Alan Moore

Alan Moore was born in Northhampton, England in 1953. As a comic writer he is known mostly for bringing a literary style to the medium often bringing scholarly references to his work, and influencing the likes of Neil Gaiman, Kurt Busiek, Grant Morrison and Brian Keller Vaughan.

Moore is probably most famous for his dystopian Watchmen series, which is often regarded as the finest superhero-based comic series of all time. Moore's early work included V

Who watches the Watchmen?

In the industry he is known as an almost hermitic presence, not doing much in the way of press or publicity, though in recent years, he has done interviews with the BBC, and quite a few magazine interviews - Two books are also availible, featuring comprehensive interviews on the events and themes of his work in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He is a practicing magician, and his appearance certainly suits the old cliche of a thickly-bearded, bejewelled old man. He reputedly worships Glycon, a Roman snake deity, and was influenced from an early age by his superstitious grandmother. Despite his well deserved popularity, he is viewed as a "wierdo" in the comic community.

Although some of his works have been made into feature length movies (From Hell, V for Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Watchmen) Moore disavows their releases and takes no credit or money for them. Despite this, a poster featuring his and Kevin O'Neill's names can be seen during one scene in the League of Extraordinary Gentleman. Moore also was dissatisfied with the adaptation of From Hell, and went into a tirade over how his opinion of the V for Vendetta movie had been presented - Producer Joel Silver insisted Moore was pleased and approved of the film, whilst Moore was adamant he had never seen it. To avoid a similar situation with the Watchmen movie, Warner Bros. sent him forms declaring he allowed any royalties from the film or merchandise made in his name to go to
co-creator Dave Gibbons, citing that, at least now he can remain 'neutral' regarding the film. He is still insistent his work should be enjoyed as comic books,
purely because that's the way he intended them to be enjoyed.

Lately he had been publishing new, original comics (Promethea, Top Ten, Tom Strong) under the America's Best Comics brand, working alongside creators such as Arthur Adams, Chris Sprouse, and JH Williams III. Because of his past dealings with DC Comics, most notably over Watchmen (commonly regarded as Moore's magnum opus), Moore was apprehensive when Jim Lee's Wildstorm company was bought by DC (due to Wildstorm's ownership of America's Best), to the point where Lee personally flew out to assure Moore that DC would have no say in his company's published material.

Moore oversaw and wrote the vast majority of ABC's books, with only a few exceptions, tying what were essentially the flagship books (Tom Strong and Promethea) together in their final issue and arc respectively. In recent years, he has entered a form of semi-retirement, publishing less mainstream works, including the 'Lost Girls' books. A supplemental volume of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - The Black Dossier, was released in November 2007, and this serves as the entire history of the various Leagues Moore hints at in the first two volumes, framed around a chase story and using several different types of narrative, such as prose and generally different forms of comics than the traditional form, as with the previous League volumes.

Turning his hand to writing novels, he still, however, continues with comics, with the adventures of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen continuing in 2008/09 with the official third volume, 'Century'. The three 72-page issues will literally chart the entirety of a century, starting in 1910 and ending in 2007 or 2008, all the while incorporating Moore's usual knack for bringing in various literary characters and ideas. Once completed, he has suggested he would like to see a series of one shots focusing on individual members of the League. All suggesting Moore is far from done, yet.

His future projects are The Moon and Serpent Bumper Magic Book with Steve Moore, also with Avatar Press will publish Light of thy Countenance and a horror series called Neomicon (based on H. P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon).

Personal Life

Glycon, Alan Moore's God.