Alan Moore — #100FavouriteAuthors
How could he NOT feature in my list?
PSA: If you see this man, do not take him to a film adaptation of one of his works.
He will probably gut you. He hates these adaptations so much, he’s requested to have his name taken off the credits. So the next time you see V for Vendetta, Watchmen or From Hell, you won’t see Alan Moore’s name in the credit roll. His views on the ‘comic book/superhero movie’ fad are well known.
He’s also one of the greatest writers the world has known.
They say geniuses are eccentric. Alan Moore is English (not that it has anything to do with anything), he’s wildly imaginative and has a magnificent way with words (to put it mildly) and he’s been influential in the very medium he hates so much. No… he’s one of the most influential writers of all-time, period. These are 3 of my favourite Alan Moore books:
- Watchmen: The usually prescribed gold standard in comic book writing. Also wrongly interpreted as being a badass, dark tale about superheroes in a real world. If anything, Watchmen is a caricature on superheroes — and how futile they are in a real world. Although I had read it originally as the former (dark, gritty, superhero tale), as I grew up, I read up on it more and realised that this was Alan Moore’s critique of the entire comic book fad.
- V for Vendetta: Another case of mistaken identity. No, not V, but the story itself. If you’ve only watched the 2005 film (which I like, by the way), it’s just a dumbed down version of the original text. I own the Absolute version (puts collar up) and again, this is not a commentary on how fascism can be overthrown by a great revolution — rather, again, this is a document on the futility of revolution in the face of real oppression. I understand a work of art can have many interpretations, but this was Alan Moore’s, whether you like it or not.
- From Hell: One of the best stories I’ve read on the ‘supposed’ origins and identity of Jack The Ripper. It’s the most Edgar Allan Poe-ish of his works — it involves murder, macabre and even a little bit of the supernatural (a teensy-weensy bit). Again, Alan Moore was none too happy with the protagonist (Frederick Abberline) in the film adaptation, calling him a ‘dandy’ compared to his ‘gruff’ version in the comic. Sigh. We never will get the great man, will we?
I just started reading Jerusalem…
After 400 pages, I put it down again. Oh no, not that it was bad in the least, no. It’s a HEAVY book (literally and figuratively) and it can weigh you down in the best of times. You need to be in the right frame of mind to complete it. Or, you need to be patient and finish a little block at a time. I’m neither at the moment. But one day, I will finish the book… it is Moore’s longest (in terms of words).
I better stop before I violate another one of this man’s great works. I know he’s stalking me, somewhere…
Archives
Neil Gaiman | Agatha Christie | Jeffrey Archer | Sidney Sheldon | Enid Blyton | Ruskin Bond | Roald Dahl | Stieg Larsson | RK Narayan | Mario Puzo | J.R.R. Tolkien | Isaac Asimov | Alan Moore
