* ALAN MOORE WORLD *

Alan Moore and the giant hypermoment of space-time

2012-03-09T06:22:00.000-08:00

Alan Moore by Gilbert Hernandez (from Comics Interview N. 65)

Excerpt from the New Stateman interview conducted by Helen Lewis Hasteley.
Read the complete interview here.

And you talk about "disproving the existence of death".

I thought that seemed a substantial project for my declining years. There's a lot of other stuff in the book but one of the central theses is based upon my ruminations about mortality and time.

It seemed to me that if I understood people like Stephen Hawking correctly, this meant that we are living in a universe that has at least four dimensions. I was talking to a string theorist and he reckons possibly 11.

Funnily enough, I interviewed Brian Greene recently. He says they're all curled up like a pile on a carpet.

Little crumpled-up dimensions that are hidden inside the ones that we're familiar with. I think there must be at least four and if that is correct, the fourth dimension is not some mystical plane. It is a dimension, just like the other three. It is a physical material dimension.

When Einstein talks about space-time having a curvature, then since space-time includes the three dimensions that we're familiar with, that kind of implies that it must be curved through the fourth one, so that suggests that the fourth dimension as I understand it is not time. But it is our perception [of] the passage of time -- the universe is a four-dimensional solid in which nothing is moving and nothing is changing.

The only thing that is moving through that solid along the time axis is our consciousness. The past is still there, the future has always been here and, in this gigantic solid, every moment that has ever existed or will ever exist is all existing conterminously at the same moment.

In this giant hypermoment of space-time -- and that includes all of the instants that make up our individual lives -- it seems to me that nobody is going anywhere. Think about a standard journey through the third dimension: you're in a car driving down a street, say. Now those houses behind you are vanishing; you can't see them anymore. But you don't doubt that if you could reverse the car, those houses would still be there.

The thing is, our consciousness is only moving one way through time. We can't back up. But I believe that what physics tells us is that those moments are still there and I believe that when we get to the end of our lives, the 70 or 80 years of our life is just physical dimension . . . It is how "long" we are in time and when our consciousness gets to the end of our life, there's nowhere for it to go other than back to the beginning.

That we have our lives over and over and over again an infinite number of times and, each time, we are having exactly the same thoughts, saying exactly the same things, doing exactly the same things as we were doing and saying the first time. If it's even meaningful to talk of a first time.

I thought I'd thought of this idea myself because I was a genius . . . It turns out that the Pythagoreans had some sort of version of a great recurrence. They were basing it upon the idea that when this universe ends, because time is infinite, then there are bound to be other universes and, since those universes are finite, there will eventually be another universe exactly like this one, which I don't really think holds up scientifically.

Whereas this idea of the dimensionality of our existence, it does hold up. I can't see a way around it that doesn't involve completely contradicting one of the main conceptual lynchpins of modern physics and, halfway through Jerusalem, I came across this beautiful quote from Albert Einstein that completely summed up everything that I was trying to say but very eloquently and at a lot shorter length than three quarters of a million words.

He was apparently consoling the widow of a fellow physicist -- this was only a couple of months before Einstein's own death -- and he said: "To a physicist such as myself, death isn't really a big thing," and I'm paraphrasing now. He said: "Death isn't really a big thing because I understand the persistent illusion of transience."

I thought that the "persistent illusion of transience", that says it all. The persistent illusion that things are going away. People, times, places, I don't believe they are [going away]. I think that in a certain sense, every moment is eternal. I'm not trying to make a religion out of this and you'll notice that this doesn't require a God.

So it's not really an afterlife; it's just your life. It's a nice, secular idea of continuity that I think is scientifically credible. And whether it's true or not, that wouldn't be a bad way to live.

I have to say that the idea I'm quite taken with is the infinite multiverse, where everything happens somewhere. Every action you make.

I find that a horrible idea, because doesn't that kind of [imply that], everything that you do, there's another you that's done it better.

Yeah, but there's another me that's done it worse.

That's true, so at the end of the day, it sort of reletavises all morality or action out of existence..

I remember reading a story by Larry Niven, who's an author that I don't really like, but he's talking about a private eye who's investigating a wave of suicides and he eventually connects all this up to an announcement in the press that parallel worlds are definitely real, that there is an infinite array of parallel worlds in which an infinite number of versions of you exist. And he's sort of thinking about that and thinking maybe that's what's caused the suicides.

