Paranormal Moore by Jonathan Edwards

Art by Jonathan Edwards

Above, Alan Moore portrait by British artist Jonathan Edwards, originally published in 2009 on Paranormal Magazine. Below, 4 supplementary illustrations. 

Posted on Edwards' blog, here, back in the day. 

I confess... I looove them all!

 

For more info about Edwards, visit his site HERE. 

Art by Jonathan Edwards

Watchmen by Michael Zulli

Art by Michael Zulli

Above, on auction at Heritage, a stunning Watchmen illustration by the great American artist Michael Zulli.

Created in Acrylic on Bristol board with an image area of 27" x 19". It is signed, dated and inscribed in pencil just under the image. There is handling, and edge wear, corner creases and bumps, and creasing in the borders. In Very Good condition.

At the moment, current bid: $1. Time left: 16 days.

Make your move!

On Joe Hill and creating stories

Excerpt from "Mondo Moore: Questions from Hill, Diaz and more", a six-part interview by Zack Smith posted on Newsarama.com in May 2009.

Newsarama: Our next “bonus round” question comes from Joe Hill, author of Heart-Shaped Box and the comic series Locke & Key.
Alan Moore: Another very, very good author. I read Heart-Shaped Box and thought it was a splendid book. I was very impressed with it.

NRAMA: Joe writes, “In a recent interview on the subject of episodic television, you said writers working on a continuing series ought to have an ending in mind, that they should know what they're building towards.
“With LoEG - or with any of your stories - do you work backward from a known ending then, or do the characters lead you naturally towards a conclusion you didn't expect? To put the question another way: you've sometimes discussed fiction as a form of magic. With that in mind, do you always get the demon you planned to summon, or are there sometimes surprise visitors?”
AM: Well, I think all of that is true. It’s like, yes, I do generally at least have a vague plan before I commence a narrative. Back in the day, when I was starting out, I used to have everything planned out and nailed down. With Swamp Thing, before I started writing every issue, I had an idea of what was going to go on every page and how it would all tie up.

As I did it issue-by-issue, I had an idea of where the overall narrative would be going. I can’t claim to have had the entire Swamp Thing story worked out from issue #1, but I had an interesting idea about redefining the character that I thought could take in into some interesting territory, so I left that fairly loose.

The other books up through Watchmen, From Hell and Lost Girls…I had everything in place, but that still leaves an awful lot that is open to change. Just because you’ve got a rough idea of where the plot’s going, that doesn’t tell you how you’re going to express those ideas, or what you’re going to make of them.

And so, with Lost Girls, I knew from my first conversations with Melinda that it was going to take place in a series of 38-page episodes, and that the plot outline would be building up to these three climaxes at the end of the three books that would end up with the First World War.

But in writing the book, so much rich material starts to emerge, so that as long as you’ve left yourself room to tie it back in, it will probably fit with your original conception of the book. I don’t think I’ve ever done anything where I came up with an ending that I completely hadn’t expected, but there have been plenty of times where I was pleasantly surprised by something that had been there potentially in my approach to the story all along.

There were very, very nice bits in the bit I’m working on now, Jerusalem. There were elements I threw together into the original mix. But the original mix was basically 35 story titles! I’ve got a vague idea of what’s in each chapter, and a vague idea of the order the chapters would be appearing in, and therefore roughly what this vast novel would be about. But it’s only with this current chapter, 25, that I’ve comprehended the entire shape of this enormous thing, I’ve realized the scope of what I’m doing.
That, in itself, has changed the shape of these final 10 chapters. I didn’t know when I started out that I’d be writing a chapter in an approximation of James Joyce’s language, because it’s a story about his daughter. It wasn’t until I was halfway through this chapter that I realized the next chapter would be about the development of economic policy, since Isaac Newton was put in charge of the mint.

I think that the important thing is, in my experience as a writer, I’ve come to recognize a workable skeleton, just by sight. I can see that yeah, this story, it’s got four legs, it can stand up, it can move, it’s articulated in the right way. What the flesh will be like, and the eventual meaning of that flesh will be, that’s a surprise that I probably won’t know until the end. I won’t know what Jerusalem is exactly until I’ve finished the last page and the last revisions.

