Of the ABC line, Promethea is very good if you stick with it. It loses its way a little in the middle but if you like the weird style it's great.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is good stuff, recommended.

Top 10 and Tom Strong I liked without them being essential imho.

From Hell obviously, one of the greatest comics written, if you like the subject matter. Even if you don't it's a fascinating read.

Now, he did a run on WildC.A.T.S. which was fantastic, and this has been collected. You don't really need to know any more about the cast and he transports them all somewhere else and changes so many things, very good superhero stuff.

Don't bother with Youngblood or Supreme, not his best work.

Batman: The Killing Joke. Short but essential.

Marvelman/Miracleman is supposed to be excellent but I've not read that due to the problems with it being reprinted.

I borrowed From Hell and was having a really hard time with it - could not follow it at all - and then the Dr - Dr Gull - did that amazing trip around the significant sites of London (can't remember what was the term he used) and he came down our street! (where Blake used to live) So I got to like it after that.

When I was in hospital last time, I was in the William Gull ward. I rather liked that. Not many people I told knew what I was on about, though.

His first (& I think only) novel, 'Voice Of The Fire' is well worth a read too, 1000 years of Northampton history told in the appropriate vernacular. Tough going at first but well worth sticking with.

Ahh, that rings a bell - Old Batman meets Old Superman? I remember reading that, but no idea it was Moore. This may sound ridiculous, but I never thought of comics in terms of authorship - they were somehow 'different'.

No, it's actually a nice retelling of the joker genesis story. influential on the latest film, btw. I think you're refering to Frank Miller's the dark knight

A real head-spinner. Another story-line that subverts the super-hero genre ...a la Watchmen. I had a complete run... including the Nail Gaiman issues, which were good too. Unfortunately I lent them to someone, not knowing their value at the time and he disappeared with them. Last year I bought half the set back off ebay. Bah... I hate to be reminded of my lending follies/

Ah yes, thanks - they came out about the same time didn't they, when suddenly Batman was 'trendy' again? And I don't mean that Miller and Moore were being trendy.

Have only read half of V for Vendetta so far which I really enjoyed - will probably investigate Watchmen and From Hell next.

Yeah, I guess that was the great graphic novel breakthrough. You might want to track down Frank Miller too (Elektra:assassin, Dark knight returns, Batman: year one, Daredevil: love and war, ...)


btw, a little bird told me there's a zip with some of Alan Moore's earliest work (for Dr Who magazine)waiting for you here.

You need CDisplay to read the comics.

That may have been true up to a certain time, but I think by the 80's the writers really started to express themselves and mould characters to their ideas, so it rapidly became apparent who the good writers were and who was rubbish. So for me I am likely to pick a comic due to it's writer first, then the artist and finally the character (although I have followed certain characters through the thick and thin).

I think this all began with Claremont and Byrne's X-Men, Miller's Daredevil and then Alan Moore with Swamp Thing.

It can make such a huge difference if the author is good.

Have you ever seen Lost Girls, MB?


Edit:

found an online version

Here


(wow)

A friend of mine credits that book for her post-childbirth return to, um, conjugal activity. :whistle:

I've got the first two but I didn't like it much I must admit.

Everybody go check out 'The Mindscape of Alan Moore [DVD]'. He manages to get away with wearing a ring on every finger. Should reconsider his haircut, though, he spends half of his time tending it.

BTW The (half-) animated TV version of Watchmen by DC is a bloody masterpiece (have only seen first instalment so far, though). If only they hadn't used male voices for dubbing the female characters. But then again, somehow this only contributes to the overall weirdness of it.

My favourite: The Swamp Thing. Lost Girl I could do without.

You can be frank with me.

I'm the unseen.

Have you seen what was Gull's house, Aubrey The Cat? On Brooke Street near the American Embassy, I forget the number. Even if he wasn't the Ripper, the cliche in me could really imagine him returning to that house after a night's ripping!

If you are interested in a good film about the ripper, along the same lines as From Hell plot-wise, then I would recommend Murder By Decree which has Sherlock Holmes investigating the murders. Very chilling and rather sad. Christopher Plummer as Holmes.

No, I never knew about that, thanks.

I'll go and look, when I can get out that far.

On tonight - thurs - ITV4 - 11.40

I've pretty much the whole run boxed up in my loft somewhere, a fantastic series.

I think Moore is a genius and I thank him for making me want to read more as a boy - I'm sure if more kids were encouraged to read comics, literacy levels would improve.

SPLATT! KER-POW! BLAM!
:D

:P Yeah, OK - I walked into that one...

Yew kno wot I meen rilly

hes from where im from

Yes, I know what you mean.

Alan Moore packs his comics with so much and so many ideas, but in a very entertaining way. :applaud:

Hey, me too. Haven't been back in years though.

Alan Moore used to come into a toy shop I used to work in when I was 16 and buy plastic farm animals with (I'm guessing) one of his daughters.

Oh, yeah, me and Alan go way back.