[There is] a kind of existential despair at the thought that however well you do, there's a million other yous that are suffering in horrifying circumstances and a billion other yous who did much better. He's thinking about this and he takes out his gun from the desk and he puts it against his temple and he holds it there for a second, and then he thinks: no, no, nobody kills themselves for an obscure philosophical point.

And he puts the gun away in the drawer again. And he pulls the trigger but the gun doesn't fire. And he pulls the trigger but the bullet shoots up and ricochets against the ceiling. And he pulls the trigger and blows the top of his head off. And there's just this array of different outcomes at the end of the story, all of which are happening in one parallel world or another.

A lot of people have found the idea of living your life over and over again absolutely terrifying; there's some people that find it very comforting. There are others that are appalled by it.

I don't mind it as long as you don't know.

This is the beauty of it. Another aspect of this belief is that there is no free will. Which is something that I've noticed cropping up a lot in the New Scientist recently. The idea that we live in a deterministic universe.

I've got a scene in my book where one of these symbolic, pool-playing, working-class, angel-type figures is talking to one of the more human figures and the human is asking the -- we can't call them "angels", they're not like angels on Christmas cards, they're a bit more substantial -- but a human is talking to one of these celestial builders and says: "Look, did we ever, any of us, really have free will?" And the angel shakes his head and says: "No . . . Did you miss it?" Then they both laugh.

As far as I can see, it's not important that we have free will, just as long as we have the illusion of free will to stop us going mad. We do have the illusion of free will. It feels like we are having each moment for the first time, that we could've done anything, that we could've said anything, but that isn't the way that science seems to be heading.

My favourite scientist, largely based on the fact that he's got an incredibly cool name, is a guy called Gerard 't Hooft. He's working upon a theory that he says we cannot test yet because we do not have tunnelling microscopes to test it, but what he proposes is that there is a layer more fundamental than the quantum layer, that all of the features of the quantum uncertainty that are so strange and peculiar are all resolved as if they'd never been there, which would completely match up the classical model [of physics] and the quantum model. The only problem with this is that if there is no quantum uncertainty then there is no free will.

So, there seem to be a few vectors that are heading that way and they've been debating [over whether] if we found out that there was no free will, wouldn't that mean that we'd all just go on a rampage? The simple fact is, most people would be predetermined not to believe [that].

Supreme is back!

2012-02-27T10:27:00.001-08:00

Supreme N. 63. Cover by Erik Larsen.

Supreme is back! The character, relaunched in the '90ies in an acclaimed run by Alan Moore, will be back this April with issue N. 63.

Erik Larsen will draw (with assistance by Cory Hamscher) the last unpublished script written by Moore and then the series will continue with Larsen providing both scripts and layouts, with final art by Hamscher.

In the following an excerpt from a CBR interview with Erik Larsen (dated 30th of January 2012).

At least the first issue is being drawn from an Alan Moore script that was still on file. Is there more than just the one? How will the story proceed past that point?
There was one script and it was left on a complete cliffhanger. Alan had intended this to be his last issue and for it to feed into the next guy's run. My impression was that he was going to either plot it or guide it after this issue but he really left it on an edge-of-your-seat cliffhanger so the next guy had a guaranteed audience. There's no closure here -- you can't walk away after reading Alan's last issue and feel it's a good place to stop.

The script obviously wasn't written for you and Moore's known to have incredibly complex panel descriptions, so what was it like drawing his scripts? It must have been challenging considering it was written for another artist and he tends to be incredibly descriptive in his panel descriptions.
[It was] absolute hell. He does not write to my strengths and there were all kinds of things he asked for which were a pain in the ass to draw -- there were panels with multiple things going on in the foreground and background and I spent a lot of time combing over other issues looking for reference. It was easily the most difficult script I've worked from. It was torture.

I had the option of not using it, actually. Alan had written scripts for a few Extreme books including "Youngblood" and "Glory," which weren't being used, and it was thought that it would be better to start fresh -- but I really wanted what I did to spin out of what Alan did. What better way than to draw his final script? On both "Youngblood" and "Glory" Alan had barely gotten started but he'd had a rather lengthy run on "Supreme," so it made more sense to use his script and jump off from that. I'm glad I did it and I'm glad it's behind me. My hat's off to anybody who's been able to work with Alan over the years. I have nothing but respect for those people.

Larsen's sketches

Watchmen 2: they did it!

2012-02-09T02:39:00.000-08:00

from nerdreamer

The 1st of February, DC Comicsofficially announced (after several unofficial rumours) the Before Watchmen project to be published during this summer. It will be composed by 35 issues focused on events happened before the original Watchmen. More details about BW can be read here.

