History Creator / AlanMoore

*** In the end though, Moore considers ''[[Creator/HarryPartridge Saturday Morning Watchmen]]'' to be ''the'' best adaptation of any of his work.

->''"Life isn't divided into genres. It's a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you're lucky."''

-->-- '''Alan Moore'''

In either case, Moore began his career in independent comics and was happy about working in creator-owned independent titles again. Other notable works include ''Brought To Light'', a history of the CIA[[note]]Which led to the persistent rumour for years that he was banned from entering the USA; in fact, he'd simply not bothered renewing his passport.[[/note]]; ''A Small Killing'', the story of a graphic designer who finds himself stalked by a strange little boy, the abandoned ''Big Numbers'' (which fell apart with only the first issue published), and a graphic novel collaboration with Eddie Campbell (''ComicBook/FromHell'') that would take years to finish but which he properly began work on in the late '80s. He also began work on ''Lost Girls'', a piece of highbrow erotica (though he insists it be called [[InsistentTerminology porn]]), his first collaboration with artist Melinda Gebbie (who he later married). Moore cut himself off DC and Marvel, but in the '90s, he was willing to work-for-hire on a number of titles for mainstream-but-alternative companies such as Creator/WildStorm Comics and Creator/ImageComics. For Image, Moore worked on a number of titles but found most success with ''ComicBook/{{Supreme}}'', a {{Homage}} to Silver-Age Superman via AlternateCompanyEquivalent that surprised readers for its change in tone from his dark work of the '80s, as well as ''1963'', a parody and {{Reconstruction}} of the Silver Age Marvel era.

* * TheRival: Moore and Creator/GrantMorrison don't get along. ''At. All''. Moore has accused Grant of, essentially, being his [[{{Series/Seinfeld}} Kenny Bania]] and stealing his schtick ("It's gold, Jerry, gold!") and art style. Morrison has taken an equivocal stance over the years, variously suggesting that they consciously dulled their own "esoteric" style and mimicked Moore to get a shot at writing for DC, while pointedly emphasizing that ''THEY'' had professional comics work published first (back in the days when Moore and Morrison were both working in fanzines and British small press comics) and that they are contemporaries who came up in comics at the same time but Moore just caught mainstream attention first. Morrison also once suggested that they'd been offered an opportunity to pitch a run on ''Miracleman'' after Moore left the book and that Moore sabotaged it out of spite, though this is more debatable (Moore has long maintained that he had picked Creator/NeilGaiman to follow him on ''Miracleman'' and if Morrison was offered the chance to pitch for it, he wasn't aware of it). Moore has gone as far as saying that if you like Morrison's work at all, you should just stop reading his.

[[caption-width-right:350:Not actually [[UsefulNotes/RasputinTheMadMonk Rasputin]]... ''far'' [[FalseReassurance harder to kill]].]]

-> '''Bart''': "Alan Moore, you wrote my favorite issues of Radioactive Man!"
-> '''Moore''': "Oh, really? So you liked that I made your favorite superhero a heroin-addicted jazz critic who's ''not'' radioactive?"
-> '''Bart''': "I don't read the words, I just like when he punches people."

* PromotedFanboy: [[https://alanmooreworld.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-sopranos-simpsons-and-south-park.html He's surprisingly expressed admiration for, of all things,]] ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' and isn't above [[ShoutOut giving a quick in-joke based on this]] in his work. He even made a guest appearance on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' [[AdamWesting to play an exaggeratedly cranky and embittered version of his usual self.]]

--> "I’ve been told the Joker film wouldn’t exist without my Joker story (1988’s Batman: The Killing Joke), but three months after I’d written that I was disowning it, it was far too violent – it was Batman for christ’s sake, it’s a guy dressed as a bat. Increasingly I think the best version of Batman was Adam West, which didn’t take it at all seriously. ”

* TheLastDJ: Will happily walk out on whatever company is currently employing him if they annoy him too much, and never seems to have any trouble getting work afterward. The one problem with this is whatever company he dose end up working with will usually end up getting bought out by DC leading to [[HereWeGoAgain the process happening all over again.]]

