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| Art by Glenn Fabry |
Jul 29, 2023
Jul 28, 2023
Charms and absurdities
Alan Moore: [...] The very first thing that anyone reading a modern horror comic should understand is that there are great economic advantages in being able to prop up an ailing, poor-selling comic book with an appearance by a successful guest star. Consequently, all the comic book stories produced by any given publisher are likely to take place in the same imaginary universe. This includes the brightly colored costumed adventurers populating their superhero titles, the shambling monstrosities that dominate their horror titles, and the odd grizzled cowpoke who's wandered in from a western title through a convenient time warp. For those more familiar with conventional literature, try to imagine Dr. Frankenstein kidnapping one of the protagonists of Little Women for his medical experiments, only to find himself subject to the scrutiny of a team-up between Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. I'm sure that both the charms and the overwhelming absurdities of this approach will become immediately apparent, and so it is in comic books: Swamp Thing exists in the same universe as Superman, the same world as Batman and Wonder Woman and all the other denizens of the cosmos delineated within the pages of DC Comics' various publications.
As I said above, this approach has both its charms and absurdities. The absurdities are obvious: to work properly, horror needs a delicate and carefully sustained atmosphere- one capable of being utterly ruined by the sudden entrance of a man in green tights and an orange cloak, especially if as a character, he's fond of puns. The charms are much harder to find, but once revealed, can actually be rewarding. The continuity-expert's nightmare of a thousand different super-powered characters co-existing in the same continuum can, with the application of a sensitive and sympathetic eye, become a rich and fertile mythic background with fascinating archetypal characters hanging around, waiting to be picked like grapes on the vine. Yes, of course, the whole idea is utterly inane, but to let its predictable inanities blind you to its truly fabulous and breathtaking aspects is to do both oneself and the genre a disservice.
Imagine for a moment a universe jewelled with alien races ranging from the transcendentally divine to the loathsomely Lovecraftian. Imagine a cosmos where the ancient gods still exist somewhere and where whole dimensions are populated by anthropomorphic funny animals. Where Heaven and Hell are demonstrably real and even accessible, and where angels and demons alike seem to walk the earth with impunity. Imagine a planet where exposure to dangerous radiation granted the gift of super-speed rather than bone cancer, and where the skies were thus filled by flying men and women threatening to blot out the sun. Imagine a place where people were terribly good or terribly bad, with little room for the mediocre in between. No, it certainly wouldn't look very much like the world we live in, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be every bit as glorious, touching, sad, or scary. With this kind of perspective, the appearance in these pages of the Justice League of America or vintage DC super-villain Jason Woodrue should be less unnerving than it might otherwise have been to the uninitiated. [...]
Jul 26, 2023
Jul 24, 2023
Agents of Oblivion
Four stories starting everywhere and finishing in madness. Four acknowledged guides. Four tricksters. Four inspirations. Algernon Blackwood. Arthur Machen. J. G. Ballard. H. P. Lovecraft. They are known as “Agents of Oblivion”. And sometimes, in brighter light, as oblivious angels . . .
As host, as oracle, Iain Sinclair moves through this quartet of tales, through a spectral London that once was, or might never have been.
Furthermore: Alan's presence is very much there in the first story, 'The Lure of Silence'. - Iain Sinclair.
Unfortunately the hard-cover seems to be sold out. But...
Highly recommended!
Jul 22, 2023
Magic is Art, Art is Magic
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| Art by Mike Thomson |
Jul 21, 2023
Cybermen are back!
Humanoids who rejected the weakness of flesh and blood millennia ago, the Cybermen are deadly armored warriors driven by cold logic! Across the stars, they have waged cyber-war on a thousand worlds, eager for more organic beings they can convert into obedient soldiers of the Cyber-Empire! Inside this epic collection, you can discover all of the Doctor's incredible encounters with this unrelenting foe, taken from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine. Featuring stories created by some of the very best British comic artist and writers, this volumes includes a comprehensive appendix featuring contributions and commentary from the artists and writers, plus a wealth of other behind-the scenes details. Contains over 20 comic strip adventures, including digitally remastered classic tales that have never been reprinted.
In Shops: Nov 01, 2023
Jun 22, 2023
Nite Owl by Mike McKone
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| Art by Mike McKone |
You can follow McKone on his Twitter, HERE.
Check his original art at TD Art Gallery, HERE.
Jun 21, 2023
Visionary status, material culture and Youtubers
Excerpts from an interview originally printed in MÜ Magazine n.1, January 2021, conducted by David Erdos. You can read it online HERE.
[...]
DAVID ERDOS: [...] While there are many artists whose Work embodies a visionary status, very makers are as equal or as mythic as the work itself, at least in the minds of others. There’s you, Ballard, Heathcote Williams… How do you define a visionary in the full cultural meaning of that word?
ALAN MOORE: Well, I’d say that with a visionary it’s always got to be personal. It’s got to be a personal vision. I think if you look under visionary in the dictionary you’ll see a picture of William Blake. He’s pretty much the archetypal visionary. As I’ve said elsewhere, human beings don’t come a lot better than Billy Blake. I suppose what this is connected to is finding a way of seeing. There was a performer called Nicholas Curry who worked under the name of Momus. Well, I remember one of his songs; there was a snatch of lyric that stayed with me: ‘I’m in love with everyone who knows its hard to find a way of seeing. Who knows that nevertheless that is the only way to flame into being.’ And I think that this is the important thing: to identify the way in which we see the world. And to then communicate that; to develop the skills that we will need to communicate that: Sing your particular song. Give your particular view of the world. And as far as I can see it, one subjective view of the world is not privileged over another. Everyone’s subjective reality is the entire universe. And they are constructing it entirely within the confines of their mind.