As reported online by the NYT, Alan Moore's reaction has been very direct and clear, as expected. “I don’t want money,” he said. “What I want is for this not to happen.”

On the contrary, Dave Gibbons was more "diplomatic". He said in a statement: “The original series of Watchmen is the complete story that Alan Moore and I wanted to tell. However, I appreciate DC’s reasons for this initiative and the wish of the artists and writers involved to pay tribute to our work. May these new additions have the success they desire."

The only member from the original Watchmen creative team involved in BW will be colorist John Higgins who will draw some issues. Furthermore, original Watchmen editor Lein Wein will contribute as writer.

League: Century N.3 - 2009

2012-01-31T10:27:00.000-08:00

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol III): Century #3 - 2009 has a release date: June 2012 (co-published by Top Shelf Productions & Knockabout).

In CHAPTER THREE, the narrative draws to its cataclysmic close in London 2009. The magical child whose ominous coming has been foretold for the past hundred years has now been born and has grown up to claim his dreadful heritage. More here.

20th Anniversary Watchmen tribute: Adrian Veidt

2012-01-25T11:35:00.000-08:00

Art by Luca Enoch

In 2006 I edited "Watchmen 20 anni dopo", an Italian Watchmen tribute book which was basically a collection of 12 brand new essays by well known comics experts analyzing Moore & Gibbons masterpiece in the occasion of its 20th anniversary. The volume was published by Lavieri with all net profits donated to AIMA, the Italian Alzheimer organization.

The book also contained a 24 illustration gallery: above you can admire a very intense portrait of Adrian Veidt, the man behind Ozymandias, drawn by the amazing Italian author LUCA ENOCH.
So enjoy and... many thanks to Mr. Enoch for his permission to post his illustration here!

Luca Enoch is one of the most well-known and popular Italian comics artists and writers. Some info, in English, about Enoch can be found in Lambiek Comiclopedia. He is currently working on his sci-fi series Lilith for SBE and on several other projects and stories.
More news and info about Luca Enoch at his Italian blog: here.

AM Portrait: Master of Reality

2012-01-12T02:32:00.000-08:00

Master of Reality by T. Faraci (story) and P. Frisenda (art)

As I previously wrote, the Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman tribute book also contained some comics short stories.

Some contributors played with Moore-related characters and concepts but others had Moore himself as "special guest" of their story. The last one is the case of Master of reality (with an obvious reference to the Black Sabbath's album too), the 2page story shown here, created by acclaimed Italian artists Tito Faraci (writer) and Pasquale Frisenda (art).

It's a silent story full of "Easter eggs" in each panel. For example in the opening one you can see a lot of characters from the ABC line such as Promethea and some LXG members (on the left), Tom Strong (on the center) and Top 10's Toybox and Smax. Have fun trying to find them all! :)

The story can be read at page 100 of the sold-out volume and it appears here on AMW with the artists' permission. Again, many thanks to Mr. Faraci & Frisenda for their great contribution to the Alan Moore: Portrait.

Master of Reality by T. Faraci (story) and P. Frisenda (art)

Tito Faraci is one of the most appreciated, popular and prolific Italian comics writer. He worked for Disney Itay and penned stories for best selling series such as Diabolik, Dylan Dog and Tex (Sergio Bonelli Editore). He also wrote a bunch of Marvel superheroes stories and his Daredevil/Capitan America one, titled Dead On Arrival, was also published in the USA market. Recently his horror novel, Oltre la soglia, has been published in Italy by Piemme.

Pasquale Frisenda started his career in the 90ies. Then he became part of the art team at work on Sergio Bonelli Editore series such as Magico Vento (he also provided covers for the series) and Tex, drawing in 2009 the acclaimed annual Patagonia.

Alan & Glycon wish you a Happy 2012

2012-01-01T08:10:00.000-08:00

Art by Frank Quitely (via Bleeding Cool)

From BBC Radio 4's Thought For The Day slot (Dec 31, 2011).
I discovered the transcript at Forbidden Planet blog.
You can hear it, directly from the voice of the Bearded One, here. :)

And, of course... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hello everybody, my name’s Alan Moore, and I earn a living by making up stories about things that have never actually happened.

When it comes to my spiritual beliefs that’s perhaps why I worship a second century human headed snake god called Glycon, who was exposed as a ventriloquist’s dummy nearly 2000 years ago. Famed throughout the Roman Empire, Glycon was the creation of an entrepreneur known as Alexander the false prophet, which is a terrible name to go into business under.

