Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Comic Books >

Alan Moore leaves ABC

09:52 / 13.04.03

This just in: looks like Alan Moore closes down the ABC line - ending it this year.

From alanmoorefansite.com
"Alan Moore is to close the ABC line, at least his involvement in it. Before it ends, he's going to have some kind of mass denouement. Some promised projects will now not appear, such as "Top Ten Season Two" or "Pearl Of The Deep." Continued adventures of "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" may continue from another publisher. But a number of so-far unannounced projects will soon be revealed, including the big bang ending. Before he goes, he's going to have a mad year writing it all."

More info here

10:00 / 13.04.03

Shitting fucknuts. I loved Top Ten.

10:19 / 13.04.03

So did I.

If he stops with the league I'm going to wear his face like a fanny-hat.

The Photographer in Blowup

11:38 / 13.04.03

Talking of which, in Monday's edition of Ninth Art, Moore is quoted as saying "But, yes, I will be putting distance between my mainstream comics career and my magical work, simply by closing down my mainstream comics career and becoming a full-time magician."

I don't care if he's Alan Moore - his reason is downright pathetic.

12:12 / 13.04.03

And why's that?

12:25 / 13.04.03

He's stopping work in one medium that he's probably become a bit disillusioned with in order to devote more time to doing things he enjoys. Yeah, I'm disappointed that we're not going to see a new Top Ten and all, but it's his life. Personally, I'm looking forward to him doing more work with Perkins, and I'd be interested to see how his move into producing visual work himself turns out.

You don't own a creator simply because you've bought hir work in the past, and that creator doesn't owe you anything. All I can gather from your post is that you're pissed off because he's decided to spend time doing something that you yourself have no interest in. Frankly, *that's* downright pathetic.

The Photographer in Blowup

13:28 / 13.04.03

My reason isn't pathetic, merely selfish - by stop writing comics he'll deprive me the pleasure of reading more of his work; and for what? To be a magician?

What a waste of genius.

13:28 / 13.04.03

So Promethea won't end? Or will he leave when she's done at 32?

13:43 / 13.04.03

I think it's great. You heard me. Great.

Think about it: Moore gets to leave an industry that increasingly pisses him off, but in the process he gets to write the final chapters of Promethea, his epic meisterwork, the series that makes Watchmen and V for Vendetta look like people running round in silly costumes (well, not that Promethea isn't, but, uh, y'know what I mean). Alan Moore, working on the only comic series to fully match his intellectual talents and give him true creative freedom in so doing, playing with the freedom of the damned because he knows that when it's over - bang. No more comics for him. Taxi for Moore.

This is gonna be Moore's magnum opus, his fuck-you album, his Rant in E-Minor'. This thing is going to be so intense, so absolutely crazy, that even his Grantiness is gonna be shitting himself working out how to follow it up.

That's what I reckon, anyway. Think about it: Alan Moore, for the first time in his life, playing with the freedom of the damned. It'll be great.

Nobody mention Eyes Wide Shut here. Nobody!

14:08 / 13.04.03

He'll be back doing comics again as soon as the LXG money runs out.

14:33 / 13.04.03

This topic came up a little while ago. He's had this in the works for months now. More info here.

15:41 / 13.04.03

That waste of genius line's been used before. Peter Cook, anyone?

One more thing: he's not said he's stopping writing comics, merely mainstream comics.

16:03 / 13.04.03

If he stops with the league I'm going to wear his face like a fanny-hat.

I'd like to see you try! Although I share the sentiment.

And I hope Promethea gets a decent ending rather than just stopping or being wrapped up real quickly or something..

The Photographer in Blowup

16:08 / 13.04.03

One more thing: he's not said he's stopping writing comics, merely mainstream comics.

As long as those volumes of 'The League' keep coming out...

20:49 / 13.04.03

Promethea is going to end with issue 32 and it won't seem cut short cause that was the intended ending for it from the start (or so JHW3 says.)

20:52 / 13.04.03

Does anyone know exactly what he means when he says leaving "mainstream" comics? I got the impression that he did the ABC superhero line becuase he thought that was the only thing that would succeed in the current market. Is it possible that he's going to be producing more stuff like V For Vendetta, or are we more likely to see stuff like Snakes and Ladders. I'd like to see Moore do quality stories outside the superhero genre more than anything right now, and add another masterwork to the V/Watchmen/From Hell trio.

22:01 / 13.04.03

I think its a shame, but its his choice. Why must great magicians always break their wands? His magic was in the writting already, he's giving up art to be a great big wanker... quite literally...

No more Top Ten... *sigh*

22:37 / 13.04.03

Well... the 49ers and the Smax miniseries are coming some time this year.

12:22 / 14.04.03

Didn't they say that last year?

13:04 / 14.04.03

Does this mean, he isn't going to do Killing Joke 2 or write Amazing Spiderman?

Thank fuck for that.

13:06 / 14.04.03

Nothing to be sad about. I don't like any of his ABC works except LOEG. He'll be doing something along hte lines of From Hell instead pissing away his talent on mediocre crap. As much as anyone likes Top Ten I'd rather see him doing more work along the lines of From Hell.
This isn't bad news at all.

13:09 / 14.04.03

Mainstream comics means MAINSTREAM COMICS.
It means no more shit like Promethea or bland police drama like Top Ten. It means more stuff like Snakes and Ladders and From Hell. I can't recall where but I did read about this a month ago when he specified he'd concentrate on magic, his second novel and serious works like FH and S&L.
I'm actually happy about this.

The Photographer in Blowup

17:15 / 14.04.03

Moore's 1st novel was Voices Of Fire, right?

I'm all for new horizons, but why is Moore trying another novel? Voices Of Fire wasn't exactly a best-seller, it hardly got any attention at all from the press, or readers for that matter.