* SignatureStyle:
** Taking an established comic and its conventions, exploring some of the implications and inconsistencies of its WorldBuilding and then submitting it to a GenreDeconstruction that takes the story in a new direction. ''Miracleman, Swamp Thing, Supreme'' and ''Crossed +100'' to name a few.
** Extensively detailed backgrounds, use of flashbacks to provide backstory, as well as text-only appendix and post-scripts that provide additional WorldBuilding. Also issues which commit GenreAdultery and move towards an OutOfGenreExperience such as Walt Kelly's Pogo making an appearance in ''Swamp Thing''. Likewise there is a lot of metafictional commentary, such as ''Crossed +100'' a post-apocalyptic story about post-apocalyptic fiction.
** RealityHasNoSubtitles: Downright ''merciless'' whenever foreign languages (from other countries or other ''planets'') comes up. The man went and invented a whole language for Rann when it popped up for a two-issue arc in ''Swamp Thing''. Taken up to eleven in ''Crossed +100'', which has a variant of English which, while technically not a new language, has so many new slang terms (due to language shift over time) that it can be extremely difficult to understand the characters, and no subtitles or translations are ever provided - the reader has to puzzle out what words have come to mean from the context they are used in.

** His "biography" on the ''League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century'' collection portrays him as a [[GrumpyOldMan mentally-ill figure of folklore who mainly goes around calling children and their interests stupid so he can feed off their tears]].

* InTheStyleOf: Part of how he deconstructs and parodies things is to format stories as they would be in the time periods he is mocking. ''ComicBook/NineteenSixtyThree'' takes this UpToEleven with Moore specifically writing as if he were Creator/StanLee, even in the faux letters pages.

** RealityHasNoSubtitles: Downright ''merciless'' whenever foreign languages (from other countries or other ''planets'') comes up. The man went and invented a whole language for Rann when it popped up for a two-issue arc in ''Swamp Thing''. Taken UpToEleven in ''Crossed +100'', which has a variant of English which, while technically not a new language, has so many new slang terms (due to language shift over time) that it can be extremely difficult to understand the characters, and no subtitles or translations are ever provided - the reader has to puzzle out what words have come to mean from the context they are used in.

* Disinterest in [[TheFilmOfTheBook movie adaptations]] of his work and [[HorribleHollywood Hollywood in general]]. Moore has persistently held that his works are made specifically to be comic books, and [[AdaptationDecay to transition them into other mediums would result in significant decay]]. Aside from the few exceptions (such as an adaptation of the Franchise/{{Superman}} story "ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything" in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', likely because the characters weren't his own and the producers bothered to ask him for permission first), Moore has been quick to [[DisownedAdaptation disown virtually every adaptation made of his works on principle]]. His title strip of ''Cinema Purgatorio'' shows that he's quite the cynic on typical Hollywood genre conventions, which he spends time dissecting as being in some form or another harmful, exploitative, founded on lies and injustices, and are just generally bad. [[ZigZaggingTrope With that being said,]] don't think this means he writes off film in its entirety -- especially in his early works, he's shown lots of appreciation for works of classic cinema, with ''League: Century'' fondly referencing the likes of Creator/FrancisFordCoppola, Creator/OrsonWelles (whose characters often appear in ''League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'') and Creator/RobertAltman (whose [[HyperlinkStory hyperlinked]], [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters cast-heavy]] deconstructions of FilmNoir and TheWestern greatly inspired ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''), and especially given his foray into filmmaking himself following his retirement from comic books, it should be noted that he doesn't think the art is strictly invalid.

[[caption-width-right:350:Not actually [[JuliusBeethovenDaVinci Rasp]][[UsefulNotes/RasputinTheMadMonk utin]]... ''[[FalseReassurance far]]'' [[FalseReassurance harder to kill]].]]

-. '''Bart''': "I don't read the words, I just like when he punches people."

