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Missing image Alanmoore.jpg Comic book author Alan Moore Alan Moore (born November 18, 1953, in Northampton, England) is a British comics writer and co-creator of comic books such as Watchmen and V for Vendetta. Moore's style of writing stretched the boundaries of the comic book medium, putting it to use in ways that are quite unlike other forms of storytelling. His stories often contained adult themes and touched on subjects that had never been approached in mainstream comic books before (issue #9 of Miracleman included a graphic depiction of a natural childbirth, something that had been strictly taboo in comics before then). He experimented with symbolism in the medium through placement of comic strip panels and text, an increased emphasis on backgrounds and detail, while attempting to cut down and eventually eliminate the use of "sound effects", thought balloons, and captions; he worked in the same way that film editors use the medium of motion pictures to manipulate the audience.
Career historyMoore began his career as a cartoonist, drawing underground-style strips for various publications under pseudonyms such as Curt Vile and Jill de Ray, sometimes in collabaration with his friend Steve Moore (no relation). Concluding he couldn't make a living as an artist, he concentrated on writing, providing scripts for Marvel UK, 2000 AD and Warrior. At Marvel he wrote short strips for Doctor Who Magazine and Star Wars Weekly before beginning a celebrated run on Captain Britain with artist Alan Davis. At 2000 AD he started by writing one-off Future Shocks and Time Twisters, moving on to series such as Skizz, D.R. and Quinch and The Ballad of Halo Jones. His most eye-catching work was for Warrior:
Warrior closed before these stories were completed, but he was able to continue them all elsewhere. The American MainstreamMoore's British work brought him to the attention of DC Comics editor Len Wein, who hired him to write Swamp Thing, then a fairly formulaic monster comic. Moore, along with artists Stephen R Bissette, Rick Veitch and John Totleben, deconstructed and rebuilt the character from the ground up, writing a series of formally experimental stories that addressed environmental and social issues alongside the horror and fantasy. Moore wrote a number of stories for DC, including the short Batman graphic novel The Killing Joke (with artist Brian Bolland) and a handful of acclaimed Superman stories, but it was with the limited series (later collected as a graphic novel) Watchmen (begun in 1986) that he really cemented his reputation. Imagining what the world would be like if superheroes had really existed since the 40s, Moore and artist Dave Gibbons created a twisted Cold War mystery in which the heroes are variously neurotic, amoral, sexually dysfunctional and borderline fascist. Watchmen is formally ambitious, densely written, intricately constructed, non-linear and told from multiple points of view, and is one of the few "graphic novels" that could genuinely be considered a novel in comics form. Alongside roughly contemporaneous work such as Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, Art Spiegelman's Maus and Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez's Love and Rockets, Watchmen was part of a late 1980s trend towards comics with more adult sensibilities. Moore briefly became a media celebrity, and the resulting attention led to him withdrawing from fandom and no longer attending comics conventions (at one such convention he is said to have been followed into the toilet by eager autograph hunters). Marvelman was reprinted and continued for the American market as Miracleman, published by independent publisher Eclipse Comics. The change of name was prompted by Marvel Comics' complaints of possible trademark infringment. Despite copyright disputes with artists and allegations of non-payment against the publisher, Moore finished the story he wanted to tell and handed the character to writer Neil Gaiman and artist Mark Buckingham to continue. The legal ownership of the character continues to be rather murky. Moore and Lloyd took V for Vendetta to DC, where it was reprinted and completed in full colour and released as a graphic novel. However Moore fell out with DC over a proposed age-rating system similar to those used for films, and he stopped working for them after completing V for Vendetta. The Independent PeriodA variety of projects followed, including Brought to Light, a history of CIA covert operations with illustrator Bill Sienkiewicz, and an anthology, AARGH (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia) campaigning against anti-homosexual legislation, which Moore published himself through his newly-formed publishing company, Mad Love. After prompting by cartoonist and self-publishing advocate Dave Sim, Moore then used Mad Love to publish his next project, Big Numbers, a proposed 12-issue series set in contemporary Britain and based on the mathematical ideas of Benoît Mandelbrot. Bill Sienkiewicz illustrated in an intense, painted style but the workload became too much for him after only two issues. His assistant Al Columbia took over and painted a third, which never saw print, and the series was abandoned. Mad Love was financially wiped out. Moore contributed two serials to the horror anthology Taboo, edited by Stephen R Bissette:
He also wrote a graphic novel for Victor Gollancz Ltd, A Small Killing, illustrated by Oscar Zarate. Return to the MainstreamAfter several years out of the mainstream Moore worked his way back into superhero comics by writing several series for Image Comics. This led to him creating of ABC (America's Best Comics) line, published by Jim Lee's company Wildstorm. Before publication, however, Lee sold Wildstorm to DC, and Moore found himself in the uncomfortable position of working for DC again. The line included:
Outside ComicsMoore is a practicing magician, having converted to Gnosticism in the mid-1990s, and part of a performance art group, the Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels. Two of their pieces, The Birth Caul and Snakes and Ladders, have been adapted to comics by Eddie Campbell. He has written a novel, Voice of the Fire, a set of seemingly unconnected short stories about linked events in Northampton through the centuries, from the Bronze Age to the present day. From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen have both been made into Hollywood movies. A tribute and in depth biography of Alan Moore in his Fiftieth Year entitled Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman is available from most comics stores. All proceeds of this publication will go to charity. Alan Moore is blind in one eye, and deaf in one ear.
