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{{otheruses4|the writer|articles on other people with the name Alan Moore|Alan Moore (disambiguation)}}
{{otherpeople}}
{{Infobox Writer
{{Infobox Writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]] -->
| name = Alan Moore
| name = Alan Moore
| image = Alan_Moore.jpg
| image = Alan_Moore.jpg
| imagesize = 240px
| caption =
| pseudonym =
| caption = Moore at a signing in London, October 2006
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|11|18}}
| pseudonym = Curt Vile, Jill de Ray, Translucia Baboon
| birth_place = [[Northampton]], [[England]]
| birthdate = {{birth date and age|1953|11|18}}
| occupation = comic book writer, novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, musician, artist, magician
| birthplace = [[Northampton]], [[England]]
| nationality = [[England|English]]
| occupation = [[comics]] [[writer]], [[novelist]], [[short story]] [[writer]], [[screenwriter]], [[musician]], [[cartoonist]]
| genre = [[comic book]], [[science fiction]], [[fiction]], [[non-fiction]]
| nationality = [[United Kingdom| English]]
| magnum_opus = ''[[Watchmen]]''
| genre = [[comic book]], [[science fiction]], [[fiction]], [[non-fiction]]
| movement = comic books as serious literature<ref name="Pop Matters"> [http://www.popmatters.com/comics/dc-universe-stories-of-alan-moore.shtml "DC Universe: The stories of Alan Moore"] Pop Matters (retrieved [[13 June]] [[2006]])</ref>
| notableworks = ''[[Watchmen]]'', ''[[V for Vendetta|V&nbsp;for&nbsp;Vendetta]]'', ''[[From Hell|From&nbsp;Hell]]'', ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]''
| influences = [[William Burroughs]],<ref name="Strange Things Interview"> [http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/?p=53 "Alan Moore Interview 1988"] Johncoulthart.com (retrieved [[13 June]] [[2006]])</ref> [[Thomas Pynchon]], [[Will Eisner]],<ref name="ImageText">, [[Steve Ditko]]
| influences = [[William Burroughs]],<ref name="Strange Things Interview"> [http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/?p=53 "Alan Moore Interview 1988"] Johncoulthart.com (retrieved [[13 June]] [[2006]])</ref> [[Thomas Pynchon]], [[Will Eisner]],<ref name="ImageText">
[http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/volume1/issue2/bc/ Alan Moore and the Graphic Novel: Confronting the Fourth Dimension] ''Image Text'', Vol. 1 no. 2 (Fall 2004) (retrieved [[13 June]] [[2006]])</ref> [[Jack Kirby]]<ref name="TwoMorrows">
[http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/volume1/issue2/bc/ Alan Moore and the Graphic Novel: Confronting the Fourth Dimension] ''Image Text'', Vol. 1 no. 2 (Fall 2004) (retrieved [[13 June]] [[2006]])</ref> [[Jack Kirby]]<ref name="TwoMorrows">
[http://www.twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/30moore.html The Supreme Writer: Alan Moore, Interviewed by George Khoury] ''TwoMorrows Publishing'' (retrieved [[13 June]] [[2006]])</ref>
[http://www.twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/30moore.html The Supreme Writer: Alan Moore, Interviewed by George Khoury] ''TwoMorrows Publishing'' (retrieved [[13 June]] [[2006]])</ref>
| influenced = [[Neil Gaiman]], [[Susanna Clarke]], [[Joss Whedon]],<ref name = "EW"/> [[Kurt Busiek]], [[Brian Azzarello]], [[Brian K. Vaughan]], [[Mark Millar]], [[Grant Morrison]], [[Geoff Johns]], [[Damon Lindelof]]<ref name="EW">
[http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1120854_1|37644||0_0_,00.html "Watchmen: An Oral History"] ''Entertainment Weekly'' (retrieved [[13 June]] [[2006]])</ref>
}}
'''Alan Moore''' (born November 18, 1953<ref>''[[Comics Buyers Guide]]'' #1636 (December 2007); Page 135</ref> in [[Northampton]]) is an [[England|English]] [[writer]] most famous for his influential work in [[comics]], including the acclaimed [[graphic novel]]s ''[[Watchmen]]'', ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' and ''[[From Hell]]''.<ref name="Alan Moore Bibliography">
[http://www.enjolrasworld.com/HTML%20Bibliographies/Alan%20Moore%20Bibliography.htm "Alan Moore Bibliography"] ''enjolrasworld.com'' (retrieved 13 June 2006)</ref> He has also written a novel, ''[[Voice of the Fire]]'', and performs "workings" (one-off performance art/spoken word pieces) with [[The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels]], some of which have been released on CD.


| influenced = [[Neil Gaiman]], [[Joss Whedon]],<ref name="EW">
As a comics writer, Moore is notable for being one of the first writers to apply literary and formalist sensibilities to the mainstream of the medium as well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes. He brings a wide range of influences to his work such as: [[William S. Burroughs]],<ref name="Strange Things Interview" /> [[Thomas Pynchon]], [[Robert Anton Wilson]] and [[Iain Sinclair]], <ref>Dave Windett, Jenni Scott & Guy Lawley, "Writer From Hell: the Alan Moore Experience" (interview), ''Comics Forum'' 4, p. 46, 1993</ref> [[New Wave (science fiction)|New Wave]] [[science fiction]] writers like [[Michael Moorcock]] and [[Horror fiction|horror]] writers like [[Clive Barker]].<ref>"Neil Gaiman interviewd by Steve Whitaker", ''FA'' 109, January 1989, pp. 24-29</ref> Influences within comics include [[Will Eisner]],<ref name="ImageText" /> [[Harvey Kurtzman]],<ref>[http://www.blather.net/articles/amoore/watchmen1.html Moore interview on Blather]</ref> [[Jack Kirby]]<ref name="TwoMorrows" /> and [[Bryan Talbot]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Moore | first=Alan | coauthors=[[Bryan Talbot|Talbot, Bryan]]| format=Introduction|year=1987 | title=The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Book 2: Transfiguration | edition=Proutt edition | publisher=Valkyrie Press | id=ISBN 1870923006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | author=Staff writer | title=Book is an illustrating read | date=[[5 April]] [[2005]] | work=The Evening Telegraph |publisher=Johnston Press Digital Publishing | url=http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/viewarticle.aspx?sectionid=1107&ArticleID=990184 |accessdate = 2007-02-07 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Sorensen | first=Lita | authorlink=Lita Sorensen | year=2005 | title=Bryan Talbot | pages=37 | publisher=The Rosen Publishing
[http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1120854_1|37644||0_0_,00.html "Watchmen: An Oral History"] ''Entertainment Weekly'' (retrieved [[13 June]] [[2006]])</ref> [[Kurt Busiek]], [[Brian Azzarello]], [[Brian K. Vaughan]],
Group | isbn= 978-1-4042-0282-5 }}</ref>
[[Mark Millar]], [[Grant Morrison]], [[Damon Lindelof]]<ref name="EW">
[http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1120854_1|37644||0_0_,00.html "Watchmen: An Oral History"] ''Entertainment Weekly'' (retrieved [[13 June]] [[2006]])</ref> }}


'''Alan Moore''' (born [[November 18]], [[1953]], in [[Northampton]]) is an [[England|English]] [[writer]] most famous for his influential work in [[comics]], including the acclaimed [[graphic novel]]s ''[[Watchmen]]'', ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' and ''[[From Hell]]''.<ref name="Alan Moore Bibliography">
== Personal and early life ==
[http://www.enjolrasworld.com/HTML%20Bibliographies/Alan%20Moore%20Bibliography.htm "Alan Moore Bibliography"] ''enjolrasworld.com'' (retrieved [[13 June]] [[2006]])</ref> He has also written a novel, ''[[Voice of the Fire]]'', and performs "workings" (one-off performance art/spoken word pieces) with the Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels, some of which have been released on CD.
Moore was born in [[Northampton]], [[England]] to brewery worker Ernest Moore and printer Sylvia Doreen. He lived in a very poor area, and was expelled from school in 1970 at the age of 17 for dealing [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]],<ref name="CBRAMI" /> later describing himself as "one of the world's most inept LSD dealers".<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7307303.stm Comic legend keeps true to roots]</ref> After this he tried to become an artist for comics, before moving on to writing. With his first wife, Phyllis, he had two daughters, Amber and [[Leah Moore|Leah]]. The couple also had a mutual lover Deborah.<ref>{{cite news | title=Moore and Villarrubia on The Mirror of Love | work=Newsarama | url=http://www.newsarama.com/pages/Other_Publishers/Mirror_Love.htm | accessdate = 2007-06-08}}</ref> After Moore had received widespread commercial success for his comic-writing, he decided to turn his back on mainstream comics to develop other projects. Together with his wife and their lover, he set up Mad Love Publishing in 1988.<ref>[[Paul Gravett|Gravett, Paul]], "[http://www.paulgravett.com/articles/117_moore_no_sex/117_moore_no_sex.htm <Background>]" to Moore's "Alan Moore: No More Sex," in ''Escape'' #15 (1988), edited by Gravett and Peter Stanbury</ref> The company suffered several setbacks, however, nominally remaining in existence as an entity but ceasing to publish after very little output, while Moore's relationship fell apart.<ref name="Ex158"/> Phyllis, Deborah and the two children left Moore during this time.<ref name="Ex158">[[George Khoury (author)|Khoury, George]], ''The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore'', ([[TwoMorrows Publishing]], 2003) (ISBN 1893905241), pp. 158-159</ref>


As a comics writer, Moore is notable for applying literary and formalist sensibilities to the medium. As well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes, he brings a wide range of influences to his work, from the literary &ndash; authors such as [[William S. Burroughs]],<ref name="Strange Things Interview" /> [[Thomas Pynchon]] and [[Iain Sinclair]],<ref>Dave Windett, Jenni Scott & Guy Lawley, "Writer From Hell: the Alan Moore Experience" (interview), ''Comics Forum'' 4, p. 46, 1993</ref> [[New Wave (science fiction)|New Wave]] science fiction writers like [[Michael Moorcock]] and [[Horror fiction|horror]] writers like [[Clive Barker]] &ndash; to the [[Film|cinematic]] &ndash; [[Film director|filmmakers]] like [[Nicolas Roeg]]. Influences within comics include [[Will Eisner]],<ref name="ImageText" /> [[Harvey Kurtzman]],<ref>[http://www.blather.net/articles/amoore/watchmen1.html Moore interview on Blather]</ref> [[Jack Kirby]]<ref name="TwoMorrows" /> and [[Bryan Talbot]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Moore | first=Alan | authorlink=Alan Moore |coauthors=[[Bryan Talbot|Talbot, Bryan]]| format=Introduction|year=1987 | title=The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Book 2: Transfiguration | edition=Proutt edition | publisher=Valkyrie Press | id=ISBN 1870923006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | author=Staff writer | title=Book is an illustrating read | date=[[05 April]] [[2005]] | work=The Evening Telegraph |publisher=Johnston Press Digital Publishing | url=http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/viewarticle.aspx?sectionid=1107&ArticleID=990184 |acessdate=[[2007-02-07]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Sorensen | first=Lita | authorlink=Lita Sorensen | year=2005 | title=Bryan Talbot | pages=37 | publisher=The Rosen Publishing
After the failure of his relationships and publishing company, Moore was forced to return to mainstream comic writing, but refused to return to either DC or Marvel.<ref name="CBRAMI" /> It did not take long for Moore to find commercial and critical success again, and by 1998 Moore was planning an entire comic books line, later known as [[America's Best Comics]], with which he would write five complete series entirely by himself.<ref name="CBRAMI" />
Group | id=ISBN 140420282X }}</ref>


==Biography and personal life==
March 2006 saw the publication of ''[[Tom Strong]]'' #36, in which Moore wrapped up his involvement with his DC/WildStorm-published [[America's Best Comics]] imprint, and once again announced his decision to return to less commercially-oriented works, and smaller publishers such as [[Top Shelf Productions|Top Shelf]].<ref name="Heidi">[[Heidi MacDonald]]'s interview with Moore, November 1, 2005. Originally at [[Mile High Comics]]/Comicon.com's ''The Beat''; accessed through the [www.archive.org Internet Archive]: [http://web.archive.org/web/20060505034142/http://www.comicon.com/thebeat/2006/03/a_for_alan_pt_1_the_alan_moore.html Part 1] and [http://web.archive.org/web/20060419040811/www.comicon.com/thebeat/2006/03/a_for_alan_pt_2_the_further_ad.html Part 2]. Accessed September 26, 2008</ref> Also in 2006, he appeared on the [[BBC]]'s ''[[The Culture Show]]'' and joined a campaign to try and save [[Northampton]] [[council housing]] from being sold to private companies.<ref>See Moore's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf5Hz-GFqiw&eurl=http://alister.blogspot.com/2006/09/alan-moore-backs-council-tenants.html YouTube statement], and [http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/preview.php?image=litg/moore_newspaper.jpg this] Newspaper article.</ref> In March 2007 he appeared at a [[Robert Anton Wilson]] tribute concert at the [[Queen Elizabeth Hall]].
Moore was born in [[November 18]], [[1953]], in [[Northampton]], [[England]] to brewery worker Ernest Moore and printer Sylvia Doreen. He was influenced by his highly religious and superstitious grandmother.{{fact | date=May 2007}} He lived in a very poor area, and was expelled from school aged 17 for dealing in the drug [[LSD]]. After this he tried to become an artist for comics, before moving on to writing. With his first wife, Phyllis, he had two daughters, Amber and [[Leah Moore|Leah]], and an unusual domestic set-up, including a mutual lover, Deborah Delano. On [[May 12]], [[2007]], he married [[Melinda Gebbie]], with whom he has worked on several comics.<ref>"Alan Moore's Girls Gone Wild; The Village Voice; August 23, 2006; Pages 34-35; by Richard Geir</ref> He currently lives in Northampton. He is a [[vegetarian]], an [[anarchist]], a practising [[Magician (paranormal)|magician]], and worships a [[Roman mythology|Roman]] snake-deity named [[Glycon]].<ref>Steve Rose ''[http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/sciencefiction/story/0,6000,643500,00.html Moore's murderer]'', [http://www.guardian.co.uk/ Guardian Unlimited], [[2 February]] [[2002]], accessed [[12 March]] [[2006]]</ref> In 2006, he appeared on the [[BBC]]'s ''[[The Culture Show]]'' and he has joined the campaign to save [[council housing]] from being sold to private companies.


