Jim Starlin on Alan Moore

Page from Supreme - The Return Vol.1 No.2. Art by Jim Starlin.

Below, a short text written by comics legend JIM STARLIN, published online in August 2001 as contribution to the Ultrazine.org Alan Moore Special (the site is not reachable anymore).

I think of Alan as arguably the best writer of comics today.

I've always admired the way he's structures a story and his characterization.

I've only had one opportunity to work with Alan [on Supreme - The Return Vol.1 No.2, Awesome Entertainment, 1999 - editor's note] and that went badly because of the unprofessional behavior of the publisher.

I sincerely hope that someday I'll be able to collaborate with him on another project.

But in the meantime I'll just look forward to reading whatever his fertile mind produces, like all other comic fans. [Jim Starlin, August 2001]

Page from Supreme - The Return Vol.1 No.2. Art by Jim Starlin.

Alan Moore's NEW music project

A Thousand Strands is the debut long-player from The Dandelion Set, a new collaboration between Glyn 'Bigga' Bush (Lightning Head, Rockers Hi Fi) and PK Chown (James Beige, Mr Liquorice).

The album travels back to their formative years in the mid-70s, with sleevenotes, lyrics and vocals by cult writer ALAN MOORE (V For Vendetta, Watchmen, Promethea...) as well as passing a whole cavalcade of musical landmarks en route to their present day compositions.

More info HERE. Order and buy it!

Alan Moore by Facundo Percio

Art by Facundo Percio.

Above, some Alan Moore sketches by Argentine artist Facundo Percio published some days ago on his Instagram page.

Alan Moore: The art of magic

Alan Moore photographed by Joe Brown.

Excerpt from a long interview about Magic and creativity published on Pagan Dawn site.

"I’d been advised by Steve Moore [the late comics writer, no relation to Alan], who knew about such things, that a useful entry into magic might be to adopt a god-form as a patron deity and ritual focus, much as he had done with the Greek moon-goddess Selene. I should either find a divinity which took my fancy, or let one find me. Shortly thereafter, when Steve was showing me a book of Late Roman antiquities, I came across a photo of Glycon’s statue, as unearthed in 1962 at Constantza in Romania. In that extraordinary image, at once comical and profound, I found what I was looking for.

After that first instinctual adoption of the snake-god as a personal symbolic deity the relationship deepened, both through what seemed to be spectacular early contact with the idea form itself – back when I probably still needed spectacular results to convince me that there was any value in the path I’d chosen – and through my subsequently deeper understanding of the symbol-entity attained through careful reading and deliberation.

My relationship with Glycon, though necessarily pyrotechnic 20 years ago, has been internalised as part of my own personality and processes, which seems more suited to this current and more focused phase of magical activity through which I’m moving, where I have no need for visionary reassurance.

If anything, Glycon is more real, more present and more fully understood to me now than he was back during those first dazzling years." [Alan Moore]

The complete interview is available HERE.

John Totleben talks drawing Swamp Thing and Miracleman

Miracleman advertising art (1986) by John Totleben.

Excerpt from an interview with John Totleben published on popOptiq.com. 

popOptiq: How did you transition from Swamp Thing to Miracleman?
John Totleben: There wasn’t much of a transition. I’d always drew the drew the way I drew. It was just a different approach because Miracleman had a superhero, sci-fi kind of look to it whereas Swamp Thing was more horror and organic. The horror element was in Miracleman too, but it wasn’t essential to Miracleman as it was in Swamp Thing. The difference really for me was that Swamp Thing was organic in nature, in terms of the way we approached it. Miracleman was architectural in nature. It seemed it had to be built because there was a lot of figuring out such what the designs were like in Olympus and even the story construction of the panels.

The complete interview is available here.

Dr. Manhattan by David Hitchcock

Art by David Hitchcock.

Above, a great illustration by British artist David Hitchcock portraying Dr. Manhattan in a pose that also pays homage to Rodin's The Thinker.

For more info about David Hitchcock visit his blog: here.

V by Paul Martin Smith

Art by Paul Martin Smith.

Above, a stunning V portrayed by Paul Martin Smith.

[...] V is a perfect example of lightning in a bottle where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The high contrast, chiaroscuro, noir look was tailor made to appeal to a Ditko fan like myself. [PMS] 

More information about it can be found here.

1984: Alan Moore about V for Vendetta

Warrion N. 19 (Quality Communications).

Excerpts from an interview published in ZigZag June 1984 issue, conducted by Ian Blake.

"The strip's about a lot of things" he explains: "England, women, fascism, anarchy, personal choice and responsibility, culture, sex, computers, religion... If I had to boil it down to a single statement, it‘s about the fundamental issue of whether we should be governed or not. This, to me, is the only political question worth considering even for an instant.
Please understand that I'm not yet so drug-addled or enthused by my own intellect as to suggest that we're going to reach a solution, or anything like a solution. All I want to do is present the questions as I see them in as interesting a light as possible."

