Alan Moore's BBC Maestro guide to being an author

[stonkers]

Moore's Supreme is kind of a reverse Miracleman - grim violent 90s hero discovers he's actually the Silver Age Superman.

[wrec]

A small point but I found it bizarre that in her introduction of the Lee interview, Claire Armitage says Moore "is interested in exploring what he calls psychogeography" as if it's something he'd just made up.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I drifted out of comics for a bit, starting in the early 90s, but I had loved Moore's work since my childhood (still do), I grew up with his stuff. Read Watchmen when it came out and I considered it the last word in superheroes - it said all there was to say. I quickly moved on to alternative and underground comics and could not imagine going back to superhero gear once having read Crumb et al. Seemed completely regressive. I just kind of assumed, at that time, that Moore was done with superheroes too and would just make things like From Hell. What else can you say about superheroes after writing Watchmen?

When I got back into comics in the 21st century, I was astonished to see that Moore had done superhero stuff for Image in the 90s. Have not read any of it (and I have warmed to that xtreme Image OTT style a bit since, now I'm older and less self conscious - it's just Kirby crossed with shonen manga - but at the time I thought it was cringy AF and reeked of virginity) but I think I felt 'let down' as I'd just assumed he'd finished with superheroes but he went on to write stuff for Liefeld and them, and writing Spawn. Seemed like polar opposites. Like I say, I'm less of a snob now and less hung up about liking juvenile stuff, but it still surprised me. I thought he was already done with superheroes by the late 80s. Wonder if it was mainly the money that brought him to Image or if he genuinely thought he could do something new and exciting? Haven't read any of it but am curious.

I've still not read much of his Image / Wildstorm / ABC work, there's bits and pieces I've picked up in charity shops (Tom Strong volume 3, for instance, and Top 10: The Forty Niners) but while fine I've not found it to be anything particularly special.

[Magnum Valentino]

I've read all of that too, although it's been years. I think Tom Strong and Top 10 are being published next year in DC's Compendium line, which are essentially Omnibus-thick paperbacks with reinforced spines. Looking forward to reading both again, they were very affectionate towards their target sources and if I remember Top 10 made me bawl my eyes out at one point.

[13 schoolyards]

Yeah, Top 10 was probably my favourite of the (non-LoEG) ABC titles, even if Promethea was clearly the "quality" one of the line. Just really strong storytelling, nothing overly flashy, the kind of thing people would still be raving about now if it was written by pretty much anybody else.

More in-jokes and references per page than even LoEG if I remember rightly too.

[Mister Six]

Top 10 was just about perfect. I wish he'd done another "season". The 49ers and Smax were both decent too.

Shame the Farthest Precinct mini by some other bloke was painfully awful. Did anyone read that more recent Top 10 series by one (or both) of the original artists?

[13 schoolyards]

Top 10 was just about perfect. I wish he'd done another "season". The 49ers and Smax were both decent too.

Shame the Farthest Precinct mini by some other bloke was painfully awful. Did anyone read that more recent Top 10 series by one (or both) of the original artists?

I did, and it wasn't half bad - which is a joke, because the series stopped dead halfway through and the back half was never published: https://bleedingcool.com/comics/a-few-reasons-why-dc-should-really-really-publish-the-second-half-of-top-ten-season-two/

[Magnum Valentino]

Has anyone else started Illuminations yet? I'm after doing "Cold Reading" there. Sufficiently spooked! Very funny as well, not because of gags but just written in a way that suggests (correctly) that the author is extremely funny. Looking forward to the rest of it after this, and that S. Lee interview.

[bgmnts]

Starting to just spend an hour with the lights off and eyes closed listening to audiobooks now and currently on Jerusalem. It is really good in terms of evoking emotions and feelings in me, although it's so hefty and I've needed such long breaks I've forgotten the some of the characters.

It's good though, 47 hours left..

[Midas]

A recording of Alan Moore performing 'Cold Reading' during an event at a Northampton library back in February 2011.

Very creepy! Perfect listening for Halloween!

[Ferris]

As much as Moore might be a bit of a wally (though jury's out for me Clive), I'm rereading Watchmen apropos of nothing and it's really good.

Every panel has something for you to look closer at and think about.

[wrec]

Just got Illuminations out of the library. A lot longer and seems way denser than I expected, not sure why I expected otherwise really.