==Career==
On [[May 12]], [[2007]], he married [[Melinda Gebbie]], with whom he has worked on several comics.<ref>"Alan Moore's Girls Gone Wild; The Village Voice; August 23, 2006; Pages 34-35; by Richard Geir</ref> He currently lives in Northampton. He is a [[vegetarian]], an [[Anarchism|anarchist]],<ref>"Politically I'm an anarchist."&ndash;''[http://web.archive.org/web/20070305213808/http://www.comicon.com/thebeat/2006/03/a_for_alan_pt_1_the_alan_moore.html A FOR ALAN, Pt. 1: The Alan Moore interview]'', [[Mile High Comics]], [[November 1]], [[2005]].</ref> a practicing [[Magician (paranormal)|magician]] and [[occultist]], and he worships a [[Roman mythology|Roman]] snake-[[deity]] named [[Glycon]].<ref>Steve Rose ''[http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/sciencefiction/story/0,6000,643500,00.html Moore's murderer]'', [http://www.guardian.co.uk/ Guardian Unlimited], [[2 February]] [[2002]], accessed [[12 March]] [[2006]]</ref>
===Early work===
For his life's work Moore was honored in 2008 with the [[Max & Moritz Prize]].<ref>[http://www.comic-salon.de/daten/c_mm_nomdetail.asp?NomID=69&VonSeite=c_mm_nom.asp Platthaus, Andreas "Sonderpreis für ein herausragendes Lebenswerk: PREISTRÄGER - Alan Moore"]. Accessed September 26, 2008</ref>
[[Image:V for vendettax.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Cover art for the collected edition of ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' by [[David Lloyd (comic artist)|David Lloyd]].]]
Having been expelled from school at the age of 17 for dealing [[LSD]],<ref>Brad Stone ''[http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=554 Alan Moore Interview]'', [http://www.comicbookresources.com/ Comic Book Resources], [[22 October]] [[2001]], accessed [[7 January]] [[2006]]</ref> Moore spent the next several years in menial jobs before embarking on a career as a [[cartoonist]] in the late 1970s. He wrote and drew [[Underground comics|underground]]-style strips for music magazines, including ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]'' and the ''[[NME]]'', under the pseudonym [[Kurt Weill|Curt Vile]], sometimes in collaboration with his friend [[Steve Moore (comics)|Steve Moore]] (no relation). Under the pseudonym [[Gilles de Rais|Jill de Ray]], he began a weekly strip, ''[[Maxwell the Magic Cat]]'', for the [[Northants Post]] newspaper, which continued until 1986.


Deciding he could not make a living as an artist, he concentrated on writing, providing scripts for [[Marvel UK]], ''[[2000 AD (comic)|2000 AD]]'' and ''[[Warrior (comics)|Warrior]]''.<ref name="Alan Moore Fan Site">
== Comics career ==
[http://www.alanmoorefansite.com/bio.html "Biography"] ''Alan Moore Fan Site'' (retrieved [[13 June]] [[2006]])</ref> 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]], running in a variety of Marvel UK publications. At ''2000 AD'' he started by writing one-off ''[[Future Shocks]]'' and ''Time Twisters'', moving on to series such as ''[[Skizz]]'' (''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|E.T.]]'' as written by [[Alan Bleasdale]]) with artist [[Jim Baikie]], ''[[D.R. and Quinch]]'' (a sci-fi take on [[National Lampoon]]'s characters [[O.C. and Stiggs]]) with Davis, and ''[[The Ballad of Halo Jones]]'' (the first series in the comic to be based around a female character) with [[Ian Gibson (artist)|Ian Gibson]]. The last two proved amongst the most popular strips to appear in ''2000 AD'' but Moore became increasingly concerned at his lack of creator's rights, and in 1986 stopped writing for ''2000 AD'', leaving the ''Halo Jones'' story incomplete. The theme of fallings out with publishers on matters of principle would become a common one in Moore's later career.
=== Early work ===
[[Image:V for vendettax.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Cover art for the collected edition of ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' by [[David Lloyd (comic artist)|David Lloyd]].]]
After being expelled from school for dealing [[LSD]], Moore spent the next several years in menial jobs before embarking on a career as a [[cartoonist]] in the late 1970s.<ref name="CBRAMI">{{cite web|url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=511|title=Alan Moore interview|last=Stone|first=Brad|publisher=Comic Book Resources|date=22 October 2001|accessdate=2008-09-10}} [http://www.webcitation.org/5ajIxr3PM Archived] 2008-09-10.</ref> He wrote and drew [[Underground comics|underground]]-style strips for music magazines, including ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]'' and the ''[[NME]]'', under the pseudonym [[Kurt Weill|Curt Vile]], sometimes in collaboration with his friend [[Steve Moore (comics)|Steve Moore]] (no relation).<ref name="OGWS">{{cite book|last=Knowles|first=Christopher|coauthors=Joseph Michael Linsner|title=Our Gods Wear Spandex|publisher=Weiser|year=2007|pages=199|isbn=1578634067}}</ref> Under the pseudonym [[Gilles de Rais|Jill de Ray]] (an alternative spelling of the serial killer [[Gilles de Rais]]), he began a weekly strip, ''[[Maxwell the Magic Cat]]'', for the [[Northants Post]] newspaper, which continued until 1986.<ref name="CBRAMI" /> Moore has gone on record, in the introduction to Acme Press's collected volumes of the strip, as saying that he would have been happy to continue Maxwell's adventures almost indefinitely, until the Post ran an editorial on the place of homosexuals in the community. As Alan later wryly observed, their position was pretty much that there shouldn't be one. He promptly stopped the Maxwell strip.<ref>''Maxwell the Magic Cat'' (Northants Post, 1979-1986, [[Trade paperback (comics)|tpb]], [[Acme Press]], 1986-1987 ISBN 1-870084-00-4, ISBN 1-870084-05-5, ISBN 1-870084-10-1 and ISBN 1-870084-20-9</ref> ''(Moore would later produce ''[[AARGH (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia)|AARGH]]'' (Mad Love, 1988), attacking [[Section 28|homophobic Government legislation]], donating all profits to the Organisation For Lesbian And Gay Action.<ref>[[George Khoury (author)|Khoury, George]], ''[[The Extraordinary Works Of Alan Moore]]'' ([[TwoMorrows Publishing]], 2003) (ISBN 1893905241), p. 75</ref><ref>[[Paul Gravett|Gravett, Paul]], "[http://www.paulgravett.com/articles/117_moore_no_sex/117_moore_no_sex.htm <Background>]" to Moore's "Alan Moore: No More Sex," in ''Escape'' #15 (1988), edited by Gravett and Peter Stanbury</ref>)''


Of his work during this period, it is the work he produced for ''Warrior'' that attracted greater critical acclaim: ''[[Marvelman]]'' (later retitled ''Miracleman'' for legal reasons), a radical re-imagining of a forgotten 1950s [[superhero]] drawn by [[Garry Leach]] and [[Alan Davis]]; ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' was a [[dystopian]] pulp adventure about a flamboyant [[anarchist]] who dresses as [[Guy Fawkes]] and fights a future [[United Kingdom|British]] [[fascist]] government, illustrated by [[David Lloyd (comic artist)|David Lloyd]]; and ''[[The Bojeffries Saga]]'', a comedy about a working-class English family of [[vampires]] and [[werewolves]], drawn by [[Steve Parkhouse]]. ''Warrior'' closed before these stories were completed, but he was able to continue them with other publishers.
Deciding he could not make a living as an artist, he concentrated on writing, providing scripts for [[Marvel UK]], ''[[2000 AD (comic)|2000 AD]]'' and ''[[Warrior (comics)|Warrior]]''.<ref name="CBRAMI" /><ref name="Alan Moore Fan Site">
[http://www.alanmoorefansite.com/bio.html "Biography"] ''Alan Moore Fan Site'' (retrieved [[13 June]] [[2006]])</ref> He first wrote short strips for ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' and ''[[Star Wars Weekly]] '' before beginning a celebrated run on ''[[Captain Britain]]'' with artist [[Alan Davis]], running in a variety of Marvel UK publications.<ref>{{cite book|last=Nolen-Weathington|first=Eric|title=Modern Masters: Alan Davis|publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing|year=2003|pages=34-37|isbn=1893905195}}</ref>


===American mainstream===
Moore began his association with ''2000 AD'' in early 1980, when he submitted a prospective ''[[Judge Dredd]]'' script, and was advised by sub-editor [[Alan Grant (writer)|Alan Grant]] to attempt a ''[[Future Shocks]]'' script.<ref name="TPO75">[[David Bishop|Bishop, David]], ''[[Thrill Power Overload|Thrill-Power Overload]]''<small>: The Official History of 2000AD</small> (Rebellion, June 2007), ISBN 1-905437-22-6, p. 75</ref> This came to the attention of editor [[Pat Mills]], who, describing Moore as "a really fucking good writer," brought "one-off scripts... on a regular basis" from Moore, primarily for short ''[[Future Shocks]]'' and ''Time Twisters'' stories.<ref name="TPO75"/> Concurrent with writing ''[[Captain Britain]]'' for Marvel UK and various strips for ''Warrior'', Moore began to plan and pen longer series for ''2000 AD''.<ref>Bishop, ''Thrill-Power Overload'', pp. 93-94</ref> 1983 saw the debut of ''[[Skizz]]'' (Moore was asked by editors to produce his own take on ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|E.T.]]'', and says that his version "owes far too much to [[Alan Bleasdale]]"<ref>Bishop, ''Thrill-Power Overload'', p. 94</ref>) with artist [[Jim Baikie]]. Moore also wrote a one-off tale starring ''[[D.R. and Quinch]]'' (a sci-fi take on ''[[National Lampoon (magazine)|National Lampoon]]'''s characters [[O.C. and Stiggs]], described by Moore as "continuing the tradition of [[Dennis the Menace (UK)|Dennis the Menace]], but giving him a [[thermonuclear]] capacity."<ref>Bishop, ''Thrill-Power Overload'', p. 99</ref>) with his ''Captain Britain'' collaborator Davis, which was soon turned into a series.
Moore's British work brought him to the attention of [[DC Comics]] [[editing|editor]] [[Len Wein]], who hired him in 1983 to write ''[[Swamp Thing]]'', then a formulaic and poor-selling monster comic. Moore, along with artists [[Stephen R. Bissette]], [[Rick Veitch]] and [[John Totleben]], deconstructed and reimagined the character, writing a series of formally experimental stories that addressed environmental and social issues alongside the horror and fantasy, bolstered by research into the culture of [[Louisiana]], where the series was set. He revived many of DC's neglected magical and supernatural characters, including the [[Spectre (comics)|Spectre]], the [[The Demon (comics)|Demon]], the [[Phantom Stranger]], [[Deadman]] and others, and introduced [[John Constantine]], an English working-class magician based visually on [[Sting]], who later got his own series, ''[[Hellblazer]]'', currently the longest continuously published comic of DC's [[Vertigo (comics)|Vertigo]] imprint.


Moore's run on ''Swamp Thing'' was successful both critically and commercially, and inspired DC to recruit British writers like [[Grant Morrison]], [[Jamie Delano]], [[Peter Milligan]] and [[Neil Gaiman]] to write comics in a similar vein, often involving radical revamps of obscure characters. The titles that followed laid the foundation of what became the Vertigo line. Moore himself wrote further high-profile comics for DC, including the final two-part [[Superman]] story (''[[Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?|Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?]]'') before [[John Byrne]]'s revamp in 1986 and the [[Batman]] graphic novel ''[[Batman: The Killing Joke|The Killing Joke]]'' with artist [[Brian Bolland]].
Widely considered the highlight<ref>See Bishop, ''Thrill-Power Overload'', Chapter 10: "Hanging with Halo Jones," pp. 100-109</ref><ref>Bishop, ''Thrill-Power Overload'', p. 110</ref> of his ''2000 AD'' career, (although "not an immediate classic"<ref>Bishop, ''Thrill-Power Overload'', p. 102</ref>), Moore's ''[[The Ballad of Halo Jones]]'', the first series in the comic to be based around a female character,<ref>Bishop, ''Thrill-Power Overload'', pp. 99-102</ref> with [[Ian Gibson (artist)|Ian Gibson]]. Although Moore's work numbered amongst the most popular strips to appear in ''2000 AD'', Moore himself became increasingly concerned at the lack of creator's rights in British comics.<ref name="TPO105">Bishop, ''Thrill-Power Overload'', p. 105-106</ref> In 1985, he talked to fanzine ''Arkensword'', noting that he had stopped working for all British publishers bar IPC (publishers of ''2000 AD''), "purely for the reason that IPC so far have avoided lying to me, cheating me or generally treating me like shit."<ref name="TPO105"/> He did, however, join other creators in decrying the wholesale relinquishing of all rights, and in 1986 stopped writing for ''2000 AD'', leaving mooted future volumes of the ''Halo Jones'' story unstarted.<ref>Bishop, ''Thrill-Power Overload'', p. 110-111</ref> Moore's outspoken opinions, and principles (particularly creator's rights and ownership) would see him burn bridges with a number of other publishers during his later career.<ref name="Heidi"/>


[[Image:Watchmencharacters.jpg|150px|thumb|left|The cast of ''[[Watchmen]]'', clockwise from top: [[Doctor Manhattan|Dr Manhattan]], [[Comedian (comics)|The Comedian]], [[Ozymandias (comics)|Ozymandias]], [[Nite-Owl|Nite Owl]], [[Rorschach (comics)|Rorschach]], [[Captain Metropolis]], the [[Silk Spectre]]. Art by [[Dave Gibbons]].]]
Of his work during this period, it is arguably the work he produced for ''Warrior'' that attracted greater critical acclaim: ''[[Marvelman]]'' (later retitled ''Miracleman'' for legal reasons), a radical re-imagining of a forgotten 1950s [[superhero]] drawn primarily by [[Garry Leach]] and [[Alan Davis]]<ref>See: [[George Khoury (author)|Khoury, George]], ''Kimota!: The Miracleman Companion'' ([[TwoMorrows Publishing]], 2001) ISBN 189390511X</ref>; ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' was a [[dystopian]] pulp adventure about a flamboyant [[anarchist]] who dresses as [[Guy Fawkes]] and fights a future [[United Kingdom|British]] [[fascist]] government, illustrated by [[David Lloyd (comic artist)|David Lloyd]]; and ''[[The Bojeffries Saga]]'', a comedy about a working-class English family of [[vampires]] and [[werewolves]], drawn by [[Steve Parkhouse]]. ''Warrior'' closed before these stories were completed, but he was able to continue them with other publishers.<ref name="OGWS" /><ref name="RCMB" /><ref name="TBTMP">{{cite book|last=Khoury|first=George|title=True Brit|publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing|year=2004|pages=23-25|isbn=1893905330}}</ref>
The limited series ''[[Watchmen]]'', begun in 1986 and collected as a trade paperback in 1987, cemented his reputation. Imagining what the world would be like if superheroes had really existed since the 1940s, Moore and artist [[Dave Gibbons]] created a [[Cold War]] mystery in which the shadow of [[nuclear war]] threatens the world. The heroes who are caught up in this escalating crisis either work for the [[United States|U.S.]] government or are outlawed, and are motivated to heroism by their various psychological hang-ups. ''Watchmen'' is non-linear and told from multiple points of view, and includes formal experiments such as the symmetrical design of issue 5, "Fearful Symmetry", where the last page is a near mirror-image of the first, the second-last of the second, and so on. It is an early example of Moore's interest in the human perception of time and its implications for free will. It is the only comic to be granted an honorary [[Hugo Award]].