But it’s a mixture of those things. I do like to have enough of the story worked out so I can trust my abilities as a writer to finish the story in a way that is satisfying to me and the reader. But I do like to leave room open for serendipity, because it happens a lot, and it can be so wonderful. Leave yourself the space for that, but do it within a predetermined structure. It’s the best of both worlds, really. Leave room for nice surprised, but try to get rid of any nasty surprises before you commence the narrative.

On fascism and anarchy

Cover for the Italian edition.

Expert from Mythmakers and Lawbreakers: Anarchist Writers on Fiction, edited by Margaret Killjoy, published in 2009 by AK Press.

Alan Moore: [...] it struck me that simple capitalism and communism were not the two poles around which the whole of political thinking revolved. It struck me that two much more representative extremes were to be found in fascism and anarchy.

Fascism is a complete abdication of personal responsibility. You are surrendering all responsibility for your own actions to the state on the belief that in unity there is strength, which was the definition of fascism represented by the original roman symbol of the bundle of bound twigs. Yes, it is a very persuasive argument: “In unity there is strength.” But inevitably people tend to come to a conclusion that the bundle of bound twigs will be much stronger if all the twigs are of a uniform size and shape, that there aren’t any oddly shaped or bent twigs that are disturbing the bundle. So it goes from “in unity there is strength” to “in uniformity there is strength” and from there it proceeds to the excesses of fascism as we’ve seen them exercised throughout the 20th century and into the 21st.

Now anarchy, on the other hand, is almost starting from the principle that “in diversity, there is strength,” which makes much more sense from the point of view of looking at the natural world. Nature, and the forces of evolution—if you happen to be living in a country where they still believe in the forces of evolution, of course —did not really see fit to follow that “in unity and in uniformity there is strength” idea. If you want to talk about successful species, then you’re talking about bats and beetles; there are thousands of different varieties of different bat and beetle. Certain sorts of tree and bush have diversified so splendidly that there are now thousands of different examples of this basic species. Now you contrast that to something like horses or humans, where there’s one basic type of human, and two maybe three basic types of horses. In terms of the evolutionary tree, we are very bare, denuded branches. The whole program of evolution seems to be to diversify, because in diversity there is strength.

And if you apply that on a social level, then you get something like anarchy. Everybody is recognized as having their own abilities, their own particular agendas, and everybody has their own need to work cooperatively with other people. So it’s conceivable that the same kind of circumstances that obtain in a small human grouping, like a family or like a collection of friends, could be made to obtain in a wider human grouping like a civilization.

So I suppose those are pretty much my thoughts at the moment upon anarchy. Although of course with anarchy, it’s a fairly shifting commodity, so if you ask me tomorrow I might have a different idea.

The whole interview is available HERE.

Chris Sprouse on Moore, Supreme and Tom Strong

Below, excerpts from an interview with CHRIS SPROUSE that I did in 2008. 

The complete piece is available HERE.

Were you more excited or a bit “frightened” to work with Moore considering his writing status?

CHRIS SPROUSE: Both excited to be working with someone as good as Alan and frightened because I wanted my art to be as good as his stories and I didn't know if I was up to the task.

Drawing Supreme, had you any direct contact with him or did you work only on his scripts? I think at that time he had already finished his scripts for Awesome and had no contact with the company... What’s about the “quality” of his scripts? Were they as detailed as the legend says?

No, I had no contact with Alan while working on Supreme. The scripts were indeed detailed and very long, but they were so much fun to read! I've kept them all!

After Supreme you followed Moore on his ABC line co-creating Tom Strong. What’s about your contribution to this modern classic hero? Was is only limited to the visual aspect of the characters, the city (even if Millennium City IS a character in itself), mecha design and so on.. or did you also contributed to the story in any way?

At first, I supplied purely visual input, but supposedly Alan created all the ABC books with the specific creators in mind, or at least tailored the stories to fit each of our strengths and interests. Later, around issue #10, Alan and I did discuss stories very briefly and decided together to focus on the Strong family as a sort of homage to the family feel of the old Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four, which we both loved. Otherwise, I was very content to let Alan write whatever he wanted to because it would always be interesting and fun to draw.