In the comics industry, he can get away with anything he writes thanks to his god-like status and a legion - a small one, compared with the mainstream writers - of fans, but writing a novel is like letting his talent go unnoticed.

Unless he puts profit - which is what publishers want - in front of his creative freedom and really wild, complex ideas, i can't see him making a breakthrough success in another industry.

Neil Gaiman succeded, but he's just writing formulaic novels after formulaic novels - nothing compared to the original work that was Sandman - and isn't putting any new good ideas out for people to find.

Don't mind Moore dedicating time to magic - from an interview i read a while ago, he claims he's feeling more creative since he got in this magic journey after From Hell - can't say i've seen said creativity yet in Promethea or Tom Strong, but if he's going to concentrate on more mature comics following the lines of From Hell and V For Vendetta, that's great.

Just don't want to see his talent fading into obscurity.

yawn - thing's buddy

07:28 / 15.04.03

Rosa, while Voice of the Fire didn’t sell shitloads, it was actually very well received by ‘the critics’ and was generally favourably reviewed. I personally think it’s a real classic and shows Moore has ample skills to nonce around in this medium.

Also, Top Shelf are publishing it this year and this edition will feature portratts of each of the chapter’s protagonists. Top Shelf means its on sale in America.

Your worries for his talent and its likelihood of fading away should be tucked up in bed.

Your comments re: Gaiman: American Gods (is that what it’s called?) is certainly putting out new ideas to a new readership – they didn’t all read Sandman or Moore’s American Gothic run in SwampThing. Coraline may well be infecting children as I type.

Gaiman is more literary anyway, novels suit him better. Not that I’ve read many of his comics or any of his books.

13:59 / 15.04.03

I thought 'American Gods' read like a novelised, and not particularly great, comic.

yawn - thing's buddy

14:49 / 15.04.03

duncan, keep that one to yourself so as not to destroy my argument, please.

Thank you.

15:04 / 15.04.03

I am going out on a limb here- I think he's a better magician than he is a comic writer, and he's doing the right thing. Magic is more important than comics (not that I won't miss Promethea, LOEG and the rest!) and there are plenty of other good comics writers. Well, some.

15:30 / 15.04.03

For a while the rumours have been a novel/spellbook called 'A Grammyre' or something similar. 'it means no more shit like Promethea' You silly arse. You can't read!

The Photographer in Blowup

15:46 / 15.04.03

Yawn, if you've never read a novel by Gaiman, then restrain from saying that he 'is certainly putting out new ideas to a new readership,' because he's not: the ideas contained in his novels have been done to death before in comics and other novels, and by better writers to boot.

Coraline: a girl that finds a door in her house that leads to a reality opposite to hers: is that remotely original? Not only does it steal from Alice Through The Looking Glass, it's been done before in many sci-fi/horror novels; the only diference is it's a bit more sanitized for young kids to read.

American Gods: Old Gods battle New Gods: this is a conflict that has existed in literature for centuries, Gods against Gods, going all the way back to Greek mythology, and perhaps further back in time.

It's really nothing more than an excuse for Gaiman to put to practice all his knowledge of mythology and folklore. At least in Sandman he got it right, creating a parallel mythology regarding Dream of The Endless and his family, and examine myths from a new point of view; in American Gods, though, it seems it's a tour de force across every fucking God humanity remembered to invent.

Anyway, i'm still going to ask Gaiman to sign my Sandman tpb's next month, when i see him.

16:23 / 15.04.03

I don't like Gaiman at all. I think he's one of the most overrated writers in comics. American Gods was okay and none of his comics work has struck a chord with me. Sandman I thought and I still think is, important and influential work for comics. He does make fantasy readable but his prose can be dreadful sometimes. I didn't like Sandman too much. Brief Lives was the best but it still doesn't come any close to the strong works of Moore, Morrison or Ellis. Coraline I got yesterday, haven't opened it yet. Gaiman is talented but really isn't in the same league as Moore imo.

A

13:17 / 16.04.03

I thought American Gods was at least somewhat original, in that it involved transplanted gods. I think it was more an examination of how gods fare in strange new environments than it was a simple case of "old gods vs new gods"

Boy in a Suitcase

17:27 / 16.04.03

I also think this is great news; personally I was pretty dismayed when the ABC line *started* because it meant Moore was going to be bonking around with cheeky nostalgia comics for a few years instead of doing anything important (although I have grown to love Promethea, mind you, post issue 12). "Voice of the Fire" was quite amazing and I'm looking forward to seeing more of his serious work now that he's purged the ABC stuff and, hopefully, the Sinclairian psychogeography stuff which was v. cool but is now played out. Looking forward to his comics bio of Austin Spare, A Grammar, etc.; now that he doesn't have to pay the bills maybe he can give us more meaty stuff.

07:43 / 17.04.03

The Spare biography is namoor, the project evolved into Snakes and Ladders.

09:10 / 17.04.03

Alan Moore took up the ABC books because he just finished spending a decade living with Jack the Ripper. Give the guy a fucking break.

09:56 / 17.04.03

Yeah. Even Rasputin lookalike grand magus comics messiahs have gotta have a laugh once in a while.
What annoyed me more about the ABC comics was that so many of them did the pulp-nostalgia-comics thing which I reckon has long ago been done to death - apart from Top 10 which did the equally tiresome "what if superheroes .. lived normal boring lives! oh the hilarity!" thing. I like the idea of Moore doing stuff that's not deadly serious, but I wish he could have done something a bit more relevant / original, rather than dicking around with forgotten pop culture..

(You may well ask after that outburst how I defend my great liking for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which surely suffers from all those crimes. In response to that I say "shut up!".)