Alongside roughly contemporaneous work such as [[Frank Miller (comics)|Frank Miller]]'s ''[[Batman: The Dark Knight Returns]]'', [[Art Spiegelman]]'s ''[[Maus]]'', and [[Jaime Hernandez|Jaime]] and [[Gilbert Hernandez]]'s ''[[Love and Rockets (comics)|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 [[UKCAC]] in [[London]] he is said to have been followed into the toilet by eager autograph hunters).<ref>{{Comic book reference | Cartoonist = [[Eddie Campbell|Campbell, Eddie]] | Title = alec: how to be an artist | Date = March, 2001 | Publisher = Eddie Campbell Comics | Page = 108 | Panel = 9 | ID =ISBN 0957789637 }} "The last straw may well go down as apochryphal."</ref>
=== American mainstream ===
''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]] infringement. Despite [[copyright]] disputes with artists and allegations of non-payment against the publisher, Moore, with artists [[Chuck Austen]], Rick Veitch and John Totleben, finished his story 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.
Moore's British work brought him to the attention of [[DC Comics]] [[editing|editor]] [[Len Wein]], who hired him in 1983 to write ''[[Swamp Thing]]'', then a formulaic and poor-selling monster comic. Moore, along with artists [[Stephen R. Bissette]], [[Rick Veitch]] and [[John Totleben]], deconstructed and reimagined the character, writing a series of formally experimental stories that addressed environmental and social issues alongside the horror and fantasy, bolstered by research into the culture of [[Louisiana]], where the series was set.<ref name="OGWS" /><ref name="RCMB" /> He revived many of DC's neglected magical and supernatural characters, including the [[Spectre (comics)|Spectre]], the [[The Demon (comics)|Demon]], the [[Phantom Stranger]], [[Deadman]] and others, and introduced [[John Constantine]], an English working-class magician based visually on [[Sting (musician)|Sting]], who later got his own series, ''[[Hellblazer]]'', currently the longest continuously published comic of DC's [[Vertigo Comics|Vertigo]] imprint.


In 1987 Moore submitted a proposal for a miniseries called ''[[Twilight of the Superheroes]]'', the title a pun on [[Richard Wagner]]'s opera ''[[Götterdämmerung]]'' (the "Twilight of the Gods"). The series was set in the future of the [[DC Universe]], where the world is ruled by superheroic dynasties, including the House of Steel (presided over by [[Superman]] and [[Wonder Woman]]) and the House of Thunder (consisting of the [[Captain Marvel (DC Comics)|Marvel]] family). These two houses are about to unite through a dynastic marriage, their combined power potentially threatening freedom, and several characters, including John Constantine, attempt to stop it and free humanity from the power of superheroes. The series would also have restored the DC Universe's multiple earths, which had been eliminated in the continuity-revising 1985 miniseries ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]''. The series was never commissioned, but copies of Moore's detailed notes have appeared on the internet and in print despite the efforts of DC, who consider the proposal their property. Similar elements, such as the concept of [[Hypertime (comics)|hypertime]], have since appeared in DC comics. The 1996 miniseries ''[[Kingdom Come (comic)|Kingdom Come]]'' by [[Mark Waid]] and [[Alex Ross]], was also set amid a superheroic conflict in the future of the DC universe. Waid and Ross have stated that they had read the ''Twilight'' proposal before starting work on their series, but that any similarities are both minor and unintended.
Moore's run on ''Swamp Thing'' was successful both critically and commercially, and inspired DC to recruit European and particularly British writers like [[Grant Morrison]], [[Jamie Delano]], [[Peter Milligan]] and [[Neil Gaiman]] to write comics in a similar vein, often involving radical revamps of obscure characters.<ref name="OGWS" /><ref name="RCMB">{{cite book|last=Bongco|first=Mila|title=Reading Comics: Language, Culture, and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2000|pages=182-183|isbn=0815333447}}</ref> The titles that followed laid the foundation of what became the Vertigo line. Moore himself wrote further high-profile comics for DC, a ''[[Superman (comic book)|Superman]] Annual'' in 1985 (''[[For the Man Who Has Everything]]''), the final two-part [[Superman]] story (''[[Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?|Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?]]'') before [[John Byrne]]'s revamp in 1986 and the [[Batman]] graphic novel ''[[Batman: The Killing Joke|The Killing Joke]]'' with artist [[Brian Bolland]].

[[Image:Watchmencharacters.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The cast of ''[[Watchmen]]'', clockwise from top: [[Doctor Manhattan|Dr Manhattan]], [[Comedian (comics)|The Comedian]], [[Ozymandias (comics)|Ozymandias]], [[Nite-Owl|Nite Owl]], [[Rorschach (comics)|Rorschach]], [[Captain Metropolis]], the [[Silk Spectre]]. Art by [[Dave Gibbons]].]]
The limited series ''[[Watchmen]]'', begun in 1986 and collected as a trade paperback in 1987, cemented his reputation. Imagining what the world would be like if costumed heroes had really existed since the 1940s, Moore and artist [[Dave Gibbons]] created a [[Cold War]] mystery in which the shadow of [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]] threatens the world. The heroes who are caught up in this escalating crisis either work for the [[United States|U.S.]] government or are outlawed, and are motivated to heroism by their various psychological hang-ups. ''Watchmen'' is non-linear and told from multiple points of view, and includes formal experiments such as the symmetrical design of issue 5, "Fearful Symmetry", where the last page is a near mirror-image of the first, the second-last of the second, and so on. It is an early example of Moore's interest in the human perception of time and its implications for free will. It is the only comic to win the [[Hugo Award]], in a one-time category ("Best Other Form") created largely to acknowledge its excellence.

Alongside roughly contemporaneous work such as [[Frank Miller (comics)|Frank Miller's]] ''[[Batman: The Dark Knight Returns]]'', [[Art Spiegelman]]'s ''[[Maus]]'', and [[Jaime Hernandez|Jaime]] and [[Gilbert Hernandez]]'s ''[[Love and Rockets (comics)|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 [[UKCAC]] in [[London]] he is said to have been followed into the toilet by eager autograph hunters).<ref>{{Cite comic | Cartoonist = [[Eddie Campbell|Campbell, Eddie]] | Title = alec: how to be an artist | Date = March, 2001 | Publisher = Eddie Campbell Comics | Page = 108 | Panel = 9 | ID =ISBN 0957789637 }} "The last straw may well go down as apochryphal."</ref>
''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]] infringement. Despite [[copyright]] disputes with artists and allegations of non-payment against the publisher, Moore, with artists [[Chuck Austen]], Rick Veitch and John Totleben, finished his story and handed the character to writer [[Neil Gaiman]] and artist [[Mark Buckingham]] to continue.<ref name="RCMB" /> 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.

In 1987 Moore submitted a proposal for a miniseries called ''[[Twilight of the Superheroes]]'', the title a twist on [[Richard Wagner]]'s opera ''[[Götterdämmerung|Twilight of the Gods]]''. The series was set in the future of the [[DC Universe]], where the world is ruled by superheroic dynasties, including the House of Steel (presided over by [[Superman]] and [[Wonder Woman]]) and the House of Thunder (consisting of the [[Captain Marvel (DC Comics)|Marvel]] family). These two houses are about to unite through a dynastic marriage, their combined power potentially threatening freedom, and several characters, including John Constantine, attempt to stop it and free humanity from the power of superheroes. The series would also have restored the DC Universe's multiple earths, which had been eliminated in the continuity-revising 1985 miniseries ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]''. The series was never commissioned, but copies of Moore's detailed notes have appeared on the Internet and in print despite the efforts of DC, who consider the proposal their property. Similar elements, such as the concept of [[Hypertime (comics)|hypertime]], have since appeared in DC comics. The 1996 miniseries ''[[Kingdom Come (comic)|Kingdom Come]]'' by [[Mark Waid]] and [[Alex Ross]], was also set amid a superheroic conflict in the future of the DC universe. Waid and Ross have stated that they had read the ''Twilight'' proposal before starting work on their series, but that any similarities are both minor and unintended.<ref name="TBTMP" />


Moore's relations with DC Comics had gradually deteriorated over issues like creator's rights and merchandising. Moore and Gibbons were not paid any royalties for a ''Watchmen'' spin-off badge set, as DC defined them as a "promotional item". A group of creators, including Moore, [[Frank Miller (comics)|Frank Miller]], [[Marv Wolfman]], and [[Howard Chaykin]], fell out with DC over a proposed age-rating system similar to those used for films. After completing ''V for Vendetta'' in 1989, Moore stopped working for DC.
Moore's relations with DC Comics had gradually deteriorated over issues like creator's rights and merchandising. Moore and Gibbons were not paid any royalties for a ''Watchmen'' spin-off badge set, as DC defined them as a "promotional item". A group of creators, including Moore, [[Frank Miller (comics)|Frank Miller]], [[Marv Wolfman]], and [[Howard Chaykin]], fell out with DC over a proposed age-rating system similar to those used for films. After completing ''V for Vendetta'' in 1989, Moore stopped working for DC.


=== Independent period ===
===Independent period===
A variety of projects followed with independent publishers, including ''[[Brought to Light]]'', a history of [[CIA]] covert operations with illustrator [[Bill Sienkiewicz]] for [[Eclipse Comics]], and an anthology, ''[[AARGH (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia)]]'' campaigning against [[Section 28|anti-homosexual legislation]], which Moore published, along with his wife, Phyllis Moore, and their lover, Deborah Delano, through their newly formed publishing company, Mad Love Publishing.
A variety of projects followed with independent publishers, including ''[[Brought to Light]]'', a history of [[CIA]] covert operations with illustrator [[Bill Sienkiewicz]] for [[Eclipse Comics]], and an anthology, ''[[AARGH (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia)]]'' campaigning against [[Section 28|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 [[Northampton]] and inspired by [[chaos theory]] and the mathematical ideas of [[Benoît Mandelbrot]]. Bill Sienkiewicz illustrated the story in a painted style that relied heavily on photographic reference. After two issues were published, Sienkiewicz left the series. It was announced that his assistant, [[Al Columbia]], would replace him, but no further issues appeared.
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 [[Northampton]] and inspired by [[chaos theory]] and the mathematical ideas of [[Benoît Mandelbrot]]. Bill Sienkiewicz illustrated the story in a painted style that relied heavily on photographic reference. After two issues were published, Sienkiewicz left the series. It was announced that his assistant, [[Al Columbia]], would replace him, but no further issues appeared.


Moore contributed two serials to the horror anthology ''Taboo'', edited by Stephen R. Bissette. ''[[From Hell]]'' examined the [[Jack the Ripper]] murders as a microcosm of the 1880s, and the 1880s as the root of the 20th century. Inspired by [[Douglas Adams]]' novel ''[[Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency]]'',<ref>Danny Graydon ''[http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/10/22/alan_moore_2001_interview.shtml Interview - Alan Moore]'', [http://www.bbc.co.uk/movies/ BBC - Movies], accessed [[10 February]] [[2007]]</ref> Moore reasoned that to solve a crime [[holism|holistically]], one would need to solve the entire society it occurred in, and depicts the murders as a consequence of the politics and economics of the time. Just about every notable figure of the period is connected with the events in some way, including "Elephant Man" [[Joseph Merrick]], [[Oscar Wilde]], the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] writer [[Black Elk]], [[William Morris]], the artist [[Walter Sickert]] and [[Aleister Crowley]], who makes a brief appearance as a young boy. The Ripper carries out his killings as an [[occult]] [[ritual]], designed to enforce the hegemony of the rational and the masculine over the unconscious and feminine. The book also explores Moore's ideas about the perception of time, previously touched upon in ''Watchmen''. Illustrated in an appropriately sooty pen and ink style by [[Eddie Campbell]], ''From Hell'' took nearly ten years to complete, outlasting ''Taboo'' and going through two more publishers before being collected as a graphic novel by Eddie Campbell Comics. It was widely praised, with comics author [[Warren Ellis]] calling it "my all-time favorite graphic novel."<ref>[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,479890,00.html Review of ''From Hell'' in ''Entertainment Weekly'']</ref> A [[From Hell (film)|film adaptation]], directed by the [[Hughes Brothers]], was released in 2001 to mixed reviews.
Moore contributed two serials to the horror anthology ''Taboo'', edited by Stephen R. Bissette. ''[[From Hell]]'' examined the [[Jack the Ripper]] murders as a microcosm of the 1880s, and the 1880s as the root of the 20th Century. Inspired by [[Douglas Adams]]' novel ''[[Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency]]'',<ref>Danny Graydon ''[http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/10/22/alan_moore_2001_interview.shtml Interview - Alan Moore]'', [http://www.bbc.co.uk/movies/ BBC - Movies], accessed [[10 February]] [[2007]]</ref> Moore reasoned that to solve a crime [[holism|holistically]], one would need to solve the entire society it occurred in, and depicts the murders as a consequence of the politics and economics of the time. Just about every notable figure of the period is connected with the events in some way, including "Elephant Man" [[Joseph Merrick]], [[Oscar Wilde]], the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] writer [[Black Elk]], [[William Morris]], the artist [[Walter Sickert]] and [[Aleister Crowley]], who makes a brief appearance as a young boy. The Ripper carries out his killings as an [[occult]] [[ritual]], designed to enforce the hegemony of the rational and the masculine over the unconscious and feminine. The book also explores Moore's ideas about the perception of time, previously touched upon in ''Watchmen''. Illustrated in an appropriately sooty pen and ink style by [[Eddie Campbell]], ''From Hell'' took nearly ten years to complete, outlasting ''Taboo'' and going through two more publishers before being collected as a graphic novel by Eddie Campbell Comics. A [[From Hell (film)|film adaptation]], directed by the [[Hughes Brothers]], was released in 2001.


<!-- [[Image:Lostgirls cover.jpg|thumb|175px|The cover of the ''[[Lost Girls]]'' collected edition. Art by [[Melinda Gebbie]].]] -->
[[Image:Lostgirls_cover.jpg|thumb|150px|The cover of the ''[[Lost Girls]]'' collected edition. Art by [[Melinda Gebbie]].]]
''[[Lost Girls]]'', with artist [[Melinda Gebbie]], is an [[erotic]] series exploring possible sexual meanings in ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'', ''[[Peter Pan]]'' and ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]''. A collected edition was published in August 2006 in the United States, but a dispute with [[Great Ormond Street Hospital]], which holds the copyright to characters from ''Peter Pan'' in the [[European Union]] until 2008, prevented publication in the UK before that time.
''[[Lost Girls]]'', with artist [[Melinda Gebbie]] (who would eventually become Moore's second wife), is an [[erotic]] series decoding the sexual meanings in ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'', ''[[Peter Pan]]'' and ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]''. A collected edition was published in August 2006 in the United States, but an ongoing dispute with [[Great Ormond Street Hospital]], which holds rights to characters from ''Peter Pan'', has so far prevented publication in the UK. Publication has now reportedly been arranged for 2008, but proposed new UK Home Office legislation is likely to prevent publication altogether if it is passed before 2008.