A live, tame boa constrictor provided the puppet’s body, while its artificial head had heavy-lidded eyes and long blond hair. In many ways Glycon looked a bit like Paris Hilton, but perhaps more likeable and more biologically credible.

Looks aside, I’m interested in the snake god purely as a symbol, indeed one of humanity’s oldest symbols, which can stand for wisdom, for healing, or, according to etho-botanist Jeremy Narby, for our spiralling and snake-like DNA itself.

But I’m also interested in having a god who is demonstrably a ventriloquist’s dummy. After all, isn’t this the way we use most of our deities. We can look through our various sacred books and by choosing one ambiguous passage or one interpretation over another we can pretty much get our gods to justify our own current agendas. We can make them say what we want them to say.

The big advantage of worshipping an actual glove puppet of course is that if things start to get unruly or out of hand you can always put them gak in the gox. And you know, it doesn’t matter if they don’t want to go gak in the gox, they have to go gak in the gox.

Anyway, thank you very much for listening and from both me and Glycon, a very happy new year to you all.

AM Portrait: SandokAlan

2011-12-15T08:22:00.000-08:00

SandokAlan by D. Barzi (story) and Oskar (art)

The Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman tribute book I co-edited in 2003 with Gary Spencer Millidge contained a wide variety of material - such as essays, appreciation texts, memories, homage illustrations, interviews, and so on - to celebrate the 50th birthday of Alan Moore.

There were also some comics short stories included in. Some contributors were thrilled by the idea to play with Moore-related characters, so the book was enriched by a bunch of comics that paid homage to characters created by Moore, moments from Moore's stories or had Moore himself as the main character.

Italian artists Davide Barzi (story) and Oskar (art) created a very funny 2page story (titled SandokAlan) which did homage to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series featuring Moore himself. It's was a "strange" Moore because he has been mashed-up with Sandokan, a classic hero created by Italian writer Emilio Salgari.

The story can be read at page 38 of the sold-out volume and it appears here on AMW with the artists' permission. Again, many thanks to Mr. Barzi and Oskar for their great contribution to the Alan Moore: Portrait.

SandokAlan by D. Barzi (story) and Oskar (art)

Davide Barzi is a well-known Italian comics writer, journalist and critic. He worked for several Italian comics publishing houses and he is a regular collaborator of Sergio Bonelli Editore.

Oskar started his career as penciler and inker in the 90ies and worked on the popular Italian series Alan Ford. He collaborated with Barzi on several projects; currently he is a member of the art team at work on SBE's science fiction series Nathan Never.

The Honest Moore: OWS, Frank Miller & Politics

2011-12-06T14:28:00.001-08:00

An amazing Alan Moore portrait by Diego Maia

From a recent interview appeared on Honest Publishing website.

Read The Honest Alan Moore interview: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

With the Occupy movement, it seems you and Frank Miller have conflicting views. Would you say that he’s against it and you’re for it?
Well, Frank Miller is someone whose work I’ve barely looked at for the past twenty years. I thought the Sin City stuff was unreconstructed misogyny, 300 appeared to be wildly ahistoric, homophobic and just completely misguided. I think that there has probably been a rather unpleasant sensibility apparent in Frank Miller’s work for quite a long time. [...]

It’s always seemed to me that the majority of the comics field, if you had to place them politically, you’d have to say centre-right. That would be as far towards the liberal end of the spectrum as they would go. I’ve never been in any way, I don’t even know if I’m centre-left. I’ve been outspoken about that since the beginning of my career. So yes I think it would be fair to say that me and Frank Miller have diametrically opposing views upon all sorts of things, but certainly upon the Occupy movement.

As far as I can see, the Occupy movement is just ordinary people reclaiming rights which should always have been theirs. [...] I think that the Occupy movement is, in one sense, the public saying that they should be the ones to decide who’s too big to fail. It’s a completely justified howl of moral outrage and it seems to be handled in a very intelligent, non-violent way, which is probably another reason why Frank Miller would be less than pleased with it. I’m sure if it had been a bunch of young, sociopathic vigilantes with Batman make-up on their faces, he’d be more in favour of it. We would definitely have to agree to differ on that one.