He got his start drawing comics and writing for magazines such as ''The NME'' and ''Sounds''. He went on to regular work at Marvel UK, where he wrote scripts for ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'', ''ComicBook/CaptainBritain'' comic and ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'', as well as a series of essays on the comics medium in ''The Daredevils'' (one of which was a critique of Creator/StanLee ''in a Marvel branded 'zine'') where he wrote a series of acclaimed stories, including ''ComicBook/DRAndQuinch'' and ''ComicBook/TheBalladOfHaloJones''. This period included ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', about an anarchist planning to take down a future fascist UK Government, and ''[[ComicBook/{{Miracleman}} Marvelman]]'' (later ''Miracleman''), a reinvention of a 1950s British superhero. The latter attracted attention from DC, which led to the start of the period of his biggest influence (even if it would ultimately turn out to be among [[BrieferThanTheyThink the briefest]]).

Moore was encouraged by Creator/DCComics editor Len Wein to start work on ''ComicBook/SwampThing'', Wein's classic horror comic. Much as he did for Captain Britain and Miracleman, Moore proposed a radical revision that changed the comic from the ground-up, and leading the story into a GenreShift that gradually deepened the character and his setting. Moore took the Swamp Thing through a number of unusual adventures, that involved many run-ins with the regular DC Universe, which also saw the introduction of characters, such as ComicBook/JohnConstantine, who have since gone on to become major icons. ''Swamp Thing'' proved to be a massive success, and Moore was gradually encouraged by the editors, to take on other projects: including landmark stories for ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' ("ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow", "ComicBook/TheJungleLine" and, with Dave Gibbons, "ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything"), ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' ("Mogo Doesn't Socialize", with Dave Gibbons and "Tygers", his first collaboration with Kevin O'Neill) and ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' (''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke''). Yet the best was still to come.

Moore had a huge knowledge of comics history and a canny instinct for reconfiguring and resurrecting forgotten and little known or weakly selling titles. He had planned to do a story about superheroes that involved a murder mystery around one of their numbers, with his initial concept involving the MLJ run published by Archie Comics which he had assumed, wrongly, that DC had rights to. What DC did have was rights to the properties of Creator/CharltonComics and Moore made his pitch using them, but his publishers, while impressed by the pitch, pointed out that Moore's premise would render a number of the characters unusable by the end of the story and so invited him to create an entirely new series. So ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' was born, with Moore using characters who can be recognized as AlternateCompanyEquivalent of the Charlton characters, but who gradually differed sharply from their inspiration and from most superhero comics of their time. Collaborating with Dave Gibbons, the comic was sophisticated on a level that mainstream comics had not known at the time, having a character and plot that rivaled the most highbrow books (and continues to rival the best that many writers can come up with), ''Watchmen'' proved to be a massive sensation, and with Frank Miller's ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' is credited with launching UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, and starting a new market for graphic novels, along with other comics such as Art Spiegelman's ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'' and Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez's ''ComicBook/LoveAndRockets''. Ironically, the popularity of ''Watchmen'' was the first nail in the coffin for Moore's relationship with DC. The contract that he and artist David Gibbons had signed promised them that full rights to the comic would be returned to them if the book fell out of print for more than two years. At this point in time, paperback collections of comic books were virtually unheard of and the idea that ''Watchmen'' would remain in print that long was absurd. However, the book's popularity has kept it in print from 1987 through the present day, and neither Moore nor Gibbons ever received the rights. Moore's relationship with Creator/MarvelComics was also strained, mainly for what he perceived as its NetworkDecay and drop in quality, and the lawsuit pushed by the company to rebrand ''Marvelman'' into ''ComicBook/{{Miracleman}}'' even if the former existed before Timely renamed itself as Marvel.