He also wrote a graphic novel for [[Victor Gollancz Ltd]], ''[[A Small Killing]]'', illustrated by [[Oscar Zarate]], about a once idealistic advertising executive haunted by his boyhood self, published in 1988 through Mad Love and reprinted in 2003 by [[Avatar Press]].
He also wrote a graphic novel for [[Victor Gollancz Ltd]], ''[[A Small Killing]]'', illustrated by [[Oscar Zarate]], about a once idealistic advertising executive haunted by his boyhood self, published in 1988 through Mad Love and reprinted in 2003 by [[Avatar Press]].


===Return to the mainstream===
With Moore's much anticipated ''Big Numbers'' halted after two issues and Moore's personal relationships coming to an end (ultimately with Phyllis and Deborah leaving him and moving away), Mad Love Publishing was dissolved.
After several years out of the mainstream, Moore worked his way back into superhero comics by writing several series for [[Image Comics]] and the companies that later broke away from it. He felt that his influence on comics had in many ways been detrimental. Instead of taking inspiration from the more innovative aspects of his work, creators who followed him had merely imitated the violence and grimness. As a reaction against the superhero genre's abandonment of its innocence, Moore and artists Stephen R. Bissette, Rick Veitch and John Totleben conceived ''[[1963 (comic)|1963]]'', a series of comics which is a pastiche of Marvel's early works.

=== Return to the mainstream ===
After several years out of the mainstream, Moore worked his way back into superhero comics by writing several series for [[Image Comics]] and the companies that later broke away from it. He felt that his influence on comics had in many ways been detrimental. Instead of taking inspiration from the more innovative aspects of his work, creators who followed him had merely imitated the violence and grimness. As a reaction against the superhero genre's abandonment of its innocence, Moore and artists Stephen R. Bissette, Rick Veitch and John Totleben conceived ''[[1963 (comic)|1963]]'', a series of comics which is a pastiche of Marvel's early works.<ref name="CBRAMI" />


Tapping into the early issues of ''[[Spider-Man]]'', ''[[Doctor Strange]]'', ''[[Iron Man]]'', ''[[Fantastic Four]]'', and the ''[[Avengers (comics)|Avengers]]'', Moore wrote the comics according to the styles of the time, including the period's sexism and pro-capitalist attitude, which, though played seriously, appeared dated to a 90s audience. There was also a large streak of self-promotion, a satire of the bombastic Marvel editorial columns and policies of [[Stan Lee]].
Tapping into the early issues of ''[[Spider-Man]]'', ''[[Doctor Strange]]'', ''[[Iron Man]]'', ''[[Fantastic Four]]'', and the ''[[Avengers (comics)|Avengers]]'', Moore wrote the comics according to the styles of the time, including the period's sexism and pro-capitalist attitude, which, though played seriously, appeared dated to a 90s audience. There was also a large streak of self-promotion, a satire of the bombastic Marvel editorial columns and policies of [[Stan Lee]].


The series was to have concluded with an annual in which the heroes travel to the 1990s to meet the prototypical grim, ultra-violent [[Image Comics]] characters. The ''1963'' heroes would have been shocked at their descendants, even the change in art from four colors to gray shading would have been commented upon. The annual never appeared due to disputes within Image and the creative team.
The series was to have concluded with an annual in which the heroes travel to the 1990s to meet the prototypical grim, ultra-violent [[Image Comics]] characters. The ''1963'' heroes would have been shocked at their descendants, even the change in art from four colors to gray shading would have been commented upon. The annual never appeared due to disputes within Image and the creative team.


Following ''1963'', Moore worked on [[Jim Lee]]'s ''[[Wildcats (comics)|WildC.A.T.s]]'' and a number of [[Rob Liefeld]]'s titles, including ''[[Supreme (comics)|Supreme]]'', ''[[Youngblood (comics)|Youngblood]]'' and ''[[Glory (comics)|Glory]]'', retooling sometimes rudimentary and derivative characters and settings into more viable series. In Moore's hands, ''Supreme'', Liefeld's violent [[Superman]] analogue, became an inventive post-modern homage to superhero comics from the 1940s on, and the Superman comics of the [[Mort Weisinger]] era in particular. Flashbacks to the character's past adventures comment on comics history, storytelling, and the Superman mythos.
Following ''1963'', Moore worked on [[Jim Lee]]'s ''[[Wildcats (comics)|WildC.A.T.s]]'' and a number of [[Rob Liefeld]]'s titles, including ''[[Supreme (comics)|Supreme]]'', ''[[Youngblood (comics)|Youngblood]]'' and ''[[Glory (comics)|Glory]]'', retooling sometimes rudimentary and derivative characters and settings into more viable series. In Moore's hands, ''Supreme'', Liefeld's violent [[Superman]] analogue, became an inventive post-modern homage to superhero comics from the 1940s on, and the Superman comics of the [[Mort Weisinger]] era in particular. Flashbacks to the character's past adventures comment on comics history, storytelling, and the Superman mythos.


=== America's Best Comics ===
===America's Best Comics===
[[Image:League.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Cover art for the collected edition of ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' by [[Kevin O'Neill (comics)|Kevin O'Neill]].]]
{{main|America's Best Comics}}
[[Image:League.jpg|thumb|left|175px|Cover art for the collected edition of ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' by [[Kevin O'Neill (comics)|Kevin O'Neill]].]]


After working on Jim Lee's comic ''WildC.A.T.s'', Moore created the [[America's Best Comics]] line, a new group of characters to be published by Lee's company [[Wildstorm]].
After working on Jim Lee's comic ''WildC.A.T.s'', Moore created the ABC ([[America's Best Comics]]) line, a new group of characters to be published by Lee's company [[Wildstorm]].


''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'', a team-up book featuring characters from [[Victorian era|Victorian]] adventure novels such as [[H. Rider Haggard]]'s [[Allan Quatermain]], [[H. G. Wells]]' [[The Invisible Man|Invisible Man]], [[Jules Verne]]'s [[Captain Nemo]], [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s [[Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde|Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]], and Wilhelmina Murray from [[Bram Stoker]]'s ''[[Dracula]]'', was the first series to be published under the ABC banner. Illustrated by [[Kevin O'Neill (comics)|Kevin O'Neill]], the first volume of the series pitted the League against [[Professor Moriarty]] from the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' books; the second, against the Martians from ''[[The War of the Worlds]]''. A third volume entitled ''The Black Dossier'', is set in the 1950s, was released on November 14, 2007, though it has been reported that copyright issues will prevent its being published or distributed outside the US.<ref>[http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=litg Lying in the Gutters]</ref> A [[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)|film adaptation]] was released in 2003 and starred [[Sean Connery]] as {{lang|en|Quatermain}}. This series is the only work in the America's Best Comics line to which Moore, along with O'Neill, retains the copyright.
''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'', a team-up book featuring characters from [[Victorian era|Victorian]] adventure novels such as [[H. Rider Haggard]]'s [[Allan Quatermain]], [[H. G. Wells]]' [[The Invisible Man|Invisible Man]], [[Jules Verne]]'s [[Captain Nemo]], [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s [[The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde|Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]], and Wilhelmina Murray from [[Bram Stoker]]'s ''[[Dracula]]'', was the first series to be published under the ABC banner. Illustrated by [[Kevin O'Neill (comics)|Kevin O'Neill]], the first volume of the series pitted the League against [[Moriarty]] from the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' books; the second, against the Martians from ''[[The War of the Worlds]]''. A third volume entitled ''The Black Dossier'', which will be set in the 1950s, is due for release in 2007. A [[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)|film adaptation]] was released in 2003 and starred [[Sean Connery]] as Quatermain.


''[[Tom Strong]]'', a post-modern superhero series that in equal parts parodies and pays tribute to the superhero genre, featured a hero inspired by characters pre-dating Superman, like [[Doc Savage]] and [[Tarzan]]. The character's drug-induced longevity allowed Moore to include flashbacks to Strong's adventures throughout the twentieth century, written and drawn in period styles, as a comment on the history of comics and [[Pulp magazine|pulp fiction]]. The primary artist was [[Chris Sprouse]].
''[[Tom Strong]]'', a post-modern superhero series that in equal parts parodies and pays tribute to the superhero genre, featured a hero inspired by characters pre-dating Superman, like [[Doc Savage]] and [[Tarzan]]. The character's drug-induced longevity allowed Moore to include flashbacks to Strong's adventures throughout the twentieth century, written and drawn in period styles, as a comment on the history of comics and [[Pulp magazine|pulp fiction]]. The primary artist was [[Chris Sprouse]].
Line 102: Line 91:
''[[Tomorrow Stories]]'' was an anthology series with a regular cast of characters such as [[Cobweb (comics)|Cobweb]], [[First American (comics)|First American]], [[Greyshirt]], [[Jack B. Quick]], and [[Splash Brannigan]].
''[[Tomorrow Stories]]'' was an anthology series with a regular cast of characters such as [[Cobweb (comics)|Cobweb]], [[First American (comics)|First American]], [[Greyshirt]], [[Jack B. Quick]], and [[Splash Brannigan]].


Before publication, Lee sold Wildstorm to DC, and Moore found himself in the uncomfortable position of working for DC again. Wildstorm attempted to placate him by forming an editorial "firewall" to insulate Moore from DC's corporate offices, allowing his comics to be published by WildStorm without mention of parent-company DC in the [[indicia]]. He was also assured of editorial non-interference, however, various incidents continued to irritate Moore. Specifically, in ''League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' #5, an authentic vintage advertisement for a "Marvel"-brand [[douche]] caused DC executive [[Paul Levitz]] to order the entire print run destroyed and reprinted with the advertisement amended to "Amaze," to avoid causing friction between DC and Marvel Comics.<ref>[http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2008/09/08/things-may-be-getting-more-interesting/ "ALL-STAR BATMAN #10 recall" by Heidi MacDonald, September 8, 2008]. Accessed September 22, 2008</ref> A ''Cobweb'' story Moore wrote for ''[[Tomorrow Stories]]'' #8 featuring references to [[L. Ron Hubbard]], the founder of [[Scientology]], [[Jack Parsons]] and the "[[Babalon Working]]", was blocked by DC Comics. Ironically, it was later revealed that they had already published a version of the same event in their [[Paradox Press]] volume ''[[The Big Book of#Conspiracies|The Big Book of Conspiracies]]''.
Before publication, Lee sold Wildstorm to DC, and Moore found himself in the uncomfortable position of working for DC again. Wildstorm attempted to placate him by forming an editorial "firewall" to insulate Moore from DC's corporate offices. However, various incidents continued to irritate Moore: for example, in ''League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' #5, an authentic vintage advertisement for a "Marvel"-brand [[douche]] caused DC executive [[Paul Levitz]] to order the entire print run destroyed and reprinted without the advertisement. A ''Cobweb'' story Moore wrote for ''Tomorrow Stories'' #8 featuring references to [[L. Ron Hubbard]], the founder of [[Scientology]], [[Jack Parsons]] and the "[[Babalon Working]]", was blocked by DC Comics, who feared being sued by the notoriously litigious Scientologists. DC was embarrassed when it was later revealed that they had already published a version of the same event in their ''Big Book of Conspiracies''.


===Recent work===
Moore plotted the six issue mini-series ''[[Albion (comics)|Albion]]'' for the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics. The series is written by his daughter [[Leah Moore]] and her husband [[John Reppion]].
Moore plotted the six issue mini-series ''[[Albion (comics)|Albion]]'' for the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics. The series is written by his daughter [[Leah Moore]] and her husband [[John Reppion]].


===Disputes===
With [[Steve Moore (comics)|Steve Moore]] he is writing ''[[The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic]]'' which is set to be published by [[Top Shelf Productions|Top Shelf]] at some point in 2010.<ref>[http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?type=2&title=578 ''The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic'' profile ar Top Shelf Productions]</ref>
Moore had been in dispute with [[Marvel Comics]] in the 1980s after they had reprinted some of his Marvel UK work without his permission. Since then, he had blocked any further reprints. This led to a falling out with his collaborator on ''Captain Britain'', artist Alan Davis, as he was denied reprint fees and exposure for his work. In 2002, [[Marvel Comics]]' editor-in-chief, [[Joe Quesada]], attempted to persuade Moore to contribute new work (Moore had already contributed to Marvel's [[9/11]] tribute comic, ''Heroes''), and convinced him the company had changed. Moore agreed to the publication of a reprint collection of his ''Captain Britain'' stories, on the understanding that he would receive full credit for his characters. Unfortunately, Moore's credit was omitted due to a printing error, and despite Quesada's apologies and the error being corrected in subsequent printings, Moore declared he would no longer consider working for Marvel.


It has also been recently announced that [[Avatar Press]] will be publishing a short [[graphic novel]] called ''[[Light of thy Countenance]]'' at the start of 2009 (which is based on a short story Moore wrote, originally published in 1995) and a horror comic series called ''[[Neonomicon]]''.<ref name=philly>[http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=158880 WW Philly: The Avatar Panel], [[Newsarama]], June 1, 2008</ref>

== Disputes ==
===Comics===
====Marvel====
Moore came into dispute with [[Marvel Comics]] in the 1980s when they had reprinted some of his Marvel UK work without his permission. Since then, he had blocked any further reprints. This led to a falling out with his collaborator on ''Captain Britain'', artist Alan Davis, as he was denied reprint fees and exposure for his work. In 2002, [[Marvel Comics]]' editor-in-chief, [[Joe Quesada]], attempted to persuade Moore to contribute new work (Moore had already contributed to Marvel's [[9-11 (comics)|9/11 tribute comic, ''Heroes'']]), and convinced him the company had changed. Moore agreed to the publication of a reprint collection of his ''Captain Britain'' stories, on the understanding that he would receive full credit for his characters. However, Moore's credit was omitted. Despite Quesada's explanation that the omission was a printing error, his apologies, and the omission being corrected in subsequent printings, Moore declared he would no longer consider working for Marvel.<ref>''[http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=86 Captain Britain No Moore?]''</ref> It has also been reported that Moore did not take kindly to Marvel's alleged insistence that the US publication by [[Eclipse Comics]] of his ''[[Miracleman|'''Marvel'''man]]'' work was retitled to MiracleMan. Interestingly enough, in his My Cup of Joe column on Myspace, when asked if there were any animosity between Marvel and Moore, Quesada responded, "As far as I know, there are no hard feelings between Alan and Marvel and vice versa."
<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.4203.MyCup_o~apos~_Joe_Week_17|title=MyCup o' Joe Week 17|last=Quesada|first=Joe|coauthors=Tom Brevoort|date=2008-07-17 <!--10:48:16 -->|work=MyCup o' Joe|publisher=Marvel Comics|accessdate=2008-09-09}} [http://www.webcitation.org/5aiGVb4Xo Archived] 2008-09-09.</ref>

====DC====
Moore has also had disputes with [[DC Comics]], which led to his decision in the late 1980s to no longer work with them. Among the reasons reported for this rift were DC's plan to institute a "mature readers" label for certain books they published; the publisher keeping ''Watchmen'' and ''V for Vendetta'' in print beyond their original serialization, which prevented the rights from reverting to Moore and Gibbons; and DC's refusal to pay Moore and Gibbons royalties on merchandise the company considered "promotional items" for ''Watchmen''.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/movies/12itzk.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin The Vendetta Behind 'V for Vendetta']</ref> (As a result of this, Moore and Gibbons managed to block ''Watchmen'' action figures being produced for the comics' 15th Anniversary (in 2000),<ref>[http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0008/25/ "Comics Continuum"] DC Comics statement regarding [[Alan Moore]] and [[Dave Gibbons]]'s refusal to be involved with their proposed anniversary celebrations - (retrieved [[23 March]] [[2008]]).</ref> as well as an anniversary hardcover. Subsequent to the latest falling-out between Moore and DC - and the comics' 20th anniversary - the oversize ''[[DC_Comics_Absolute_Editions#Watchmen|Absolute Watchmen]]'' was released in 2005.)

