Best Bits: Strangers in Paradise
Looking back on the comic that kicked off Terry Moore’s career.
By Terry Moore. Published by Abstract Studio Comics. All images fair use.
I met Strangers in Paradise writer and illustrator Terry Moore once. Sort of.
Sometime in the mid-2010s, I attended New York Comic Con with one of my brothers and his girlfriend at the time. (Yes, Dear Reader, I third wheeled at a comic book convention. Check it off the bucket list.) I don’t normally cosplay, but I went as Invincible that year. I couldn’t wear my glasses beneath the mask, and because I can’t bear having anything in my eyes, contacts were a no-go. I might as well have cosplayed Daredevil for how blind I was.
Even so, I recognized Moore when I stumbled across his booth in Artist Alley. I’d been a fan of his work for several years at that point, and was excited to speak with him for a bit. Except… I couldn’t. It had nothing to do with embarrassment; I’d already spoken with the late great Tim Sale earlier in the day, not to mention New Mutants co-creator Bob McLeod and original Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew. It also had nothing to do with my Invincible mask, which didn’t cover my mouth, making speech a non-issue.
It was another cosplayer, who would not. Stop. Talking.