What do you think needs to change in our political system?
Everything. I believe that what’s needed is a radical solution, by which I mean from the roots upwards. Our entire political thinking seems to me to be based upon medieval precepts. These things, they didn’t work particularly well five or six hundred years ago. Their slightly modified forms are not adequate at all for the rapidly changing territory of the 21st Century. [...]

AM Portrait: The Comedian

2011-12-03T14:06:00.001-08:00

Art by Roberto Recchioni

In 2003 Roberto Recchioni drew a great old style illustration of The Comedian as his contribution to the Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman tribute book (see page 283 of the sold-out volume, and obviously, the above jpg image.)

Roberto Recchioni is a well-known Italian comics artist and writer, creator of several series and characters and writer for the best-selling Italian comic book series Dylan Dog.

He is also a videogame and movie expert, a tech geek and a popular blogger. For more info about him visit his blog Dalla Parte di Asso (Italian only).

Again, many thanks to Mr. Recchioni for his contribution to the Alan Moore: Portrait and for the permission to post his illustration here.

Moore and... Frank Miller!

2011-11-18T03:31:00.001-08:00

Moore from The Simpsons' episode Husbands and Knives.

In the past days Frank Miller generated a huge "controversy" with his opinion about the Occupy movement. So, it's not strictly related but it could be of some interest to read what Alan Moore said about Miller's 300 in an interview published in 2007 on Tripwire magazine (page 17, Tripwire Annual 2007, Tripwire Publishing Ltd.).

TRIPWIRE: Zack Snyder's directing Watchmen - he did Frank Miller's 300...

ALAN: "Jesus Christ..."

TRIPWIRE: Um, he did the remake of Romero's Dawn Of The Dead as well.
Actually, I didn't think it was bad at all...

ALAN: "Well, I am not interested in either of those films. I was invited to the premiere of 300 but I didn't even like the comics so... I think it's far from the best thing that Frank Miller has ever done. I got as far as the line where one of the Spartans is talking about the Anesthesias and says, "Huh, those boy lovers." I mean, Jesus Christ, the Spartans were famous for things other than being a bunch of tough guys. Possibly Frank should have read a book before he commenced that work... or, you know, more than one. I also don't understand why you want to make a film look like a graphic novel - what is the point of that? It's not a graphic novel, it's a film."

TRIPWIRE: Miller seems to have worked out how to handle Hollywood, though - be as hands-on as humanly possible...

ALAN: "... Or have material that is fairly simple. Sin City is based upon Mickey Spillane and noir films that Frank Miller has seen, so of course you can do something like that as a film. And something like 300 - this is not a complex plot. Three-hundred men defending a bridge against an invading empire - it goes back to the Dark Knight ethos of 'One good man can turn it all around' which I think is simplistic. But it's simplicity that works pretty well with contemporary Hollywood. Most of the stuff I do is intentionally complex - I'm not saying that complex is better than simple but complex you can't make into films very easily."

AM Portrait: 1963

2011-11-16T02:04:00.001-08:00

Art by Massimo Giacon

In 2003 Massimo Giacon contributed to the Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman tribute book with a very smart and funny illustration celebrating the 1963 miniseries. You can see it in its printed glory at page 94 of the sold-out volume, and obviously, in the above jpg image. :)

Massimo Giacon is a real Renaissance man, not only a well-known comics artist with a decades-long career but also a musician (see a video here), a painter, a performer and a designer. More information about him can be found at his colorful website: www.massimogiacon.com

Again, many thanks to Mr. Giacon for his generous support to the Alan Moore: Portrait!

AM Portrait: V for Vendetta

2011-09-05T16:25:00.000-07:00

Art by Luca Enoch

In 2003 Luca Enoch contributed with a powerful homage illustration of V to the Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman tribute book, published by Abiogenesis Press. You can see it in its printed glory at page 188 of the sold-out volume. And, obviously you can admire it in the above jpg image. :)

Many thanks to Mr. Enoch for his generous support to the Alan Moore: Portrait, and to several other projects I asked him to contribute to during the past years. A billion thanks, Luca!

More news and info about Luca Enoch at his Italian blog: here.

Judgment Day Omega: script example

2011-08-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

Alan Moore is famous for his extremely detailed comics scripts.
In the following you can read the script for a single panel from "Judgment Day Omega" (1997, Awesome Entertainment) drawn by Chris Sprouse (the final panel is shown above). It's a short excerpt but it is a clear example of Moore's writing.

Due to a misunderstanding, Moore indicates in the script the name of Dan Jurgens even if the artist for that sequence was Sprouse (read the editor's note in the page).

So... enjoy!