Subsequent to his earlier disputes with DC and his stated intention to not work for them, DC's purchase of Jim Lee's WildStorm studios found Moore working for DC by proxy. Unhappy by the situation, it has been reported that Lee and editor [[Scott Dunbier]] flew to England personally to reassure Moore that he would not be affected by the sale, and would not have to deal with DC directly:<ref>[http://www.twistandshoutcomics.com/features/columns/rrevs0898.html Rich Johnston, "Rich's Ramblings '98": August 29, 31]. Accessed March 23, 2008</ref> Moore's hope that DC would not interfere with his ABC work was dashed when sections of two of his comics (''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' #5, cover dated June 2000, and ''Tomorrow Stories'' #8, January 2001) were altered both after and before going to press. <small>(See [[Alan_Moore#America.27s_Best_Comics|ABC]], above)</small> ''Promethea'' #22 also saw slight friction, when a couple of panels were censored, but these were reinstated for the collected edition.<ref>[http://maisquadrinhos.blogspot.com/2008/03/magical-arts-interview-with-jh-williams_20.html Wellington Srbek interviewing JH Williams III, part 3, March 20, 2008]. Accessed March 23, 2008</ref>

===''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' film===
{{See|Cast of Characters vs. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen lawsuit}}
Film adaptations of Moore's work also proved controversial. With ''[[From Hell (film)|From Hell]]'' and ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)|The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'', Moore was content to allow the filmmakers to do whatever they wished and removed himself from the process entirely. "As long as I could distance myself by not seeing them," he said, he could profit from the films while leaving the original comics untouched, "assured no one would confuse the two. This was probably naïve on my part."<ref>Rich Johnston, ''[http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=litg&article=2153 Lying in the Gutters]'', [http://www.comicbookresources.com/ Comic Book Resources], [[23 May]] [[2005]], accessed [[7 January]] [[2006]]</ref>
Film adaptations of Moore's work also proved controversial. With ''[[From Hell (film)|From Hell]]'' and ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)|The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'', Moore was content to allow the filmmakers to do whatever they wished and removed himself from the process entirely. "As long as I could distance myself by not seeing them," he said, he could profit from the films while leaving the original comics untouched, "assured no one would confuse the two. This was probably naïve on my part."<ref>Rich Johnston, ''[http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=litg&article=2153 Lying in the Gutters]'', [http://www.comicbookresources.com/ Comic Book Resources], [[23 May]] [[2005]], accessed [[7 January]] [[2006]]</ref>


His attitude changed after producer Martin Poll and screenwriter [[Larry Cohen]] filed a [[lawsuit]] against [[20th Century Fox]], alleging that the film ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' plagiarized an unproduced script they had written entitled ''Cast of Characters''. Although the two scripts bear many similarities, most of them are elements that were added for the film and do not originate in Moore's comics. According to Moore, "they seemed to believe that the head of 20th Century Fox called me up and persuaded me to steal this screenplay, turning it into a comic book which they could then adapt back into a movie, to camouflage petty larceny." Moore testified in a deposition, a process so painful that he surmised he would have been better treated had he "molested and murdered a busload of retarded children after giving them heroin." Fox's settlement of the case insulted Moore, who interpreted it as an admission of guilt.<ref>[http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?article=2153 "LYING IN THE GUTTERS VOLUME TWO COLUMN 1 by Rich Johnston May 23, 2005]</ref>
His attitude changed after producer Martin Poll and screenwriter [[Larry Cohen]] filed a [[lawsuit]] against [[20th Century Fox]], alleging that the film ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' plagiarized an unproduced script they had written entitled ''Cast of Characters''. Although the two scripts bear many similarities, most of them are elements that were added for the film and do not originate in Moore's comics. According to Moore, "they seemed to believe that the head of 20th Century Fox called me up and persuaded me to steal this screenplay, turning it into a comic book which they could then adapt back into a movie, to camouflage petty larceny." Moore testified in court hearings, a process so painful that he surmised he would have been better treated had he "molested and murdered a busload of retarded children after giving them heroin." Fox's settlement of the case insulted Moore, who interpreted it as an admission of guilt.


Moore's reaction was to divorce himself from the film world: he would refuse to allow film adaptations of anything to which he owned full copyright. In cases where others owned the rights, he would withdraw his name from the credits and refuse to accept payment, instead requesting that the money go to his collaborators (i.e. the artists). This was the arrangement used for the film ''[[Constantine (movie)|Constantine]]''.
===''V for Vendetta'' film===
The last straw came when producer [[Joel Silver]] said at a press conference for the [[Warner Bros.]] film adaptation of ''[[V for Vendetta (film)|V for Vendetta]]'' that fellow producer [[Wachowski brothers|Larry Wachowski]] had talked with Moore, and that "he [Moore] was very excited about what Larry had to say."<ref>[http://www.newsarama.com/movies/VforPressConf.htm ''V for Vendetta'' press conference transcript], [http://www.newsarama.com/ Newsarama], 2005, accessed [[7 January]] [[2006]]</ref> Moore claims that he told Wachowski "I didn't want anything to do with films... I wasn't interested in Hollywood," and demanded that DC Comics force Warner Bros to issue a public retraction and apology for Silver's "blatant lies", even though Silver appeared to have been lied to himself by Larry Wachowski. Although Silver called Moore directly to apologize, no public retraction appeared.


The last straw came when producer [[Joel Silver]] said at a press conference for the [[Warner Bros.]] film adaptation of ''[[V for Vendetta (film)|V for Vendetta]]'' that fellow producer [[Wachowski brothers|Larry Wachowski]] had talked with Moore, and that "he [Moore] was very excited about what Larry had to say."<ref>[http://www.newsarama.com/movies/VforPressConf.htm ''V for Vendetta'' press conference transcript], [http://www.newsarama.com/ Newsarama], 2005, accessed [[7 January]] [[2006]]</ref> Moore claims that he told Wachowski "I didn't want anything to do with films... I wasn't interested in Hollywood," and demanded that Warner Bros issue a retraction and apology for Silver's "blatant lies." No retraction or apology appeared. Moore was quoted as saying that the film had "plot holes so big, you wouldn't have gotten away with it in ''[[Whizzer and Chips]]''", and once again announced that he would no longer work for DC, which is owned by Warner Bros. ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier,'' a hardcover graphic novel, will be his last work for the publisher, and future installments of ''LoEG'' will be published by [[Top Shelf Productions]] and [[Knockabout Comics]]. Moore has also stated that he wishes his name to be removed from comic work that he does not own, much as unhappy film directors often choose to be credited as "[[Alan Smithee]]."<ref>[http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/alan_moore_asks_for_an_alan_smithee/ "Alan Moore Asks for an Alan Smithee"], [[9 November]] [[2005]], [http://www.comicsreporter.com/ The Comics Reporter], accessed [[7 January]] [[2006]]</ref>
This conflict between Moore and DC Comics caused Moore to receive a very sympathetic article in ''The New York Times''<ref> [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/movies/12itzk.html?ex=1299819600en=d9e708008270c9e5ei=5088partner=rssnytemc=rss&pagewanted=all "The Vendetta Behind 'V for Vendetta' "] </ref> that was published on [[March 12]], [[2006]], five days before the USA theatrical release. In the ''New York Times'' article, Silver stated that about 20&nbsp;years prior to the film's release, he met with Moore and Dave Gibbons when Silver acquired the film rights to ''V For Vendetta'' and ''Watchmen''. Silver stated, "Alan was odd, but he was enthusiastic and encouraging us to do this. I had foolishly thought that he would continue feeling that way today, not realizing that he wouldn't." Moore did not deny this meeting or Silver's characterization of Moore at that meeting, nor did Moore state that he advised Silver of his change of opinion in those approximately 20&nbsp;years. The ''New York Times'' article also interviewed David Lloyd about Moore's reaction to the film's production, stating, "Mr. Lloyd, the illustrator of ''V for Vendetta'', also found it difficult to sympathize with Mr. Moore's protests. When he and Mr. Moore sold their film rights to the graphic novel, Mr. Lloyd said: "We didn't do it innocently. Neither myself nor Alan thought we were signing it over to a board of trustees who would look after it like it was the Dead Sea Scrolls."


===Awards and recognition===
The re-release of ''V for Vendetta'' in a hardcover edition to tie in with the film's release, put Moore into a "black rage" when he noticed there was a printing error on the back cover. According to Moore, he threw his editions of the book into a tip, "as they weren't worth recycling" and was upset about the lack of standards.{{Fact|2008-10-30|date=October 2008}}
[[Image:MooreRoss.jpg|thumb|right|240px|[[Alex Ross]]' ''Wizard'' cover, featuring the many comic characters written by Alan Moore.]]

Moore has won numerous [[Jack Kirby Awards]] during his career, including for Best Single Issue for ''Swamp Thing Annual'' #2 in 1985 with John Totleben and Steve Bissette, for Best Continuing Series for ''Swamp Thing'' in 1985, 1986 and 1987 with Totleben and Bissette, Best Writer for Swamp Thing in 1985 and 1986 and for ''Watchmen'' in 1987, and with Dave Gibbons for Best Finite Series and Best Writer/Artist (Single or Team) for ''Watchmen'' in 1987.
===Outcome===
As a result of Moore's disputes with DC (and then Warner Bros.), which came to a head over ''V for Vendetta'', he declared that ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier]]'', a hardcover graphic novel, will be his last work for the publisher, and future installments of ''LoEG'' will be published by [[Top Shelf Productions]] and [[Knockabout Comics]]. Moore has also stated that he wishes his name to be removed from all comic work that he does not own, including ''Watchmen'' and ''V for Vendetta'', much as unhappy film directors often choose to be credited as "[[Alan Smithee]]."<ref>[http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/alan_moore_asks_for_an_alan_smithee/ "Alan Moore Asks for an Alan Smithee"], [[9 November]] [[2005]], [http://www.comicsreporter.com/ The Comics Reporter], accessed [[7 January]] [[2006]]</ref>

== Awards and recognition ==
<!-- [[Image:MooreRoss.jpg|thumb|right|240px|[[Alex Ross]]' ''Wizard'' cover, featuring the many comic characters written by Alan Moore.]] -->
Moore has won numerous [[Jack Kirby Awards]] during his career, including for Best Single Issue for ''Swamp Thing Annual'' #2 in 1985 with John Totleben and Steve Bissette, for Best Continuing Series for ''Swamp Thing'' in 1985, 1986 and 1987 with Totleben and Bissette, Best Writer for Swamp Thing in 1985 and 1986 and for ''Watchmen'' in 1987, and with Dave Gibbons for Best Finite Series and Best Writer/Artist (Single or Team) for ''Watchmen'' in 1987.


Moore has been nominated for the [[Comics Buyer's Guide]] Fan Awards several times, winning for Favorite Writer in 1985, 1986, 1987, 1999, and 2000. Also, he won the CBG Fan Award for Favorite Comic Book Story (''Watchmen'') in 1987 and Favorite Original Graphic Novel or Album (''Batman: The Killing Joke'' with [[Brian Bolland]]) in 1988.
Moore has been nominated for the [[Comics Buyer's Guide]] Fan Awards several times, winning for Favorite Writer in 1985, 1986, 1987, 1999, and 2000. Also, he won the CBG Fan Award for Favorite Comic Book Story (''Watchmen'') in 1987 and Favorite Original Graphic Novel or Album (''Batman: The Killing Joke'' with [[Brian Bolland]]) in 1988.


He received the [[Harvey Award]] for Best Writer for 1988 (for ''Watchmen''), for 1995 and 1996 (for ''From Hell''), for 1999 (for his body of work, including ''From Hell'' and ''Supreme''), for 2000 (for ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen''), and for 2001 and 2003 (for ''Promethea'').
He received the [[Harvey Award]] for Best Writer for 1988 (for Watchmen), for 1995 and 1996 (for ''From Hell''), for 1999 (for his body of work, including ''From Hell'' and ''Supreme''), for 2000 (for ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen''), and for 2001 and 2003 (for ''Promethea'').


In addition, he received nominations for the 1985 Jack Kirby Award for Best Single Issue for ''Swamp Thing'' #32 with [[Shawn McManus]], the 1985 Jack Kirby Award for Best Single issue for ''Swamp Thing'' #34 with John Totleben and Steve Bissette, a 1986 Jack Kirby nomination for Best Single Issue for ''Superman Annual'' #11 with Dave Gibbons, a 1986 Jack Kirby nomination for Best Single Issue for ''Swamp Thing'' #43 with [[Stan Woch]], a 1986 Jack Kirby nomination for Best Writer/Artist (single or team) for ''Swamp Thing'' with Bissette, 1987 Jack Kirby Award nominations for Best Single Issue for both ''Watchmen'' #1 and #2 with Dave Gibbons, and the [[Comics Buyer's Guide]] Award for Favorite Writer in 1997, 1998, and 1999.
In addition, he received nominations for the 1985 Jack Kirby Award for Best Single Issue for ''Swamp Thing'' #32 with [[Shawn McManus]], the 1985 Jack Kirby Award for Best Single issue for ''Swamp Thing'' #34 with John Totleben and Steve Bissette, a 1986 Jack Kirby nomination for Best Single Issue for ''Superman Annual'' #11 with Dave Gibbons, a 1986 Jack Kirby nomination for Best Single Issue for ''Swamp Thing'' #43 with [[Stan Woch]], a 1986 Jack Kirby nomination for Best Writer/Artist (single or team) for ''Swamp Thing'' with Bissette, 1987 Jack Kirby Award nominations for Best Single Issue for both ''Watchmen'' #1 and #2 with Dave Gibbons, and the [[Comics Buyer's Guide]] Award for Favorite Writer in 1997, 1998, and 1999.