[...]
DAVID ERDOS: [...] Its a common argument in theatre for instance that all you have to do is entertain. I’ve never believed that. I think the theatre has to include that of course but is actually about something else: ideas, exploration, challenge, transformation. And that a play is a list of ever changing or uncharted decisions. It’s why I’m a great Pinterist. In his plays everything is both true and untrue at any given moment and you have to navigate each silence, and each mystification.
ALAN MOORE: Of course I have great respect for Pinter as a dramatist. I am more of a Bertolt Brecht geezer. In that I – I mean, I’ve always liked Brecht, but I’ve only recently realised in fact, how much my own methods were an unconscious approximation. I’d never heard about Brechtian alienation, until I realised it’s what I’ve been doing all my life. The thing about Brecht is that he took hugely difficult moral and political concerns, and he mashed them up with the most appalling and vulgar popular media; sing songs and cabaret..
DAVID ERDOS: Shows about murderers, reprobates, prostitutes, tyrants, capitalists!
ALAN MOORE: There are ways in which almost anything can be communicated, and I think the onus on us is that we can’t continually complain about the public, because they’re only responding to what they’ve been fed, and what they’ve been conditioned to like. We should be able to offer more tempting dishes with our culinary skills, and if we can’t make them irresistible enough, then that really is on us. Certainly, it would help and be encouraging to get more response from the audience out there, but I think its our fault, rather than theirs. Or, rather, that is the best way for us to regard it. That we should buck our ideas up and try a bit harder to captivate people.
[...]
DAVID ERDOS: [...] Do you think then, that it’s about reaching large groups of people anymore, or is that future more about finding widespread and more selective groups? As a way of starting that culture again. Do you think that we need to start that culture again?
ALAN MOORE: Hmmn. Well, I myself would like to see a material culture. This might be because of my own prejudices. But I think you’ve got to have material culture before you can have material counter-culture. I think the idea of magazines is a great one. Maybe this is never coming back, but it struck me recently that the way that I and many of the people I knew managed to find ourselves in our current positions, or got to the point that we wanted to get to in life; a lot of the ways we used, are simply not there anymore. I was asked to do an intro for a very very good biography of Malcolm Mclaren that came out recently, and it occurred to me while I was reading it, that there was a particular scaffolding that enabled us to climb into those positions. It was Art Schools, Arts Labs, in my own case, to start with; the underground press, which then vanished, or at least the national underground press did. By which time there were poetry magazines, and they endured while there was the brilliant poetry boom of the sixties and seventies. Then there were regional alternative papers… then there were regional newspapers, whether they were alternative or not..there was the music press, which was one the ways I got into being an artist and writer. But all of the ways, all of the steps, all of the handholds that got me to where I am don’t exist anymore. And I am suspicious of the fact that the modern handhold are all owned by some tech company or other. I mean, I was talking to my grandson, one of my grandchildren, and he was talking about how at the moment he’s looking forward to becoming a Youtuber! I mean, he’s ten, you know..but then my daughter Amber who was in the background chipped in and said that maybe having your own Youtube channel was like having your own fanzine! And when I was talking to Jarett Kobek the other night he was talking about how he had started a book about Youtubers, and the tragic stories of a number of them, as he was saying that for a lot of these kids, unless they become one of the successful Youtubers, all they’re going to be or have are all of the disadvantages of being well known and none of the advantages. I mean, a lot of them – and I wasn’t talking about this to my grandson – but a lot of them have suicided. And Jared said, and this is very unlike him, that he gave up writing the book because it was just too depressing. He couldn’t actually face doing it anymore as it was making him feel terrible about humanity. So, yes, I’ve got my reservations about all the modern media. I would probably greatly prefer a return to material media, because I think when you’ve not got that physical artefact the atmosphere behind a counter-culture suffers. It’s an intangible and ephemeral feeling that needs something physical to actually coalesce around. There’s a number of problems that I have with virtual online culture. I can’t really comment on it much because I’m not part of it. But I’m not part of it for a reason. So, I really applaud any attempt to do print media, because I think people want them. It’s like vinyl albums…
DAVID ERDOS: The future is still in the past!
ALAN MOORE: Yes, I think it is. And we should also not assume that every new thing is progress. It might just be a new thing! It doesn’t mean that it’s better than what came before.
[...]
The complete interview is available HERE.
Jun 17, 2023
Watchmen by Carlos Dearmas
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| Art by Carlos Dearmas |
For more info about the artist:
Instagram - Blog - Facebook - GalleryJun 6, 2023
Leah Moore... draws Alan!
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| Art by Leah Moore |
She wrote: "Managed to draw dad while i was down in Northampton. ❤"
Well done, Leah! :)
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| Art by Leah Moore |
May 25, 2023
Alan Moore by Fred Hembeck
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| Art by Fred Hembeck |
Above, Moore portrait by American cartoonist and comic book artist Fred Hembeck drawn with, of course... curlicues at his knees!
Unfortunately "International mailings have been suspended for the time being."
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