Blast form the past! Excerpt from an interview published on
Off Centre n.1, October 1989.
What advice would you give to young (or old) people starting out in the "comics biz" – lunge at the majors, or stick with independent bastions of integrity?
Alan Moore: I can't really give much specific advice, because I believe that everybody must find their own path based upon what he or she wants out of the medium.
If you want to create your own work without compromising anything at all, then you should probably stick to the hard and narrow path of self-publishing, or independent publishing, even on a small-time basis. If on the other hand you want to make money and gain a certain degree of influence within the industry, you're more likely to do this by pitching yourself at Marvel, D.C. or Fleetway. Both have their advantages and drawbacks, and in the end it's down to the individual person.
What I would advise is that you consider all the other places that might be willing to run comic strips; places that fall into neither of the above categories. I spent two years learning the rudiment of storytelling by doing strips for music weeklies and regional newspapers. Hunt Emerson works for Fiesta. Brian Bolland started out doing work for the underground magazine OZ. Dave Gibbons for the underground weekly I.T. Crumb did greeting cards and Robert Williams worked for a hot rod magazine.
What I’m saying basically is that you're on your own in terms of what choice you eventually make, but at least be sure that you've considered the whole range of choices actually open to you. (Another good thing about doing comic work off the beaten track is that the competition is often less intense. And yet another is that if your early work turns out to be crap, very few comic fans will have seen it and your reputation will thus be reasonably intact.)