He has also received the Will [[Eisner Award]] for Best Writer nine times, since 1988, and numerous international prizes.
He has also received the Will [[Eisner Award]] for Best Writer nine times, since 1988, and numerous foreign prizes.

In 1988, Moore and artist [[Dave Gibbons]] won a [[Hugo Award]] in the category Other Forms for ''[[Watchmen]]''. The category was created for that year only, via a rarely-used provision that allows the Committee of the [[Worldcon]] to create any temporary Additional Category it feels appropriate (no subsequent committee has chosen to repeat this category).<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.dpsinfo.com/awardweb/hugos/80s.html | title=Hugo Award Winners from the 1980s}}</ref>

In 2005, [[Watchmen]] had the honor of being the only [[Graphic Novel]] to make it onto [[Time Magazine]]'s '''"All-Time 100 Novels"''' list.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/0,24459,watchmen,00.html | title=Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Novels}}</ref>

== Work in other media ==
=== Novels, poetry and other books ===
Moore has written one novel, ''[[Voice of the Fire]]'', a set of short stories about linked events in his home-town of Northampton through the centuries, from the [[Bronze Age]] to the present day. He is currently working on his second novel, ''Jerusalem'', which will again be set in Northampton.<ref>{{cite visual | crew=Moore, Alan (Interviewee) | date=March 9, 2006 | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/broadband/mediaplayer/players/bbc2?redirect=console.shtml&package=4587103&nbram=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1 | title = The Culture Show | medium=TV-Series | location=United Kingdom | distributor=BBC}}</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7307303.stm Comic legend keeps true to roots], [[BBC]], March 21, 2008</ref> His previous planned prose work ''A Grammar'' has been abandoned.


==Work in other media==
After he has finished ''Jerusalem'', he plans to do a book about magic; "Once ''Jerusalem'''s done, I will eventually be getting around to doing my Grimoire, my Big Book Of Magic And How To Do It. I would like to make it a very visual experience because magic to me is a very visual and a very colourful experience. And I would like any book that I did upon the subject to reflect that. And also to be playful, and amusing, which I also find magic to be. So, yeah, there would be a huge visual element to that book once I finally get round to it."<ref>[http://www.readysteadybook.com/Article.aspx?page=alanmoore Alan Moore]</ref>
===Novels and Books===
Moore has written one novel, ''[[Voice of the Fire]]'', a set of short stories about linked events in his home-town of Northampton through the centuries, from the [[Bronze Age]] to the present day. He is currently working on his second novel, ''Jerusalem'', which will again be set in Northampton.<ref>{{cite visual | crew=Moore, Alan (Interviewee) | date=March 9, 2006 | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/broadband/mediaplayer/players/bbc2?redirect=console.shtml&package=4587103&nbram=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1 | title = The Culture Show | medium=TV-Series | location=United Kingdom | distributor=BBC}}</ref> His previous planned prose work ''A Grammar'' has been abandoned.


Comics publisher Top Shelf released a hard cover edition of Moore's longform poem ''[[The Mirror of Love]]'' in 2006, with new photographs by Jose Villarubia. The poem was initially printed in the 1980s benefit book [[AARGH|Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia]] and was illustrated by Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch.
Comics publisher Top Shelf released a hard cover edition of Moore's longform poem ''[[The Mirror of Love]]'' in 2006, with new photographs by Jose Villarubia. The poem was initially printed in the 1980s benefit book [[AARGH|Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia]] and was illustrated by Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch.


Moore has also written short stories. "[[Alan Moore's The Courtyard|The Courtyard]]" was published in ''The Starry Wisdom: A Tribute to H.P. Lovecraft''; "[[Alan Moore's Hypothetical Lizard|A Hypothetical Lizard]]" was published as part of a shared-world fantasy anthology called [[Liavek| Liavek: Wizard's Row]]. Both stories have been adapted to comic book form by writer [[Antony Johnston]] and published by [[Avatar Press]].
Moore has also written short stories. [[Alan Moore's The Courtyard | The Courtyard]] was published in ''The Starry Wisdom: A Tribute to H.P. Lovecraft''; [[Alan Moore's Hypothetical Lizard | A Hypothetical Lizard]] was published as part of a shared-world fantasy anthology called [[Liavek | Liavek: Wizard's Row]]. Both stories have been adapted to comic book form by writer [[Antony Johnston]] and published by [[Avatar Press]].


===Screenplay===
In 2006, a piece entitled ''Alphabets of Desire'' was written by Moore, and designed and produced by comics letterer [[Todd Klein]] as an 11" x 17" print, signed and limited to 500 copies, available only through Klein's blog.<ref>[http://kleinletters.com/Blog/?p=589 Todd’s Blog » Blog Archive » Alphabets of Desire]</ref> It rapidly sold out, and a second printing went on sale on [[March 6]], [[2008]]. It is also a limited run of 500 copies.
Moore has written one [[screenplay]], entitled ''Fashion Beast'', a ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]''-like story about the life of fashion designer [[Christian Dior]]. The script was commissioned by [[Malcolm McLaren]]. It has yet to be made into a film.


===Film===
===Articles===
In 2006 Moore published an eight-page article tracing out the history of [[pornography]] and arguing that a society's vibrancy and success are related to its permissiveness in sexual matters. Decrying that the consumption of contemporary ubiquitous pornography is still widely considered shameful, he called for a new and more artistic pornography that could be openly discussed and would have a beneficial impact on society.<ref>[http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/?p=1685 BOG VENUS VERSUS NAZI COCK-RING: Some Thoughts Concerning Pornography], ''[[Arthur (magazine)|Arthur Magazine]]'', Vol 1, No 25, November 2006</ref>
Moore has written one [[screenplay]], entitled ''[[Fashion Beast]]'', loosely based on both [[Jean Cocteau]]'s version of ''[[Beauty and the Beast (1946 film)|Beauty and the Beast]]'' and the life of fashion designer [[Christian Dior]]. The script was commissioned by former [[Sex Pistols]] manager, [[Malcolm McLaren]]. It has yet to be made into a film.


===Music===
Alan Moore participated and starred in the documentary feature film ''[[The Mindscape of Alan Moore]]'', directed by DeZ Vylenz and produced by Shadowsnake Films. It is the only feature film production on which he has collaborated and has given permission to use his work.
He has also made brief forays into music. In the 1980s he formed a band called [[The Sinister Ducks]] with [[Bauhaus (band)|Bauhaus]] bassist [[David J]] and [[Max Akropolis]], and released a single, ''March of the Sinister Ducks'' (with sleeve art by Kevin O'Neill), under the pseudonym Translucia Baboon. Moore and David J also released a [[12-inch single]] featuring a recording of "This Vicious Cabaret", from ''V for Vendetta''. He has also performed with the Northampton band ''[[Emperors of Ice Cream]]''.


Moore is a practising [[Magician (paranormal)|magician]], having become a [[Gnosticism|gnostic]] in the mid-1990s, and worships a [[Roman mythology|Roman]] snake deity named [[Glycon]]. He performs one-off "workings" (a word, which in [[ritual magic]] means a pre-planned series of magical acts), which combine ritualistic and [[performance art]] elements with [[spoken word]] [[prose poetry]], read by Moore as part of a performance art group, [[The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels]]. Several of their pieces have been released on CD, and two, ''[[The Birth Caul]]'' and ''Snakes and Ladders'', have been adapted for comics by [[Eddie Campbell]].
Several of his books such as ''[[From Hell]]'', ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'', ''[[V for Vendetta]]'', and ''[[Watchmen]]'' have been adapted to film by Hollywood, but he has always distanced himself from these films.


=== Articles ===
===Television===
Moore provided a voice in the episode "[[Husbands and Knives]]" of ''[[The Simpsons]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.northantset.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?SectionID=317&ArticleID=1865011 |title=Writer drawn into Simpsons' show |date=2006-11-08|accessdate=2007-02-07 |format= |work=Northants ET.co.uk}}</ref>
Moore has written articles on comics, music and magic. In 2006 he published an eight-page article tracing out the history of [[pornography]] and arguing that a society's vibrancy and success are related to its permissiveness in sexual matters. Decrying that the consumption of contemporary ubiquitous pornography is still widely considered shameful, he called for a new and more artistic pornography that could be openly discussed and would have a beneficial impact on society.<ref>[http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/?p=1685 BOG VENUS VERSUS NAZI COCK-RING: Some Thoughts Concerning Pornography], ''[[Arthur (magazine)|Arthur Magazine]]'', Vol 1, No 25, November 2006</ref>


=== Music ===
==Bibliography==
*[[List of published material by Alan Moore]]
He has also made brief forays into music. In the 1980s he formed a band called [[The Sinister Ducks]] with [[Bauhaus (band)|Bauhaus]] bassist [[David J]] and [[Max Akropolis]], and released a single, ''March of the Sinister Ducks'' (with sleeve art by Kevin O'Neill), under the pseudonym Translucia Baboon. Moore and David J also released a [[12-inch single]] featuring a recording of "This Vicious Cabaret", from ''V for Vendetta''. He has also performed with the Northampton band ''[[Emperors of Ice Cream]]''. Several of his songs have been adapted in comics form, first by Caliber Comics in ''Negative Burn'' (later collected in ''Alan Moore's Songbook''), then by Avatar in ''Alan Moore's Magic Words'' and ''Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths''.


==References==
For the 2007 graphic novel ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier]]'', Moore recorded a couple of tracks for a 45 rpm single, purporting to be by "Eddie Enrico and His Hawaiian Hotshots". The two tracks (one of which is referenced in the work) are entitled "Immortal Love" and "Home with You."<ref>[http://www.comp.dit.ie/dgordon/League/loeg0023.html The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Originally intended to be included with the initial hardback, the record has been held back to be included with the 'Absolute Edition'.
<div class="references-small">

* Effron, Samuel (1996) [http://www.alanmooresenhordocaos.hpg.ig.com.br/artigos10.htm Taking Off the Mask (Tirando a Máscara)] ''Invocation and Formal Presentation of the Superhero Comic in Moore and Gibbons' Watchmen'' Accessed [[June 29]] [[2005]]
Moore wrote the song "Leopardman At C&A" for David J. of Bauhaus. Mick Collins set it to music for the album ''[[We Have You Surrounded]]'' by Collins' group [[The Dirtbombs]].

He was featured in the lyrics of the Pop Will Eat Itself song 'Can you Dig it?'.

===Magic===
Moore is a practicing [[Magician (paranormal)|magician]] who worships a [[Roman mythology|Roman]] snake deity named [[Glycon]] which he acknowledges to be a "complete hoax."<ref name="SLATEDW">{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2092739/sidebar/2092745/|title=Sidebar|last=Wolk|first=Douglas|date= December 17, 2003, at 6:21 PM ET |work=How Alan Moore Transformed American Comics|publisher=Slate|accessdate=2008-09-10}} [http://www.webcitation.org/5ajJOBmav Archived] 2008-09-10.</ref><ref>''Arthur'' (2003).</ref> He describes his understanding of "magic" as fundamentally synonymous with "art": the use of words, images, and actions to affect people and the way they think.<ref>''[[The Mindscape of Alan Moore]]''</ref> He performs one-off "workings" (a word, which in [[ritual magic]] means a pre-planned series of magical acts), which combine ritualistic and [[performance art]] elements with [[spoken word]] [[prose poetry]], read by Moore as part of a performance art group, [[The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels]]. Several of their pieces have been released on CD, and two, ''[[A Disease of Language|The Birth Caul]]'' and ''[[A Disease of Language|Snakes and Ladders]]'', have been adapted for comics by [[Eddie Campbell]].

=== Television ===
Moore played himself in the 2007 episode "[[Husbands and Knives]]" of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', which aired on Moore's fifty-fourth birthday. Moore is a fan of the show.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.northantset.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?SectionID=317&ArticleID=1865011 |title=Writer drawn into Simpsons' show |date=2006-11-08|accessdate=2007-02-07 |work=Northants ET.co.uk}}</ref> In the episode, Moore attends a joint book-signing appearance at a new comic book store with cartoonists [[Dan Clowes]] and [[Art Spiegelman]]. He is said to have reinterpreted the superhero [[Radioactive Man (The Simpsons character)|Radioactive Man]] as "a heroin-addicted jazz critic who's not radioactive", and is infuriated when asked to autograph a DVD of "Watchmen Babies in V for Vacation", a movie apparently adapting the somber characters he created as fun-loving toddlers. During an assault on the store by [[comic book guy]], Moore and the other writers reveal that they have super powers and protect it.