In either case, Moore began his career in independent comics and was happy about working in creator-owned independent titles again. Other notable works include ''Brought To Light'', a history of the CIA[[note]] Which led to the persistent rumour for years that he was banned from entering the USA; in fact, he'd simply not bothered renewing his passport.[[/note]]; ''A Small Killing'', the story of a graphic designer who finds himself stalked by a strange little boy, the abandoned ''Big Numbers'' (which fell apart with only the first issue published), and a graphic novel collaboration with Eddie Campbell (''ComicBook/FromHell'') that would take years to finish but which he properly began work on in the late '80s. He also began work on ''Lost Girls'', a piece of highbrow erotica (though he insists it be called [[InsistentTerminology porn]]), his first collaboration with artist Melinda Gebbie (who he later married). Moore cut himself off DC and Marvel, but in the '90s, he was willing to work-for-hire on a number of titles for mainstream-but-alternative companies such as Creator/WildStorm Comics and Creator/ImageComics. For Image, Moore worked on a number of titles but found most success with ''ComicBook/{{Supreme}}'', a {{Homage}} to Silver-Age Superman via AlternateCompanyEquivalent that surprised readers for its change in tone from his dark work of the '80s, as well as ''1963'', a parody and {{Reconstruction}} of the Silver Age Marvel era.

''Selected Bibliography:''

! Common Themes and Elements:

Moore had a huge knowledge of comics history and a canny instinct for reconfiguring and resurrecting forgotten and little known or weakly selling titles. He had planned to do a story about superheroes that involved a murder mystery around one of their numbers, with his initial concept involving the MLJ run published by Archie Comics which he had assumed, wrongly, that DC had rights to. What DC did have was rights to the properties of Creator/CharltonComics and Moore made his pitch using them, but his publishers, while impressed by the pitch, pointed out that Moore's premise would render a number of the characters unusable by the end of the story and so invited him to create an entirely new series. So ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' was born, with Moore using characters who can be recognized as AlternateCompanyEquivalent of the Charlton characters, but who gradually differed sharply from their inspiration and from most superhero comics of their time. Collaborating with Dave Gibbons, the comic was sophisticated on a level that mainstream comics had not known at the time, having a character and plot that rivaled the most highbrow books (and continues to rival the best that many writers can come up with), ''Watchmen'' proved to be a massive sensation, and with Frank Miller's ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' is credited with launching UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, and starting a new market for graphic novels, along with other comics such as Art Spiegelman's ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'' and Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez's ''ComicBook/LoveAndRockets''. Ironically, the popularity of ''Watchmen'' was the first nail in the coffin for Moore's relationship with DC. The contract that he and artist David Gibbons had signed promised them that full rights to the comic would be returned to them if the book fell out of print for more than two years. At this point in time, paperback collections of comic books were virtually unheard of and the idea that ''Watchmen'' would remain in print that long was absurd. However, the book's popularity has kept it in print from 1987 through the present day, and neither Moore nor Gibbons ever received the rights. Moore's relationship with Creator/MarvelComics was also strained, mainly for what he perceived as its NetworkDecay and drop in quality, and the lawsuit pushed by the company to rebrand ''Marvelman'' into ''ComicBook/{{Miracleman}}'' even if the former existed before Timely renamed itself as Marvel. That said, when Moore worked for Captain Britain, he did coin the term Earth 616 in one story. This is the name of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse and it's his one major lasting contribution.

[[caption-width-right:350:Not actually [[JuliusBeethovenDaVinci Rasp]][[UsefulNotes/RasputinTheMadMonk utin]]... ''[[FalseReassurance far]]'' [[FalseReassurance harder to kill.]]]]

* AuthorsOfQuote: On account of being a prominent comics writer, essayist, public intellectual, and a prolific writer of introductions for a variety of publications, Moore tends to be quoted and cited quite often.

[[RenaissanceMan Novelist, artist, occultist, performing artist, musician, and public intellectual]], Alan Moore (born November 18, 1953 in [[UsefulNotes/TheMidlands Northampton, England]]) is perhaps the most CrazyAwesome ComicBook writer of all time, one of the most widely recognized in the medium overall, and one of the most influential artists from TheEighties, whose work has decisively influenced artists from multiple mediums for nearly three decades.

* ''Maxwell the Magic Cat'' [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent (A comedic, kid-friendly comic strip written and drawn by Moore]]; 1979-1986; 2018 one-off)