Published here just as a "comics studies" example.

Moore talks to the Guardian

2011-07-31T14:03:00.000-07:00

Photograph by Murdo Macleod

The complete interview can be read at the Guardian site.

Do you miss anything about not working with a DC or a Marvel?
AM: Believe me, there is nothing that I miss about it at all. I only wish that I had been able to make this jump earlier in my career. I wish I hadn't wasted so much time working for those people. I'm very distanced from the comics industry. I love the comics medium but I have no time for the industry. [...]

20th Anniversary Watchmen tribute: Nite Owl I

2011-07-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

Art by Werther Dell'Edera

This year marked the 25th anniversary of Watchmen. But... at the end of 2006 - in the occasion of its 20th anniversary - I edited "Watchmen 20 anni dopo", an Italian Watchmen tribute book which was basically a collection of 12 brand new essays by well known comics experts analyzing Moore & Gibbons masterpiece. The volume was published by Lavieri with all net profits donated to AIMA, the Italian Alzheimer organization.

The book also contained a 24 illustration gallery: above you can admire the original Nite Owl drawn by Italian amazing artist WERTHER DELL'EDERA who is well known to the American comics readers for his art on several series pubblished by Marvel, DC, Image and IDW.

So enjoy and... many thanks to Mr. Dell'Edera for his permission to show the illo here, of course!

For more info about Werther Dell'Edera visit his blog.

20th Anniversary Watchmen tribute: the shipwreck

2011-06-23T13:40:00.000-07:00

Art by Luca Rossi

This year marked the 25th anniversary of Watchmen. But... at the end of 2006 - in the occasion of its 20th anniversary - I edited "Watchmen 20 anni dopo", an Italian Watchmen tribute book which was basically a collection of 12 brand new essays by well known comics experts analyzing Moore & Gibbons masterpiece. The volume was published by Lavieri, a small Italian publisher, with all net profits donated to AIMA, the Italian Alzheimer organization.

The book also contained a 24 illustration gallery: above you can admire the shipwreck from "Tales of the Black_Freighter" drawn by Italian amazing artist LUCA ROSSI who is well known to the American comics readers for his art on Vertigo's House of Mistery series. Mr. Rossi gave his permission to show here the piece. Also he was really generous to provide some preliminary sketches that you can see below, for the very first time.

Enjoy and... many thanks to Mr. Rossi, of course!

Art by Luca Rossi

new Moore projects

2011-05-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

One frame from the storyboard for Jimmy’s End, Mitch Jenkins‘ new film written by Alan Moore.
From Bleeding Cool.

It seems that there is more Moore than we can imagine.

In a recent interview by Pádraig Ó Méalóid titled Boy From The Boroughs, Moore said: "[About Jimmy's End] I don’t want to announce anything regarding who or what that might be, but it’s people that I find interesting, and we’re not talking to anybody from Hollywood. [...] Well, at the moment we’re just talking about a short ten minute film. There are possibilities beyond that, but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. The ten minute film Jimmy’s End is the cornerstone for everything that follows, so we want to just treat that as entirely a thing in itself. Then when people have seen that, they will be able to judge whether they would be interested in the other possible film, television series, or whatever, that we’ve got to follow that up. But I can tell you that it’s coming on very well, it’s looking very, very interesting and if, by the end of the week, we’ve got the funding sorted out, then we should be going into filming very soon, and it’ll take us about a week to film it. So, later in the year is my best guess, but I’m spending a lot of my time thinking about ideas related to Jimmy’s End at the moment, so I think that people will be interested when we’ve finally got it developed enough to be able to show people some of the stuff we’ve been coming up with."

Furthermore, Bleeding Cool revealed the Alan Moore’s Big New Multi-Media Thing: "Hey this is the 21st century people want to expand everything into multiple platforms, into games and all sorts of things, so what if I embraced that, what if I came up with a concept that could spin out into all sorts of things that I believe, in the way that I wanted to… That would be quite diabolical, couldn’t it?"

I can't wait to know... Moore!

20th Anniversary Watchmen tribute: Ozymandias

2011-04-24T07:26:00.000-07:00

Art by Claudio Villa

This year marked the 25th anniversary of Watchmen. But... at the end of 2006 - in the occasion of its 20th anniversary - I edited "Watchmen 20 anni dopo", an Italian Watchmen tribute book which was basically a collection of 12 brand new essays by well known comics experts analyzing Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons masterpiece. The volume was published by Lavieri, a small Italian publisher, with all net profits donated to AIMA, the Italian Alzheimer organization.