== Bibliography ==
* [[List of works by Alan Moore]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

== References ==
{{refbegin}}
* Effron, Samuel (1996) [http://watchmenanalysis.blogspot.com/ Taking Off the Mask ] ''Invocation and Formal Presentation of the Superhero Comic in Moore and Gibbons' Watchmen'' Accessed [[June 29]], [[2005]]
* Young, Robert (2004) "Zero Sum Masterpiece: The Division of Big Numbers" in [[The Comics Interpreter]] #3 Vol. 2-- The definitive behind the scenes story of the demise of Moore's magnum opus.
* Young, Robert (2004) "Zero Sum Masterpiece: The Division of Big Numbers" in [[The Comics Interpreter]] #3 Vol. 2-- The definitive behind the scenes story of the demise of Moore's magnum opus.
* Groth, Gary (1990-1991), "Big Words", ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' 138-140, [[Fantagraphics Books]]
* Groth, Gary (1990-1991), "Big Words", ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' 138-140, Fantagraphics Books
* [[George Khoury (author)|Khoury, George]] (2003), ''[[The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore]]'', [[TwoMorrows Publishing]]
* [[George Khoury (author)|Khoury, George]] (2003), ''The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore'', TwoMorrows Publishing
* [[Michael Molcher|Molcher, Michael]] (2006) ''Comic Auteurs: Alan Moore&mdash;Man on the Outside'' (in ''[[Judge Dredd Megazine]]'' #246)
* [[Michael Molcher|Molcher, Michael]] (2006) ''Comic Auteurs: Alan Moore&mdash;Man on the Outside'' (in ''[[Judge Dredd Megazine]]'' #246)
* Moore, Alan (1994), ''From Hell: the Compleat<!-- Note to AWB editors, this is the correct spelling of the title of the book, see http://www.amazon.com/Hell-Compleat-Scripts-Book-One/dp/1880325071 --> Scripts Book One'', Borderlands Press/SpiderBaby Graphics
* Moore, Alan (1994), ''From Hell: the Compleat Scripts Book One'', Borderlands Press/SpiderBaby Graphics
* Moore, Alan (1999), "Appendix I: Annotations to the Chapters", ''From Hell'', Eddie Campbell Comics
* Moore, Alan (1999), "Appendix I: Annotations to the Chapters", ''From Hell'', Eddie Campbell Comics
* Moulthrop, Stuart; Kaplan, Nancy; ''et al'' (1997-2000) [http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/wm/ Watching The Detectives], ''An Internet Companion for Readers of Watchmen''. Accessed [[June 29]], [[2005]]
* Moulthrop, Stuart; Kaplan, Nancy; ''et al'' (1997-2000) [http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/wm/ Watching The Detectives], ''An Internet Companion for Readers of Watchmen''. Accessed [[June 29]] [[2005]]
* Sabin, Roger (1993), ''Adult Comics An Introduction'', Routledge
* Sabin, Roger (1993), ''Adult Comics An Introduction'', Routledge
* Smoky Man & Gary Spencer Millidge (eds) (2003), ''[[Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman]]'', Abiogenesis Press
* Smoky Man & Gary Spencer Millidge (eds) (2003), ''Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman'', Abiogenesis Press

{{refend}}
===Endnotes===
<references/>
</div>


== External links ==
==External links==
{{commons}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikiquote}}
*[http://fourcolorheroes.home.insightbb.com/free.html 4ColorHeroes Moore For Free]
* {{imdb name|0600872|Alan Moore}}
*[http://www.alanmoorefansite.com Alan Moore Fansite]
* {{dmoz|/Arts/Comics/Creators/M/Moore,_Alan/}}
* [http://www.comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=63 Alan Moore] at ComicBookDB.com
*[http://comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=litg&article=2153 Alan Moore on split from DC/V for Vendetta]
*[http://www.dccomics.com/features/abc/ America's Best Comics]
* [http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_2/whitson/ Panelling Parallax: The Fearful Symmetry of William Blake and Alan Moore], ''[[ImageTexT]]'' vol. 3 (2), Winter 2007
*[http://www.alanmooreinterview.co.uk/ Index of interviews]
* [http://www.movingpicturesmagazine.com/Default.aspx?DN=ef3c586a-a6b2-40e3-beef-b058def07b50 "To Hell with Alan Moore"], an overview of movies based on the works of Alan Moore
*[http://marvel.com/catalog/?writer=Alan%20Moore Alan Moore on Marvel.com]
* {{IBList |type=author|id=375|name=Alan Moore}}
*[http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_2/whitson/ Roger Whitson writes on Alan Moore's relationship with William Blake in Watchmen]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLoIqI0PlhY Alan Moore interviewed on Get Fresh (YouTube clip)]
*[http://www.movingpicturesmagazine.com/Default.aspx?DN=ef3c586a-a6b2-40e3-beef-b058def07b50 "To Hell with Alan Moore" an overview of movies based on the works of Alan Moore]
*[http://rhandley.0catch.com/swampthing Roots of the Swamp Thing] - An extremely detailed timiline chronicling all the events of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, Hellblazer (starring Alan Moore's John Constantine) and related titles in chronological order


{{Template:Alan Moore}}
===Interviews===
* [http://www.alanmooreinterview.co.uk/ Index of interviews]
* [http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=2007alan-moore-interview Authors on Anarchism], from 2007
* [http://www.archive.org/details/PanelBordersLookingForLostGirlsvideo Panel Borders: Looking for Lost Girls], from 2008
{{-}}
{{Alan Moore}}
{{V for Vendetta}}
{{loeg}}


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|DATE OF BIRTH= [[November 18]], [[1953]]
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Revision as of 11:40, 30 November 2008

Alan Moore
Born (1953-11-18) November 18, 1953 (age 70)
Northampton, England
Occupationcomic book writer, novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, musician, artist, magician
NationalityEnglish
Genrecomic book, science fiction, fiction, non-fiction
Literary movementcomic books as serious literature[1]

Alan Moore (born November 18, 1953, in Northampton) is an English writer most famous for his influential work in comics, including the acclaimed graphic novels Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell.[6] He has also written a novel, Voice of the Fire, and performs "workings" (one-off performance art/spoken word pieces) with the Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels, some of which have been released on CD.

As a comics writer, Moore is notable for applying literary and formalist sensibilities to the medium. As well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes, he brings a wide range of influences to his work, from the literary – authors such as William S. Burroughs,[2] Thomas Pynchon and Iain Sinclair,[7] New Wave science fiction writers like Michael Moorcock and horror writers like Clive Barker – to the cinematicfilmmakers like Nicolas Roeg. Influences within comics include Will Eisner,[3] Harvey Kurtzman,[8] Jack Kirby[4] and Bryan Talbot.[9][10][11]

Biography and personal life

Moore was born in November 18, 1953, in Northampton, England to brewery worker Ernest Moore and printer Sylvia Doreen. He was influenced by his highly religious and superstitious grandmother.[citation needed] He lived in a very poor area, and was expelled from school aged 17 for dealing in the drug LSD. After this he tried to become an artist for comics, before moving on to writing. With his first wife, Phyllis, he had two daughters, Amber and Leah, and an unusual domestic set-up, including a mutual lover, Deborah Delano. On May 12, 2007, he married Melinda Gebbie, with whom he has worked on several comics.[12] He currently lives in Northampton. He is a vegetarian, an anarchist, a practising magician, and worships a Roman snake-deity named Glycon.[13] In 2006, he appeared on the BBC's The Culture Show and he has joined the campaign to save council housing from being sold to private companies.

Career

Early work

Cover art for the collected edition of V for Vendetta by David Lloyd.

Having been expelled from school at the age of 17 for dealing LSD,[14] Moore spent the next several years in menial jobs before embarking on a career as a cartoonist in the late 1970s. He wrote and drew underground-style strips for music magazines, including Sounds and the NME, under the pseudonym Curt Vile, sometimes in collaboration with his friend Steve Moore (no relation). Under the pseudonym Jill de Ray, he began a weekly strip, Maxwell the Magic Cat, for the Northants Post newspaper, which continued until 1986.

Deciding he could not make a living as an artist, he concentrated on writing, providing scripts for Marvel UK, 2000 AD and Warrior.[15] 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, running in a variety of Marvel UK publications. At 2000 AD he started by writing one-off Future Shocks and Time Twisters, moving on to series such as Skizz (E.T. as written by Alan Bleasdale) with artist Jim Baikie, D.R. and Quinch (a sci-fi take on National Lampoon's characters O.C. and Stiggs) with Davis, and The Ballad of Halo Jones (the first series in the comic to be based around a female character) with Ian Gibson. The last two proved amongst the most popular strips to appear in 2000 AD but Moore became increasingly concerned at his lack of creator's rights, and in 1986 stopped writing for 2000 AD, leaving the Halo Jones story incomplete. The theme of fallings out with publishers on matters of principle would become a common one in Moore's later career.

Of his work during this period, it is the work he produced for Warrior that attracted greater critical acclaim: Marvelman (later retitled Miracleman for legal reasons), a radical re-imagining of a forgotten 1950s superhero drawn by Garry Leach and Alan Davis; V for Vendetta was a dystopian pulp adventure about a flamboyant anarchist who dresses as Guy Fawkes and fights a future British fascist government, illustrated by David Lloyd; and The Bojeffries Saga, a comedy about a working-class English family of vampires and werewolves, drawn by Steve Parkhouse. Warrior closed before these stories were completed, but he was able to continue them with other publishers.

American mainstream

Moore's British work brought him to the attention of DC Comics editor Len Wein, who hired him in 1983 to write Swamp Thing, then a formulaic and poor-selling monster comic. Moore, along with artists Stephen R. Bissette, Rick Veitch and John Totleben, deconstructed and reimagined the character, writing a series of formally experimental stories that addressed environmental and social issues alongside the horror and fantasy, bolstered by research into the culture of Louisiana, where the series was set. He revived many of DC's neglected magical and supernatural characters, including the Spectre, the Demon, the Phantom Stranger, Deadman and others, and introduced John Constantine, an English working-class magician based visually on Sting, who later got his own series, Hellblazer, currently the longest continuously published comic of DC's Vertigo imprint.

Moore's run on Swamp Thing was successful both critically and commercially, and inspired DC to recruit British writers like Grant Morrison, Jamie Delano, Peter Milligan and Neil Gaiman to write comics in a similar vein, often involving radical revamps of obscure characters. The titles that followed laid the foundation of what became the Vertigo line. Moore himself wrote further high-profile comics for DC, including the final two-part Superman story (Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?) before John Byrne's revamp in 1986 and the Batman graphic novel The Killing Joke with artist Brian Bolland.

The cast of Watchmen, clockwise from top: Dr Manhattan, The Comedian, Ozymandias, Nite Owl, Rorschach, Captain Metropolis, the Silk Spectre. Art by Dave Gibbons.

The limited series Watchmen, begun in 1986 and collected as a trade paperback in 1987, cemented his reputation. Imagining what the world would be like if superheroes had really existed since the 1940s, Moore and artist Dave Gibbons created a Cold War mystery in which the shadow of nuclear war threatens the world. The heroes who are caught up in this escalating crisis either work for the U.S. government or are outlawed, and are motivated to heroism by their various psychological hang-ups. Watchmen is non-linear and told from multiple points of view, and includes formal experiments such as the symmetrical design of issue 5, "Fearful Symmetry", where the last page is a near mirror-image of the first, the second-last of the second, and so on. It is an early example of Moore's interest in the human perception of time and its implications for free will. It is the only comic to be granted an honorary Hugo Award.

Alongside roughly contemporaneous work such as Frank Miller's Batman: 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 UKCAC in London he is said to have been followed into the toilet by eager autograph hunters).[16] 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 infringement. Despite copyright disputes with artists and allegations of non-payment against the publisher, Moore, with artists Chuck Austen, Rick Veitch and John Totleben, finished his story 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.

In 1987 Moore submitted a proposal for a miniseries called Twilight of the Superheroes, the title a pun on Richard Wagner's opera Götterdämmerung (the "Twilight of the Gods"). The series was set in the future of the DC Universe, where the world is ruled by superheroic dynasties, including the House of Steel (presided over by Superman and Wonder Woman) and the House of Thunder (consisting of the Marvel family). These two houses are about to unite through a dynastic marriage, their combined power potentially threatening freedom, and several characters, including John Constantine, attempt to stop it and free humanity from the power of superheroes. The series would also have restored the DC Universe's multiple earths, which had been eliminated in the continuity-revising 1985 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths. The series was never commissioned, but copies of Moore's detailed notes have appeared on the internet and in print despite the efforts of DC, who consider the proposal their property. Similar elements, such as the concept of hypertime, have since appeared in DC comics. The 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, was also set amid a superheroic conflict in the future of the DC universe. Waid and Ross have stated that they had read the Twilight proposal before starting work on their series, but that any similarities are both minor and unintended.

Moore's relations with DC Comics had gradually deteriorated over issues like creator's rights and merchandising. Moore and Gibbons were not paid any royalties for a Watchmen spin-off badge set, as DC defined them as a "promotional item". A group of creators, including Moore, Frank Miller, Marv Wolfman, and Howard Chaykin, fell out with DC over a proposed age-rating system similar to those used for films. After completing V for Vendetta in 1989, Moore stopped working for DC.

Independent period

A variety of projects followed with independent publishers, including Brought to Light, a history of CIA covert operations with illustrator Bill Sienkiewicz for Eclipse Comics, 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 Northampton and inspired by chaos theory and the mathematical ideas of Benoît Mandelbrot. Bill Sienkiewicz illustrated the story in a painted style that relied heavily on photographic reference. After two issues were published, Sienkiewicz left the series. It was announced that his assistant, Al Columbia, would replace him, but no further issues appeared.

Moore contributed two serials to the horror anthology Taboo, edited by Stephen R. Bissette. From Hell examined the Jack the Ripper murders as a microcosm of the 1880s, and the 1880s as the root of the 20th Century. Inspired by Douglas Adams' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency,[17] Moore reasoned that to solve a crime holistically, one would need to solve the entire society it occurred in, and depicts the murders as a consequence of the politics and economics of the time. Just about every notable figure of the period is connected with the events in some way, including "Elephant Man" Joseph Merrick, Oscar Wilde, the Native American writer Black Elk, William Morris, the artist Walter Sickert and Aleister Crowley, who makes a brief appearance as a young boy. The Ripper carries out his killings as an occult ritual, designed to enforce the hegemony of the rational and the masculine over the unconscious and feminine. The book also explores Moore's ideas about the perception of time, previously touched upon in Watchmen. Illustrated in an appropriately sooty pen and ink style by Eddie Campbell, From Hell took nearly ten years to complete, outlasting Taboo and going through two more publishers before being collected as a graphic novel by Eddie Campbell Comics. A film adaptation, directed by the Hughes Brothers, was released in 2001.

File:Lostgirls cover.jpg
The cover of the Lost Girls collected edition. Art by Melinda Gebbie.

Lost Girls, with artist Melinda Gebbie (who would eventually become Moore's second wife), is an erotic series decoding the sexual meanings in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Peter Pan and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. A collected edition was published in August 2006 in the United States, but an ongoing dispute with Great Ormond Street Hospital, which holds rights to characters from Peter Pan, has so far prevented publication in the UK. Publication has now reportedly been arranged for 2008, but proposed new UK Home Office legislation is likely to prevent publication altogether if it is passed before 2008.

He also wrote a graphic novel for Victor Gollancz Ltd, A Small Killing, illustrated by Oscar Zarate, about a once idealistic advertising executive haunted by his boyhood self, published in 1988 through Mad Love and reprinted in 2003 by Avatar Press.

Return to the mainstream

After several years out of the mainstream, Moore worked his way back into superhero comics by writing several series for Image Comics and the companies that later broke away from it. He felt that his influence on comics had in many ways been detrimental. Instead of taking inspiration from the more innovative aspects of his work, creators who followed him had merely imitated the violence and grimness. As a reaction against the superhero genre's abandonment of its innocence, Moore and artists Stephen R. Bissette, Rick Veitch and John Totleben conceived 1963, a series of comics which is a pastiche of Marvel's early works.

Tapping into the early issues of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, and the Avengers, Moore wrote the comics according to the styles of the time, including the period's sexism and pro-capitalist attitude, which, though played seriously, appeared dated to a 90s audience. There was also a large streak of self-promotion, a satire of the bombastic Marvel editorial columns and policies of Stan Lee.

The series was to have concluded with an annual in which the heroes travel to the 1990s to meet the prototypical grim, ultra-violent Image Comics characters. The 1963 heroes would have been shocked at their descendants, even the change in art from four colors to gray shading would have been commented upon. The annual never appeared due to disputes within Image and the creative team.