[Magnum Valentino]

Didn't someone on here recently link to a review of the Thunderman story that took it really badly? Would love to read that now but can't find the post.

[elliszeroed]

I would like to know who the various characters are based on, I recognised the creators of Superman, and I think Jim Shooter, but would like to see a list and how their fictional selves relate to the reality.

[wrec]

Someone did this on the Moore Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/AlanMoore/comments/y5yslf/what_we_can_know_about_thunderman_discussion

I finished Illuminations, couldn't put it down (despite what I said earlier). And despite having little knowledge of the background I really enjoyed the Thunderman story. It's very episodic with a large cast of characters and a lot of variety to it, and it captures the allure of classic American superhero comics as well as (surprise surprise) disillusionment with the business and modern franchises.

My favourite stories in it were "Location, Location, Location" which sees apocalyptic biblical mythology encroaching on suburban England, and "The Improbably Complex High-Energy State", an epic tale of intelligences emerging in the quadrillionth of a second following the big bang - both extremely funny. The title story is particularly haunting too.

Hadn't read any of Moore's prose before but eager to give Jerusalem a go after this. It struck me how rare it is that a writer has deep knowledge of diverse esoteric subjects but is also capable of being genuinely hilarious, and has a handle on contemporary culture too.

[Mister Six]

Honestly, @wrec, go with Voice of the Fire first. It's a substantially better (and shorter!) version of the thing he did in Jerusalem, which felt bloated and self-indulgent.

Just don't read Neil Gaiman's introduction, which - unforgivably - includes spoilers for the stories. And press on with the deliberately difficult opening story, which is great but (being told from the point of view of a mentally disabled caveman with a vocabulary of a couple of hundred words and no understanding of what a dream is) rather tricky to get a handle on at first.

[wrec]

Honestly, @wrec, go with Voice of the Fire first. It's a substantially better (and shorter!) version of the thing he did in Jerusalem, which felt bloated and self-indulgent.

Just don't read Neil Gaiman's introduction, which - unforgivably - includes spoilers for the stories. And press on with the deliberately difficult opening story, which is great but (being told from the point of view of a mentally disabled caveman with a vocabulary of a couple of hundred words and no understanding of what a dream is) rather tricky to get a handle on at first.

Will do, you make a good case for it.

Gaiman introductions do my head in at the best of times. Big name introductions tend to be ropey in general I find, have read so many where it's clear they haven't read the book anytime recently. Maybe he was overcompensating with that one!
 

[Mister Six]

I wouldn't completely discourage reading Jerusalem, BTW, I just think that if you're all fired up to enjoy some Moore prose, you'll be better served by VotF.

[13 schoolyards]

Seconded for Voice of the Fire, it's an excellent read.

It's extremely unlikely, but if anyone ever got around to collecting Moore's numerous non-fiction writings - mostly introductions to other people's books, but he wrote some good articles in Dodgem Logic - that'd be a must as well. His intro to the collected Dark Knight Returns (which they now leave out) went a long way towards making that seem classier than it is, and even his recent intro to vol.1 of The Collected Faceache really deepened my appreciation of a bunch of classic scrunges.

Gaiman's intro's, on the other hand, do occasionally read like he's just doing a favour to the publisher to boost sales

[wrec]

I wouldn't completely discourage reading Jerusalem, BTW, I just think that if you're all fired up to enjoy some Moore prose, you'll be better served by VotF.

Likely I'll get to both eventually.

Seconded for Voice of the Fire, it's an excellent read.

It's extremely unlikely, but if anyone ever got around to collecting Moore's numerous non-fiction writings - mostly introductions to other people's books, but he wrote some good articles in Dodgem Logic - that'd be a must as well.

Had completely forgotten about Dodgem Logic, have a couple of issues somewhere.

[Pink Gregory]

I have the first issue.

Article by Gr*h*m L*n*h*n about twitter.

Bit unfortunate.

[Mister Six]

Or it's a masterful bit of prescient horror from Moore.

[wrec]

A strange reminder that Linehan once moved in the same circles as Moore, undercut by the grinding predictability of the subject matter.

[Midas]

Alan Moore in conversation with Stewart Lee

[Pranet]

Recently someone told me that he had met Alan Moore and that he "smelt of piss". I think this was about 30 years ago. The person who told me this is a bit eccentric.