[...] There are even plans afoot to adapt it for television, though as Moore says, "By the time it reaches the screen, 1998 will have come and gone, and people will no doubt view it as a touching and naive example of pre-holocaust optimism.
"Other than that." he adds. "we're in touch with someone who's doing a video presentation of the strip as part of a film school final exam. There‘s also a remote possibility that the whole thing might be turned into a ballet, too. After that I figure on doing it as a set of bubble-gum cards and possibly a novelty sun-visor, but this is all just speculation."

The League of Lost Projects by Kevin O'Neill

Art by Kevin O'Neill.

From the sold-out Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman book (2003, Abiogenesis Press, page 259), above you can admire the contribution drawn by extraordinary artist and Moore's regular collaborator KEVIN O'NEILL to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Northampton writer.

Comic Book Fever and... Alan Moore

Cover art by Alex Ross.

COMIC BOOK FEVER, the long-awaited new book by GEORGE KHOURY (author of The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore and Kimota: The Miracleman Companion), will be finally published this summer by TwoMorrows. I can't wait to read it so... go and order your copy!

From the publisher's site.

Comic Book Fever 
A Celebration of Comics: 1976-1986
240-page Hardcover - by George Khoury

George Khoury [...] presents a “love letter” to his personal golden age of comics, 1976-1986, covering all the things that made those comics great—the top artists, the coolest stories, and even the best ads! Remember the days when every comic book captured your imagination, and took you to new and exciting places? When you didn’t apologize for loving the comic books and creators that gave you bliss? Comic Book Fever captures that era, when comics offered all different genres to any kid with a pocketful of coins, at local establishments from 7-Elevens to your local drug store. Inside this full-color hardcover are new articles, interviews, and images about the people, places, characters, titles, moments, and good times that inspired and thrilled us in the Bronze Age: Neal Adams, John Romita, George Pérez, Marv Wolfman, Alan Moore, Denny O’Neil, Jim Starlin, José Luis García-López, The Hernandez Brothers, The Buscema Brothers, Stan Lee, Jack Davis, Jack Kirby, Kevin Eastman, Chris Claremont, Gerry Conway, Frank Miller—and that’s just for starters. 
It covers the phenoms that delighted Baby Boomers, Generation X, and beyond: Uncanny X-Men, New Teen Titans, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Love and Rockets, Crisis On Infinite Earths, Superman vs. Spider-Man, Archie Comics, Harvey Comics, Kiss, Star Wars, Rom, Hostess Cake ads, Grit(!), and other milestones! So take a trip back in time to re-experience those epic stories, and feel the heat of Comic Book Fever once again! With cover art and introduction by Alex Ross!

I contacted Khoury and he replied with few extra bits of info: "There are many layers to this book. There are many things that I wanted to talk about. One thing I wanted to show was the evolution of the comics medium and industry over the years of 1976 to 1986. How comics went from a medium for kids into one for adults. How we began with Jack Kirby and ended with Alan Moore via this evolution."

Go and order your copy!

Horror has a lot of different flavours

Excerpt from the interview published on BleendingCool, here.

"[...] When we were just launching into the strip and the idea was still in its formative stages, I think both of us were slightly worried that we might have come up with a concept that simply didn’t have enough implicit ideas or fresh material to go the distance. By the time that we were starting the second eight page instalment, however, we’d both had the realisation that in story terms we’d inadvertently stumbled upon a diamond mine. Just making a small shift in the way that we were approaching the medium of film (via the medium of comics) seemed to open up an entirely new way of looking at things, with a resultant dazzling array of new narrative possibilities. By episodes three and four – “The Flame of Remorse Returns” and “A King at Twilight” if you’re interested, fear-fans – we were both becoming quietly convinced that these were about the best stand-alone pieces that we had ever done in our respective careers. Considering how fleeting and ephemeral some of our source material is, I think we’ve both been a bit startled by some of the profoundly human statements that have emerged, as if from nowhere. Also, given that our brief and our intentions are to create horror stories, we’ve both been pleased to discover a new breadth in that remit. Each issue we’re able to work with a genre that we may never have worked in before, and we find that we’re playing all of the notes on the horror piano rather than bashing out the same dark, heavy chords down at one end of the keyboard. In the grimmest of pieces there is always at least an incongruous humour, while it’s in the most ostensibly light-hearted pieces – like our romantic comedy, “The Time of Our Lives” – that the most dreadful and gut-wrenching impacts are concealed. We’re finding that horror has a lot of different flavours, and in Cinema Purgatorio we’re hoping to extend and educate both our own and the readers’ palates. And you never know, the reader might discover that they’re looking at forgettable old films completely differently and becoming aware of some of the uncomfortable shadows in the background. That has certainly been our own experience thus far, and there are an awful lot of movies or movie devices that I personally am never going to see in the same light again. [...]" [Alan Moore]

The complete interview is available on BleendingCool, here.