Major worksMarvelman/ MiraclemanMoore resurrected Marvelman, an obscure British comic which was a thinly disguised ripoff of the American superhero Captain Marvel. The strip, which ran from 1953–1963, followed the adventures of Micky Moran, a young boy who was given the power to become a full grown superhero by a recluse astro-scientist who discovered "the key word to the universe." The strip, which maintained a childish innocence and purity, has the distinction of being the first British superhero comic. Moore's revival, which began in 1982, is perhaps the first example of postmodernism in comics, featuring a strong loss of innocence theme. Micky is now an adult, entangled in the problems of everyday life. He has forgotten his entire life as Marvelman. Caught in the middle of a hostage situation, he remembers the key word "Kimota" and becomes Marvelman once more. Mickey soon realizes that the memories of his youth do not match up with reality. There are no records of his time as Marvelman; the world has no memory of his existence. Living in a world far more complicated than his "four color memories", Mickey begins a search for the answers to his past. Due to a trademark conflict, Moore's Marvelman was published as Miracleman in the United States. Swamp ThingPossibly worried about the mature elements of Moore's work -- for example, an issue of Marvelman graphically depicted childbirth -- DC hired Moore to work on a fairly unpopular character distanced from their Superhero line. But Swamp Thing, a title starring a man turned into a vegetable monster by an experimental plant growth formula, was soon given an Alan Moore twist. In Moore's second issue, 'The Anatomy Lesson,' the title character is shot and dissected by a scientist. The scientist soon concludes that Swamp Thing is a superficial imitation of a man, his lungs cannot pump air, his brain does not contain neurons. He concludes that the swamp creature is a plant which had absorbed the memories and imitated the life of a dead man; Swamp Thing was never human. A strong arc in the series is Swamp Thing's search for identity. Swamp Thing, discovering the scientist's report, loses his sense of self. Most of Moore's plotlines deal with social ills as seen through horror metaphors. Sexual discrimination, racism, violence, fear of nuclear energy, and pollution are all themes addressed in his work. Moore's Swamp Thing was enormously influential in showing a larger audience that genre comics could address serious issues and take on literary pretentions. Many of the storylines in Neil Gaiman's World Fantasy winning series, The Sandman, were influenced by Alan Moore's Swamp Thing work. WatchmenMoore's most popular comic work, Watchmen, is about superheroes who have been affected by real world politics. McCarthyism, The Vietnam War, and the Cold War have unhinged the current superhero generation. Watchmen deconstructed the superhero, looking at the moral, psychological, and sexual implications of their activities. His most far reaching work to date, Watchmen addressed such issues as free will, the nature of time, human psychology, global politics, and moral relativism. Watchmen incorporated cinema style transitions and voice overs. It avoided the then typically-used comic book thought bubble. Watchmen is the only comic to be granted an honorary Hugo award. Moore said that it was his final statement on superheroes, and, upon completing his commitment of Miracleman, retired from mainstream comics. The interim: Brought to Light and Big NumbersMoore did a short comic, Brought to Light about a number of dirty dealings by the CIA. Big Numbers was an attempt to do a book as intricate as Watchmen outside of the superhero genre. The story revolved around the building of an American style shopping mall in a small British town, and the unforeseen causes and effects. The story would have dealt with chaos theory, and the large effects small incidents can have. Alan Moore's attempt to self publish Big Numbers ended in financial failure due to delays in the art. The book never saw print past the second issue, and Moore has stated no intention of reviving it. A return to Genre comics: 1963Moore felt that his influence on comics had in many ways been detrimental. Instead of imitating the more innovative parts of his work, creators of the Image movement imitated the violence and grimness. Disturbed that the superhero genre has completely separated from its innocence, Moore conceived of 1963, a series of comics pastiching Marvel's early output. Tapping into the early issues of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Captain America, and the Avengers, Moore wrote the comics according in the styles of the time. The comics include the period sexism and pro-capitalist propaganda that, though played seriously, appeared quaint to a 90's audience. The series was to have concluded with an annual in which the heroes time travel to the 90's era to meet the prototypical grim, ultra-violent Image Comics characters. The 60's heroes would have been shocked at their decendents, even the change in art from four colors to gray shading would have been commented upon. Although Moore had gotten a number of pages into the annual, the splitting up of the Image partners spelled the end of the project. There has been some talk recently of a possible concluding chapter, re-conceived as more contemporary commentary. SupremeMoore was asked by publisher Rob Liefeld to write further adventures of Supreme, Liefeld's violent, inconsistently-written Superman knockoff. Moore agreed on the condition that he could throw out everything previously done with the character, as he felt the comic was not very good. Beginning with issue 41, Moore began developing a new approach to comic storytelling and the Superhero. Supreme is a complex comic, containing layers upon layers of metafiction, each issue containing further comment on the nature of comics history, storytelling, and the Superman mythos. Supreme's secret identity is Ethan Crane, a mild-mannered artist for Dazzle Comics. When not saving the world as the archetypical Superhero, he illustrates the adventures of Omniman, an ultra-violent Supreme-like character going under a relaunch with a change of writers. In the first issue, Supreme discovers he is living in the most recent "revision," as reality is an ever-changing story and there have been many versions of himself who came before. Retired Supremes live in the "Supremacy", an afterlife for characters whose stories have come to an end. Supreme's learns that his memories are "backstory" gradually being filled in until his real memories are indistinguishable from the filled-in, never-happened ones of the past. Flashback Supreme sequences are told in the comic style of the era, reflecting different periods of comics history. The ABC LinePartial bibliographyComics
Novels
Recorded works (available on compact disc):
Films
External links
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