The book also contained a 24 illustration gallery: above you can admire Ozymandias drawn by Italian superstar artist CLAUDIO VILLA who gave his permission to show here the piece. Enjoy! And many thanks to Mr. Villa, of course!

Alan Moore Storyteller: preview

2011-03-20T04:30:00.000-07:00

In the previous post I had a brief chat with Gary Spencer Millidge about his upcoming book Alan Moore: Storyteller (it will be published this summer by Ilex Press).

In the following you can see some previous pages from the book. Other pages can be seen at Millidge's blog.

In the post opening image, you can admire the final book cover: photography by José Villarrubia, design by Chip Kidd.

Enjoy... and don't forget to pre-order the volume!!!

Gary Spencer Millidge talks about Storyteller

2011-03-11T04:07:00.000-08:00

This summer Ilex Press will release Alan Moore: Storyteller by Gary Spencer Millidge. The book promises to be the definitive volume about Moore and a must-have for any fan of the Bard of Northampton.

Ilex 2011 catalogue can be seen and downloaded at Issuu. Alan Moore: Storyteller is at page 28. The volume is currently scheduled for early July release.

Gary Spencer Millidge is the author of the acclaimed series Strangehaven and together we edited the 2003 Alan Moore: Portrait of and Extraordinary Gentleman tribute book. He already talked about Storyteller in his own blog.

In the following a brief chat with Gary about this new Moore-related project.

smoky man: How did you start working on an other Moore-related project, after our Portrait? Previously you did a book focused on comics design...

Gary Spencer Millidge: I wrote Comic Book Design for Ilex Press in 2008, and the commissioning editor Tim Pilcher called me at the end of 2009 to ask me to create some sample pages for a potential Alan Moore biography. I was commissioned to write the book in the spring of 2010.

Can you reveal us details about the actual content of the book? It seems to be as an enhanced biography of sort, doesn't it?

It's what I think the publishers call a visual biography. It mainly concerns a survey of the entirety of Moore's works in some depth, profusely illustrated, but also contains a detailed biography, particularly of his early life. The book also goes into some detail about his music, performance, prose and illustration work, as well as his personal views opinions and philosophies on magic, politics, drug use and of course the Hollywood system.

What about the CD included in?

The audio CD included with the book is a collection of tracks spanning Moore's musical and audio career, containing tracks from each of his major recorded projects, as well as a number of unreleased songs, including the infamous Emperors of Ice Cream track, Mr. A. All 19 tracks have been professionally remastered by Gary Lloyd, Moore's collaborator on the audio version of Brought to Light.

What will Moore longtime fans will find in the book? And, what's about the general comics audience? And for a "common" person maybe attracted by Moore's name related to movies?
As well as providing the most accurate and comprehensive biography of Moore to date, the book will include a great deal of rare and never previously published material. This includes a reproduction of the much rumoured Big Numbers chart, many personal family photographs, excerpts from Moore's personal notebooks (including sketches and notes for From Hell and Lost Girls), and unseen/unillustrated script for an episode of V for Vendetta, unseen art from Captain Britain and Watchmen and much more.

There's also a gatefold timeline and bibliography which puts all of Moore's works into chronological context.

What's about the involvement of Alan Moore himself in the whole project? It's a fact that Moore has a strong ethic related to his works and his own persona, so... I think he really trusted you... for this book, I mean...
Alan Moore has given me his utmost co-operation in the production of this book, making himself available for interviews in person and by phone, as well as providing the photographs, notebooks and audio recordings as described above; in addition, he has checked my manuscript to ensure every accuracy.

You well know Moore and its works but... What did you find out that surprised you working on the book? Maybe doing researches or talking with Moore..

The quality, diversity and prolificacy of Moore's work is more astonishing that I previously thought. Revisiting even his earlier material proved the depth and breath of his writing skills. Having access to his notebooks was a revelation. It was amazing how much like my own or any other writers these notebooks are; which proves that there is no secret magical techniques employed, just a massive intellect and a vast amount of hard work.

You spent many months working on this. I thinks it can also be defined as a "labour of love" on an Author you have the highest respect and admiration for.... What are your expectation in terms of critical and commercial response?

I don't have any expectations, as it will be Moore's name that sells the book, not mine. It was a labour of love in the sense that everything I do, I try to do my best. Hopefully the book will enhance Moore's reputation and open another door for him to be able to create another masterwork.

