Alan & Glycon wish you a Happy 2012

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 back in the box. And you know, it doesn’t matter if they don’t want to go back in the box, they have to go back in the box.

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

AM Portrait: SandokAlan

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

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

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!

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

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

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. :)

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.

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

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

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

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 published 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

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