Moore 70: Happy birthday, Magus!

Cover art by Carlos Dearmas. Colours by Luca Paciolus.

Today is the day! Happy 70th birthday, Alan!

 

Upon request from the friends at Fumo di China (which is a long-standing Italian magazine fully focused on Comic Art), I put together a 6-page special to celebrate the great event. With a gorgeous cover art by Carlos Dearmas & colours by Luca Paciolus.

The special contains a 4-page article that I wrote titled "Parole da Moore" (Words by Moore) with Moore portraits by Gene Ha, Angelo Secci, Leomacs, Lorenzo Mò, Giacomo Putzu and Officina Infernale. Furthermore, the special includes a brief Moore profile, selected excepts from the famous Sassaki's interview and 7 opinions about Moore from his peers and friends.

All in Italian, of course. Scusate. Sorry.

Special thanks to Carlos, Luca, Gene, Angelo, Massimiliano, Lorenzo, Giacomo, Andrea and Raphael for their collaboration and permission.

The magazine (Fumo di China n. 335) will be available next week in all the Italian news-stands & comic shops (of good taste). 

Visit Fumo di China site (HERE) or their FB page (HERE) for more information.

 

Again... Auguri, Alan! A chent'annos. Have a great day!

 

(And maybe there is something moore to come...)

Alan Moore by Alessandro Aroffu

Art by Alessandro Aroffu

Above, a great Alan Moore portrait by Italian comic book artist Alessandro Aroffu. You can also recognise some familiar faces and... a Sardinian mask, too. Grazie mille, amico!

 

Alessandro loves stories, comics and... bees. 

For more info about him, visit his Instagram: HERE.

The artist as a young man by Claudio Calia

Art by Claudio Calia

Above, a portrait of The Man from Northampton directly from... the 80ies, by Italian comic book artist and graphic journalist Claudio Calia.  

Calia has published several graphic novels on social and political subjects and has contributed to many indie projects and festivals. 

 

Grazie mille, Claudio!

For more info about the artist, visit his official site: HERE.

Hitchcock's gems

Excerpt from page 50 of Alan Moore's BBC Maestro Course Notes 1.0, "Part Five: A Variety Of Forms - 24. Screen Gems". Full course: HERE!

HITCHCOCK’S GEMS
Alan Moore: Reading François Truffaut’s book about Alfred Hitchcock was a revelation for me. He was explaining how Hitchcock achieved his effects in films like Psycho, shot by shot.

I remember the scene in Psycho where one of the detectives is suspicious there might be something unusual on the upper floor of the Bates Motel. The first shot is the detective looking up the stairwell, low-angled and looking up, which means that what you are looking up at is placed in a position of power, psychologically. In that instance, the audience’s tension increases because the detective is considering going upstairs but we feel the unknown power because of the way the image is set up. When the detective climbs the stairs it switches to an overhead shot, so that the audience is in the position of power but helpless to intervene. Whatever happens you are trapped looking at it from this position. This is the exact point at which the apparently crazy old lady (which we later find to be Norman Bates himself) comes running out of the landing and stabs the detective to death – while we look on, helplessly.

The angle at which you look at something will affect the psychological mood of the shot.
This is something that I’ve learned a great deal about when it came to writing for comics because it uses the same principles.

V by Yildiray Cinar

Art by Yildiray Cinar

Above, a V homage by Turkish comic book artist Yildiray Cinar.

 

For more info about the artist, visit his Twitter account, here.

Mystic Moore by Abhishek Singh

Art by Abhishek Singh

Above, a phenomenal Moore portrait by acclaimed artist Abhishek Singh.

Singh writes: "The mystic scribes like Thoth, Atri, Enki, many others, come into the visceral spirit of this much visceral Moore, a shaman of fables."

 

Abhishek Singh is an Indian creator and storyteller. Spanning fine art exhibitions, comic books, animation and VR films, his work has been exhibited in prestigious places like LACMA, Asia Society, Vermont Museum and Burning Man. His critically acclaimed Krishna: A Journey Within, published by Image in 2012, is the first graphic novel by an Indian-origin writer/artist to be published in the USA. He currently lives and creates between his studios in Brooklyn, New York and Mumbai. For more info visit his official site, HERE.

Iain Sinclair 80

Below, a small excerpt from Alan Moore 1-page contribution to IS 80, a limited-edition signed publication to mark the 80th birthday of legendary writer, film-maker, and walker Iain Sinclair.

The 192 page A4 illustrated publication features over 170 contributors, including Peter Ackroyd, Caroline Bergvall, Keggie Carew, William Gibson, Xiaolu Guo, Philip Hoare, Toby Jones, Stewart Lee, Esther Leslie, Rachel Lichtenstein, Robert Macfarlane, Jonathan Meades, Dave McKean, Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore,  J.H. Prynne, Denise Riley and Marina Warner.

 

Unfortunately, the book is currently sold-out. And I sadly confess that I couldn't get a copy. Sigh. Sob. 

Special thanks to friend Omar Martini for sharing the text.

Alan Moore: [...] I met Iain and became entangled in his fascinating human narrative, demoralised to find that he was even better at being a person than he was being an unbeatable writer: generous with his invaluable time, supportive, warm, and always willing to share the astonishing arcane intelligence that flows so freely through his multitude of subterranean channels. Not only a literary example, then: if arguably the best and most bar-raising writer in the English language can be such a lovely individual, what excuse does anybody have for being otherwise?

[...] We are privileged to walk the world while he does. [...]