Following 1963, Moore worked on Jim Lee's WildC.A.T.s and a number of Rob Liefeld's titles, including Supreme, Youngblood and Glory, retooling sometimes rudimentary and derivative characters and settings into more viable series. In Moore's hands, Supreme, Liefeld's violent Superman analogue, became an inventive post-modern homage to superhero comics from the 1940s on, and the Superman comics of the Mort Weisinger era in particular. Flashbacks to the character's past adventures comment on comics history, storytelling, and the Superman mythos.

America's Best Comics

Cover art for the collected edition of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Kevin O'Neill.

After working on Jim Lee's comic WildC.A.T.s, Moore created the ABC (America's Best Comics) line, a new group of characters to be published by Lee's company Wildstorm.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a team-up book featuring characters from Victorian adventure novels such as H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quatermain, H. G. Wells' Invisible Man, Jules Verne's Captain Nemo, Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Wilhelmina Murray from Bram Stoker's Dracula, was the first series to be published under the ABC banner. Illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, the first volume of the series pitted the League against Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes books; the second, against the Martians from The War of the Worlds. A third volume entitled The Black Dossier, which will be set in the 1950s, is due for release in 2007. A film adaptation was released in 2003 and starred Sean Connery as Quatermain.

Tom Strong, a post-modern superhero series that in equal parts parodies and pays tribute to the superhero genre, featured a hero inspired by characters pre-dating Superman, like Doc Savage and Tarzan. The character's drug-induced longevity allowed Moore to include flashbacks to Strong's adventures throughout the twentieth century, written and drawn in period styles, as a comment on the history of comics and pulp fiction. The primary artist was Chris Sprouse.

Top 10, a deadpan police procedural comedy set in a city where everyone, from the police and criminals to the civilians and even pets, has super-powers, costumes and secret identities, was drawn by Gene Ha (finished art) and Zander Cannon (layouts). The series ended after twelve issues, but spawned three spin-offs: the miniseries Smax, drawn by Cannon, Top 10: The Forty-Niners, a graphic novel prequel drawn by Ha, and Top 10: Beyond the Farthest Precinct, a sequel written by Paul Di Filippo and drawn by Jerry Ordway.

Promethea, a superheroine explicitly from the realms of the imagination drawn by J.H. Williams III, explored Moore's ideas about consciousness, mysticism, magic, écriture féminine and the Kabbalah.

Tomorrow Stories was an anthology series with a regular cast of characters such as Cobweb, First American, Greyshirt, Jack B. Quick, and Splash Brannigan.

Before publication, Lee sold Wildstorm to DC, and Moore found himself in the uncomfortable position of working for DC again. Wildstorm attempted to placate him by forming an editorial "firewall" to insulate Moore from DC's corporate offices. However, various incidents continued to irritate Moore: for example, in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #5, an authentic vintage advertisement for a "Marvel"-brand douche caused DC executive Paul Levitz to order the entire print run destroyed and reprinted without the advertisement. A Cobweb story Moore wrote for Tomorrow Stories #8 featuring references to L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, Jack Parsons and the "Babalon Working", was blocked by DC Comics, who feared being sued by the notoriously litigious Scientologists. DC was embarrassed when it was later revealed that they had already published a version of the same event in their Big Book of Conspiracies.

Moore plotted the six issue mini-series Albion for the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics. The series is written by his daughter Leah Moore and her husband John Reppion.

Disputes

Moore had been in dispute with Marvel Comics in the 1980s after they had reprinted some of his Marvel UK work without his permission. Since then, he had blocked any further reprints. This led to a falling out with his collaborator on Captain Britain, artist Alan Davis, as he was denied reprint fees and exposure for his work. In 2002, Marvel Comics' editor-in-chief, Joe Quesada, attempted to persuade Moore to contribute new work (Moore had already contributed to Marvel's 9/11 tribute comic, Heroes), and convinced him the company had changed. Moore agreed to the publication of a reprint collection of his Captain Britain stories, on the understanding that he would receive full credit for his characters. Unfortunately, Moore's credit was omitted due to a printing error, and despite Quesada's apologies and the error being corrected in subsequent printings, Moore declared he would no longer consider working for Marvel.

Film adaptations of Moore's work also proved controversial. With From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Moore was content to allow the filmmakers to do whatever they wished and removed himself from the process entirely. "As long as I could distance myself by not seeing them," he said, he could profit from the films while leaving the original comics untouched, "assured no one would confuse the two. This was probably naïve on my part."[18]

His attitude changed after producer Martin Poll and screenwriter Larry Cohen filed a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, alleging that the film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen plagiarized an unproduced script they had written entitled Cast of Characters. Although the two scripts bear many similarities, most of them are elements that were added for the film and do not originate in Moore's comics. According to Moore, "they seemed to believe that the head of 20th Century Fox called me up and persuaded me to steal this screenplay, turning it into a comic book which they could then adapt back into a movie, to camouflage petty larceny." Moore testified in court hearings, a process so painful that he surmised he would have been better treated had he "molested and murdered a busload of retarded children after giving them heroin." Fox's settlement of the case insulted Moore, who interpreted it as an admission of guilt.

Moore's reaction was to divorce himself from the film world: he would refuse to allow film adaptations of anything to which he owned full copyright. In cases where others owned the rights, he would withdraw his name from the credits and refuse to accept payment, instead requesting that the money go to his collaborators (i.e. the artists). This was the arrangement used for the film Constantine.

The last straw came when producer Joel Silver said at a press conference for the Warner Bros. film adaptation of V for Vendetta that fellow producer Larry Wachowski had talked with Moore, and that "he [Moore] was very excited about what Larry had to say."[19] Moore claims that he told Wachowski "I didn't want anything to do with films... I wasn't interested in Hollywood," and demanded that Warner Bros issue a retraction and apology for Silver's "blatant lies." No retraction or apology appeared. Moore was quoted as saying that the film had "plot holes so big, you wouldn't have gotten away with it in Whizzer and Chips", and once again announced that he would no longer work for DC, which is owned by Warner Bros. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier, a hardcover graphic novel, will be his last work for the publisher, and future installments of LoEG will be published by Top Shelf Productions and Knockabout Comics. Moore has also stated that he wishes his name to be removed from comic work that he does not own, much as unhappy film directors often choose to be credited as "Alan Smithee."[20]

Awards and recognition

File:MooreRoss.jpg
Alex Ross' Wizard cover, featuring the many comic characters written by Alan Moore.

Moore has won numerous Jack Kirby Awards during his career, including for Best Single Issue for Swamp Thing Annual #2 in 1985 with John Totleben and Steve Bissette, for Best Continuing Series for Swamp Thing in 1985, 1986 and 1987 with Totleben and Bissette, Best Writer for Swamp Thing in 1985 and 1986 and for Watchmen in 1987, and with Dave Gibbons for Best Finite Series and Best Writer/Artist (Single or Team) for Watchmen in 1987.

Moore has been nominated for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards several times, winning for Favorite Writer in 1985, 1986, 1987, 1999, and 2000. Also, he won the CBG Fan Award for Favorite Comic Book Story (Watchmen) in 1987 and Favorite Original Graphic Novel or Album (Batman: The Killing Joke with Brian Bolland) in 1988.

He received the Harvey Award for Best Writer for 1988 (for Watchmen), for 1995 and 1996 (for From Hell), for 1999 (for his body of work, including From Hell and Supreme), for 2000 (for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), and for 2001 and 2003 (for Promethea).

In addition, he received nominations for the 1985 Jack Kirby Award for Best Single Issue for Swamp Thing #32 with Shawn McManus, the 1985 Jack Kirby Award for Best Single issue for Swamp Thing #34 with John Totleben and Steve Bissette, a 1986 Jack Kirby nomination for Best Single Issue for Superman Annual #11 with Dave Gibbons, a 1986 Jack Kirby nomination for Best Single Issue for Swamp Thing #43 with Stan Woch, a 1986 Jack Kirby nomination for Best Writer/Artist (single or team) for Swamp Thing with Bissette, 1987 Jack Kirby Award nominations for Best Single Issue for both Watchmen #1 and #2 with Dave Gibbons, and the Comics Buyer's Guide Award for Favorite Writer in 1997, 1998, and 1999.

He has also received the Will Eisner Award for Best Writer nine times, since 1988, and numerous foreign prizes.

Work in other media

Novels and Books

Moore has written one novel, Voice of the Fire, a set of short stories about linked events in his home-town of Northampton through the centuries, from the Bronze Age to the present day. He is currently working on his second novel, Jerusalem, which will again be set in Northampton.[21] His previous planned prose work A Grammar has been abandoned.

Comics publisher Top Shelf released a hard cover edition of Moore's longform poem The Mirror of Love in 2006, with new photographs by Jose Villarubia. The poem was initially printed in the 1980s benefit book Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia and was illustrated by Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch.

Moore has also written short stories. The Courtyard was published in The Starry Wisdom: A Tribute to H.P. Lovecraft; A Hypothetical Lizard was published as part of a shared-world fantasy anthology called Liavek: Wizard's Row. Both stories have been adapted to comic book form by writer Antony Johnston and published by Avatar Press.

Screenplay

Moore has written one screenplay, entitled Fashion Beast, a Beauty and the Beast-like story about the life of fashion designer Christian Dior. The script was commissioned by Malcolm McLaren. It has yet to be made into a film.

Articles

In 2006 Moore published an eight-page article tracing out the history of pornography and arguing that a society's vibrancy and success are related to its permissiveness in sexual matters. Decrying that the consumption of contemporary ubiquitous pornography is still widely considered shameful, he called for a new and more artistic pornography that could be openly discussed and would have a beneficial impact on society.[22]

Music

He has also made brief forays into music. In the 1980s he formed a band called The Sinister Ducks with Bauhaus bassist David J and Max Akropolis, and released a single, March of the Sinister Ducks (with sleeve art by Kevin O'Neill), under the pseudonym Translucia Baboon. Moore and David J also released a 12-inch single featuring a recording of "This Vicious Cabaret", from V for Vendetta. He has also performed with the Northampton band Emperors of Ice Cream.

Moore is a practising magician, having become a gnostic in the mid-1990s, and worships a Roman snake deity named Glycon. He performs one-off "workings" (a word, which in ritual magic means a pre-planned series of magical acts), which combine ritualistic and performance art elements with spoken word prose poetry, read by Moore as part of a performance art group, The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels. Several of their pieces have been released on CD, and two, The Birth Caul and Snakes and Ladders, have been adapted for comics by Eddie Campbell.

Television

Moore provided a voice in the episode "Husbands and Knives" of The Simpsons.[23]

Bibliography

References

  • Effron, Samuel (1996) Taking Off the Mask (Tirando a Máscara) Invocation and Formal Presentation of the Superhero Comic in Moore and Gibbons' Watchmen Accessed June 29 2005
  • Young, Robert (2004) "Zero Sum Masterpiece: The Division of Big Numbers" in The Comics Interpreter #3 Vol. 2-- The definitive behind the scenes story of the demise of Moore's magnum opus.
  • Groth, Gary (1990-1991), "Big Words", The Comics Journal 138-140, Fantagraphics Books
  • Khoury, George (2003), The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore, TwoMorrows Publishing
  • Molcher, Michael (2006) Comic Auteurs: Alan Moore—Man on the Outside (in Judge Dredd Megazine #246)
  • Moore, Alan (1994), From Hell: the Compleat Scripts Book One, Borderlands Press/SpiderBaby Graphics
  • Moore, Alan (1999), "Appendix I: Annotations to the Chapters", From Hell, Eddie Campbell Comics
  • Moulthrop, Stuart; Kaplan, Nancy; et al (1997-2000) Watching The Detectives, An Internet Companion for Readers of Watchmen. Accessed June 29 2005
  • Sabin, Roger (1993), Adult Comics An Introduction, Routledge
  • Smoky Man & Gary Spencer Millidge (eds) (2003), Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman, Abiogenesis Press

Endnotes

  1. ^ "DC Universe: The stories of Alan Moore" Pop Matters (retrieved 13 June 2006)
  2. ^ a b "Alan Moore Interview 1988" Johncoulthart.com (retrieved 13 June 2006)
  3. ^ a b Alan Moore and the Graphic Novel: Confronting the Fourth Dimension Image Text, Vol. 1 no. 2 (Fall 2004) (retrieved 13 June 2006)
  4. ^ a b The Supreme Writer: Alan Moore, Interviewed by George Khoury TwoMorrows Publishing (retrieved 13 June 2006)
  5. ^ a b "Watchmen: An Oral History" Entertainment Weekly (retrieved 13 June 2006)
  6. ^ "Alan Moore Bibliography" enjolrasworld.com (retrieved 13 June 2006)
  7. ^ Dave Windett, Jenni Scott & Guy Lawley, "Writer From Hell: the Alan Moore Experience" (interview), Comics Forum 4, p. 46, 1993
  8. ^ Moore interview on Blather
  9. ^ Moore, Alan (1987). The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Book 2: Transfiguration (Proutt edition ed.). Valkyrie Press. ISBN 1870923006. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Staff writer (05 April 2005). "Book is an illustrating read". The Evening Telegraph. Johnston Press Digital Publishing. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |acessdate= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Sorensen, Lita (2005). Bryan Talbot. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 37. ISBN 140420282X. {{cite book}}: line feed character in |publisher= at position 21 (help)
  12. ^ "Alan Moore's Girls Gone Wild; The Village Voice; August 23, 2006; Pages 34-35; by Richard Geir
  13. ^ Steve Rose Moore's murderer, Guardian Unlimited, 2 February 2002, accessed 12 March 2006
  14. ^ Brad Stone Alan Moore Interview, Comic Book Resources, 22 October 2001, accessed 7 January 2006
  15. ^ "Biography" Alan Moore Fan Site (retrieved 13 June 2006)
  16. ^ Campbell, Eddie (wa). alec: how to be an artist, p. 108/9 (March, 2001). Eddie Campbell Comics, ISBN 0957789637. "The last straw may well go down as apochryphal."
  17. ^ Danny Graydon Interview - Alan Moore, BBC - Movies, accessed 10 February 2007
  18. ^ Rich Johnston, Lying in the Gutters, Comic Book Resources, 23 May 2005, accessed 7 January 2006
  19. ^ V for Vendetta press conference transcript, Newsarama, 2005, accessed 7 January 2006
  20. ^ "Alan Moore Asks for an Alan Smithee", 9 November 2005, The Comics Reporter, accessed 7 January 2006
  21. ^ The Culture Show (TV-Series). United Kingdom. March 9, 2006. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |crew= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |distributor= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ BOG VENUS VERSUS NAZI COCK-RING: Some Thoughts Concerning Pornography, Arthur Magazine, Vol 1, No 25, November 2006
  23. ^ "Writer drawn into Simpsons' show". Northants ET.co.uk. 2006-11-08. Retrieved 2007-02-07.


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