After Supreme and Tom Strong, how do you weight your collaboration with Moore? Do you consider it as the highest point of your career till now? Any "strange magical" anecdotes to share with us related to yr long professional relationship with him?

It was definitely my favorite time in comics. I don't know if I was always able to do the best I could have every single issue, but I'm very proud of the work I did on Tom Strong. No real magical anecdotes in the literal sense, but it was very magical to work with Alan. I'm honored to have had the chance.

The complete interview is available HERE. 

Jordan Crane on Alan Moore and... watching

Art by Jordan Crane.

Above, a fantastic portrait of Alan Moore by American comics creator Jordan Crane, from Rickey Purdin’s Watchmen sketchbook.

New Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill creation!

Alan Moore Mustard interview.
Moore caricature by Andrew Waugh.

Excerpt from an interview conducted by Alex Musson in 2014, 2009 and 2005 (with Andrew O'Neill) for Mustard, available online here.

Alan Moore: Kevin [O'Neill] and I have been working on League for a long time. I've had other projects, but Kevin's been living solely with Mina Harker for 15 years – although there are worse fates! (laughs) So we wanted a bit of a palette cleanser. We're working on something else, something very different from League, which explores quite a few things we're interested in. It's quite experimental and modernist. I don't want to say more yet. You should be hearing more about it by middle of 2015.

The complete interview can be read here.

Watchmen logo and cover designs

Excerpt from Todd Klein's blog.

[See image above] "Here are some of Dave’s initial notes about the cover and logo. For the logo he specifies a compact typeface to be used either solid black or reversed out. He’s very aware of the impact it will have as negative space in the black rectangle. Dave’s initial sketch at the bottom has the concept pretty well set, though in the cover layout above that, the logo is more compact. That layout is really remarkably close to the final design, though DC made some small changes, such as putting the book title in smaller type at the very top of the logo column, as insurance, I suppose, for books that were displayed partly hidden. Dave’s two “roundels” were followed, with the top one being the DC logo, the bottom one a clock whose hands crept ever closer to midnight as the series continued.

[...]

So many ways in which these designs by Dave Gibbons were innovative and fresh, to match the equally groundbreaking story inside. Dave’s design talent has sometimes been overlooked because his art is so appealing, but as you can see, he’s got terrific design skills, too."

The complete article can be read here.

Alan Moore on... real life and fiction

Expert from Mythmakers and Lawbreakers: Anarchist Writers on Fiction, edited by Margaret Killjoy, published in 2009 by AK Press.

I think that stories are probably more than just useful; they are probably vital. I think that if you actually examine the relationship between real life and fiction, you’ll find that we most often predicate our real lives upon fictions that we have applied from somewhere. From our earliest days in the caves I’m certain we have, when assembling our own personalities, tried to borrow qualities - perhaps from real people that we admire, but as often as not from some completely mythical person, some god or some hero, some character from a storybook. Whether this is a good idea or not, this tends to be what we do. The way that we talk, the way that we act, the way that we behave, we’re probably taking our example from some fiction or prototype. Even if it’s a real person who’s inspiring us, it may be that they were partly inspired by fictional examples. And given that, it is quite easy to see that in a sense, our entire lives - individually or as a culture - are a kind of narrative. [Alan Moore]

Moore characters in watercolour

Art by Hannah Buena.

Above, some characters co-created by Alan Moore drawn and painted in watercolour by Filipino artist Hannah Buena.

More info about Hannah Buena at her blog: here.

Alan Moore and... 24 Great Hipsters in History!

Alan Moore nel 1986!

Dodgem Logic was an underground magazine conceived and edited by Alan Moore and published between 2009 and 2011. It lasted for eight issues and each one featured a page - titled Great Hipsters in History - with tree short biographies written by Moore and illustrated by Calluz.

In the following you can find the list of the 24 hipsters suggested by Moore with a link to the related Wikipedia page. Enjoy!