In conclusion, I can't avoid to ask this last question. Any possibility to see some new Strangehaven issue/material in the upcoming future? :)

It's a pretty simple equation of time and money. The amount of time I spend on Strangehaven cannot really be compensated for financially in the current economic climate. I still intend to find a solution that will enable me to continue and conclude the series as soon as I am able, and I won't make any further announcements until I have some concrete news.


from Ilex catalogue, page 28

Here the Italian version of this post.

Judgment Day Sourcebook

2011-02-27T15:57:00.000-08:00

Above and in the following, sketches and page layouts by Chris Sprouse for Judgment Day Sourcebook (Awesome Entertainment), the 6 page prequel story to Judgment Day, published in 1997. Enjoy!

Alan Moore World header

2011-02-19T07:06:00.000-08:00

Hey folks, as you can see, the blog has a new header! It has been created by multi-talented Italian comics artist Daniele Tomasi. Daniele is a long-time friend of mine and so... a smoky "thank you, Daniele" for your great contribution!

Daniele is also the owner of DTE, "the smallest publishing house in the world", as he likes to say. He is a creator, writer, penciler, inker, letterer, colorist and publisher. A real Renaissance man!

If you can't read Italian go here to take a look at Tomasi's storyboard based on James Cameron's script for a Spider-Man movie that never happened.

Above you can see the pencils and, in the following, the inks that Tomasi did for the header.

From left to right: Alan Moore, Tom Strong, Ginda Bojeffries, Dr. Manhattan, Promethea, V, D.R. and Quinch, William Gull, Capitain Nemo.

a Fury in the making

2011-01-30T15:38:00.000-08:00

In 2003 Trevor Hairsine contributed with a pencil drawing of The Fury to the Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman tribute book, published by Abiogenesis Press. You can see it in its printed glory at page 150 of the volume.

In the past weeks I discovered in a box some preliminary sketches Trevor sent me. I completely forgot them! So, you can see them here for the very first time.

Also included the original piece and the inked version realized by Kevin Nowlan in 2010, as a commission for me.

The Fury, original pencil drawing. By Trevor Hairsine.

The Fury, inked version by Kevin Nowlan (2010).

League: Century N.2 - 1969

2011-01-10T14:58:00.000-08:00

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol III): Century #2 - 1969 has finally a release date: July 2011 (co-published by Top Shelf Productions & Knockabout).

CHAPTER TWO takes place almost sixty years later in the psychedelic daze of Swinging London during 1969, a place where Tadukic Acid Diethylamide 26 is the drug of choice, and where different underworlds are starting to overlap dangerously to an accompaniment of sit-ins and sitars. More here.

Sienkiewicz speaks about Big Numbers N.3

2011-01-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

Some days ago, Pádraig Ó Méalóid, posted on his blog an intense piece by Bill Sienkiewicz, one of the most extraordinary Artists in the comics field, about his controversial work on Big Numbers and especially on the legendary "lost" third issue.

Sienkiewicz wrote: "[...] Alan's a genius, an absolute gentleman. Plain and simple. Yes, his scripts are dense. They're brilliant, layered, nuanced, variegated, textural, beautiful and daunting. Simultaneously so. And although Alan is incredibly deferential and generous as to allowances for alterations made by the artist, the scripts veritably beg, no, demand, to be adhered to in their totality. It's practically sacramental.
[...] Working with Alan was like going from the multiplication table to the periodic chart to quantum physics all in the space of one panel border.

[...] To this day, I've lamented that Alan and I never finished the series. I actually literally can't stomach the thought of it remaining a hole in our creative lives, certainly in mine. And honestly, there's not a week that goes by that I don't think about completing it, about contacting Alan and saying, “Adult here. What say you? Let's kick out the jams!” I understand his great disappointment, though I've no doubt he's moved on. And gotten even more brilliant, if that's possible. I've apologized to Alan personally, and to the others, for my part. And I apologize to you - the readers."

The whole article is here. It's a must-read, nuff said!

Lettering the League

2011-01-06T14:08:00.000-08:00

On his blog, Master of Lettering Todd Klein talks about the process behind the upcoming second 80-page issue of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century (published by Top Shelf).

Klein writes: "Mostly, Alan gives us everything he can think of that might be relevant in the script, then lets us get on with doing the rest of it. So, when Alan does include lettering notes, I try extra hard to come up with something I think he’ll like. There are a couple of examples in this issue."

You can read the whole thing here. A quite interesting and revealing piece.