Can I just say that Alan Moore is not an anarchist. Does he own his home? NOT an anarchist. Has he renounced all property -his books and chattels? No? NOT an anarchist.
"The greatest graphic novelist in history".....please, I feel nauseous. A graphic novel is a very over-sized comic book (paperback or hard back) of 120+ pages. A graphic novel is a self-contained story. Will Eisner, who I think it is safe to say literally created the graphic novel, wrote and drew several and just one of these has far more merit than, say, the last six League of Extraordinary Gentlemen TLEG) books. Fagin The Jew, The Building and A Contract With God --just one of these blows Moore right back to the margins of creativity.
A "magician"? Bollocks. I have met and talked to witches and even "warlocks" and at least two black magic practitioners and compared to Moore...well, it is insulting even comparing Moore to them.
It's all fantasy and the statement that Hollywood has not had an original idea in 20-30 years...Sorry? Let me just see how much Moore 'created' based on his own ideas for TLEG...in fact, I'd need a very very long posting to list them all from the first volume up to the last.
Moore created Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? Mina Harker? The Invisible Man? Alan Quartermain? Bond?? Orlando? Feckin' heck -Alan Moore obviously invented time travel and adopted different guises in different eras to plant the seed of his creations. Or he could just be a fantasist loving all the attention while droves of almost lobotomised followers hang on to his every word -he must really love that?
Watchmen, by the way, was NOT a graphic novel. Watchmen was a trade paperback. That is a book collecting parts of a series into one unit. Eisner created graphic novels.
Don't get me wrong, as certain small IQ'd folk tend to do. I loved Tom Strong. I loved Watchmen. There are a good few things I like that Moore wrote. I still read through some if and when I get the time.
When I have been on radio talking about comics I invariably hear "Now you are a graphic novelist" I've drawn some but I always -ALWAYS- correct the presenter with "Well, we need to be honest here. I have drawn some graphic novels and a couple of adult best selling comics but it is far more accurate to say that I write and draw comics -'graphic novelist' and 'graphic illustrator' are very grand titles. I write and draw comics." I love the fact that this then throws them off. They need their buzz-words.
From this day forth (and, boy will I be having hysterics behind the straight face) in any interviews I shall be describing myself as "The UKs foremost graphic novelist"......ooh. In the Midlands someone just started screeching!
I actually feel slightly sorry for Moore at times. His own -his OWN- internal demons prevent him from becoming truly one of the best comic book writers. I'm reminded of promoter Ray Santilli who I had to investigate when he started touting about the notorious fake Roswell alien autopsy footage. Over and over again he was proven a hoaxer but he kept going and, do you know what? People STILL believe that was a genuine alien autopsy because Santilli still insists it was.
And he likes living in Northampton because "It keeps me grounded" -BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Moore needs to concentrate less on spouting false 'facts' and whoring himself to the media as the new messiah and get back to doing what he used to do: write comics that entertain and give enjoyment.
To me, now, the subject of Alan Moore, until he writes more comics, is dead to me.
I thought Watchmen was okay, nothing brilliant. The characters were stand-ins for Charlton heroes (because DC Comics, having paid loads of dosh for the copyrights, didn't want to subject them to Moore's whims), so Moore can't even claim to have created them. I read a Tom Strong-related comic (the one with the cover homage to the first Superman/Spider-Man team-up) and found it to be totally bereft of substance. Sheer hack-work, in fact. Never bought another.
ReplyDeleteKid...are you not a Moore Acolyte?!!!!!! Seriously, I love the 1980s fanzine interviews with Dave Gibbons who talks about Moore's huge scripts and then you see all the work he put into character design, settings and how Higgins did all that colour work and you realise that Moore seems to be credited with MAKING the book a hit..."illustrated by Dave Gibbons" as though that was an aside. Having been a life long Charlton Comics fan --I have to be careful because I never included "comic" in a previous sentence on the subject and got mocked twice for being a Charlton Athletic fan -??!-- I know the history and thank heavens they didn't let Moore use those characters but waited a few more years to totally ruin them! Tom Strong was fun BUT there were so many Moore "Take from here. Take from there" that were very obvious. Still fun. Of course, I see his faults as I am one of the UKs foremost graphic novelists! hehehehehe
ReplyDelete