GREAT HIPSTERS IN HISTORY

N. 1: Emma Goldman

N. 2: Alfred Jarry 

N. 3: Paul Robeson

N. 4: Duke Ellington

N. 5: Mary Seacole

N. 6: Lenny Bruce

N. 7: Annie Besant

N. 8: Harry Everett Smith

N. 9: Patti Smith

N. 10: Aldous Huxley

N. 11: Timothy Leary

N. 12: Ken Kesey

N. 13: Sarah Bernhardt

N. 14: Mata Hari

N. 15: Leonora Carrington

N. 16: Austin Osman Spare

N. 17: Colette

N. 18 - Samuel R. Delany

N. 19: Dick Gregory

N. 20: Mary Shelley

N. 21: William Blake

N. 22: Walter Tull

N. 23: Charles Bradlaugh

N. 24: Lucia Joyce

Alan Moore and... hamburger reading

Wired.com: How do you think comics should interrogate the post-civilization world, as you see it?

Moore: I have largely, completely given up on the comics industry. I really don’t believe it is going to do anything to address the modern world. Perhaps that’s a very pessimistic view; there are some great comics out there still. But for the large part I don’t think the comics industry has got any new ideas. I don’t think it’s had any new ideas for 20 or 30 years. 

Wired.com: It seems now to be more about the type of pure escapism you mentioned earlier.

Moore: That’s basically it. It’s so mannered these days. There are so few original voices, and it all seems to be stylistically the same stuff. It’s comfort reading. People are going to be getting the same stuff every month, and that’s why they like it. If you go out for a Big Mac, it’s going to taste exactly the way it did last month. It’s hamburger reading. I think the comics medium could play a big part in addressing our problems. It’s such a wonderful medium. You can talk about anything, and talk about it in a very powerful and informative way. I’d like to see comics become a medium in which new ideas could be expressed in new, compelling forms, but I don’t really see that coming from the industry.

Wired.com: Are there particular movements in comics that you still find relevant?

Moore: Where comics are starting to score heavily is in the documentary approach. People are starting to tell coherent stories that are autobiographical or documentary comics dealing with a particular situation. There has been a heartening surge of those, and they are largely coming from outside the comics industry. The comics industry, meanwhile, seems to be going down the tubes, as far as I can see. And it’s largely their own fault, that they did not embrace change heartily enough, that they didn’t have any new ideas, that they didn’t have a clue.

[Excerpt from Wired.com, 2009]

A priceless Manhattan

Art by Paolo Rivera.

Above, a commission featuring an intense Doctor Manhattan drawn by the amazing Paolo Rivera.

Visit Rivera site HERE.

Marvel of the future

Art by Paul Renaud

Above a Marvelman portrait by French comic book artist and illustrator Paul Renaud.

For more info about Paul Renaud visit his site.

Mini Watchmen

Art by Chris Giarrusso.

Above a nice portrait of the Watchmen as... babies. Kind of. 
Illustration realized by artist Chris Giarrusso. 

Extra details here and here.

For more info about Chris Giarrusso visit his site.

JH Williams III about drawing Promethea

Page from Promethea N.20. Art by JH Williams III.

Any "strange magical" anecdotes to share with us related to your long run on the series?
A couple things come to mind... when working on the Abyss issue [Promethea N. 20], where the characters have to cross a great dark divide in order to reach the highest forms of reality, they had to make it through a destroyed reality, Alan had called to warn me about possible physical dangers I might face while working on this issue. While he was writing this particular issue he had become very ill and became better upon completion of the script. He was convinced this was due to the thoughts on this negative reality becoming manifest physically. He actually experienced many of the sensations the characters did in the story. So he thought it best to warn me that strange things could occur while drawing. As I worked on the issue and got closer and closer to the middle of the issue where we show this black hole in the reality that leads to the inverse negative Tree Of Life, I began to not feel well and started having chest pains. The closer I got to drawing this black hole scene the worse my chest pain became, to such a degree I went to the emergency room to get looked at by a doctor. They ran an EKG test, among others, to see if maybe I was having a heart attack. After all of the tests were done the doctor couldn't find an explanation for what was occurring. During this time I had kept working on the issue. As I got past the drawing of the black hole scene and started to reach the end of the issue all of my chest pain and feeling bad went away without any further incident. When Mick [Gray] was inking that issue I remember him saying that everyone in his house came down with the flu or cold virus or something. How's that for odd? [JH Williams III]

You can read the complete interview HERE.

JH Williams III site: www.jhwilliams3.com