Moore movies are coming soon!

Alan Moore joins forces with director Mitch Jenkins for a series of short films, produced by Lex in association with The Creators Project. These shorts are written by Moore with his ongoing creative involvement.

The first installment, entitled Act of Faith was recently shot in London; the second piece, Jimmy’s End, will be filmed in Northampton later this summer.

Originally intended as a brief ten-minute, one-off piece, the project has evolved into a multi-layered, multi-episode narrative created by Moore and brought to life by Jenkins. The working title for the overall series is Show Pieces.
Act of Faith and Jimmy’s End will premiere at The Creator’s Project event in NYC October 2012.

Moore and Jenkins previously collaborated on the Unearthing project and Dodgem Logic magazine.

Gentlemen at Gosh!

Those fine gentlemen at Gosh! do it again! So... if you can, pay them a visit!

Saturday June 23rd seems to be the right time!

Art by Kevin O'Neill for a limited edition mini-print.

*** Last update *** June 26th: Gosh! "official" reportage here;
Some other pics here, a small reportage here, a good review here.

from Bleeding Cool.

Howard Chaykin talks about comics process and... Watchmen

Page from Watchmen. Art by Dave Gibbons.

Howard Chaykin talks about the importance of artists in the comics creative process. And in Watchmen. 

[...] I recently heard an anecdote about one of my colleagues, a comic book writer, who apparently believes that the artist has absolutely nothing to do with the creative process in comics. If the artist is drawing realistic people in realistic situations, he is simply doing a job of work rather than participating in the creation of the material. I am of the belief that the artist does 50% of the “writing” in comic books. I think the guy is plum crazy. It staggered me in its limited understanding of what comic books are about. 

For example Watchmen is always being referred to as Alan Moore’s Watchmen as if Dave Gibbons had nothing to do with it. But the sensibility of that book would have been an entirely different experience if someone besides Dave had drawn it, and I don’t think that Dave gets near the credit and props he deserves. I think that it is important to acknowledge the fact that comics is a visual narrative medium in which much of the “writing” is provided by the artist who visualizes the material. 

Read the full interview with Chaykin here.

The Picture of Alan Moore

Art by Francesco Mattioli.

Alan Moore: Ritratto di uno Straordinario Gentleman (2003, Black Velvet Editrice), the Italian edition of the Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman book, didn't contain - for production reasons - some contributions included in the original volume. But it also contained a bunch of homage illustrations (printed in b&w) specifically created for the Ritratto.
This is the case of the gorgeous piece shown above, drawn by FRANCESCO MATTIOLI, presented here (for the first time) in colours with the author's permission.

The illustration also pays an overt homage to Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray with a touch of Lovecraftian horror.

Francesco Mattioli was born in Bologna, in 1973. As a child, he always loved drawing, his favourite subjects were bugs, starships and maps. At 18 year old, he attended the school of comics "La Nuova Eloisa" in Bologna, and soon after he began his career as an illustrator of educational videogames, comic books, children books and boardgames. He worked for Salani, Mondadori, Giunti, Nord-Sud, San Paolo and many other publishers. 
At the moment his favourite subjects are bugs, starships and maps.
[bibliographic info from F.lli Mattioli's site]