Is Alan Moore the greatest comics writer ever?

[Rick Stirling]

Exactly like the subject says - is Alan Moore the greatest writer of comics to grace us with his stories?

Sure, Miller and Morrison and Dillon and Gaimen are superb, but I was going through my collection this weekend and turned up amongst other things:

The Watchmen
Tom Strong
V for Vendetta
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
From Hell
Batman: The Killing Joke

And I havent read much of his Swamp Thing, but what I did was very grown up.

[Toomas]

Is red the bestest color ever?

[Gmanx]

Yes. He re-defines without prejudice. A must read is swamp thing by him, and later by Rick Veitch, especially for the origin of Constantine.

[Dukester]

Yes, without a doubt he is.
But, he also falls into that category of "why is he writing comics anyway, he should just be writing!"
I'd have to throw Claremont in that mix of great writers somewhere.

Still, none of the above writers have managed to master the one issue masterpiece, Denny O'Neil owns that category. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Ninjas]

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I'd have to throw Claremont in that mix of great writers somewhere.

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Chris Claremont? His (non-comic) books are garbage! Come now, he doesn't really rate with the big dogs of writing.

[Dukester]

Dammit, don't make me have to work so hard /images/graemlins/smile.gif

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I'd have to throw Claremont in that mix of great Comicswriters somewhere.


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[blankslatejoe]

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Still, none of the above writers have managed to master the one issue masterpiece, Denny O'Neil owns that category. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

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I dunno man...claremont is pretty important.. no one compares when it comes to serialized writing (as in loooong runs, 100s of issues). sure, his novels weren't so hot ... though, the one he cowrote with lucas... I entirely blame lucas for that..especially after seeing lucas' marvelous writing abilites come out in the new SWs.

And YES! Denny o niel rocks...I forgot he was still around! But Moore did do a few awesome single issue stories.. he wrote one issue of spawn, number 8, that changed the entire attitude of the series, and is one of the best standalone comics ever. The series on a whole sucks, but moore's work rocked. that single issue is in my top ten comics of all time list. Too bad all his other image franchise stuff was terrible though. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

I read once that the thing that makes moore so key is that he is the granddaddy of modern comic writing... all of it stemming back to his work on swamp thing. That was what spawned Vertigo and the entire 'dark' comic style (though swamp thing itself kind felt like a throwback to the Creepy and Eerie comics of the 60s). Miracleman was a pretty important comic as well, though it's harder to find.
If it weren't for him, I don't think miller, gaimen, morrison any of those darker guys would have a place in comics.

david lapham (stray bullets) is another good one who hasnt been mentioned... And almost everything Valiant put out during it's first year is worth reading, and almost all of it drawn by good old BWS

[hawken]

I dunno, I'm into some Japanese language comics big time.

[arshlevon]

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david lapham (stray bullets) is another good one who hasnt been mentioned...


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Hell yeah! stray bullets is my personal favorite comic ever. No BS just great stories and a perfect style to match. actually until i got to your post i was thinking , "WTF? i cant believe these people are even having a conversation about comic writing and not mentioning this guy."

once again Joe proves to the world he is not a douche bag.

[steady]

I have a signed copy of Stray Bullets #1, David Lampham was at a local comic shop when I was like 12 and my dad bought it for me, woohoo! Pretty hardcore reading for a 12 year old, kinda scared me

[Kevin Johnstone]

Warren Ellis is giving him a run for his money these days but still, Alan Moore was first, I'd rate him at the top also because of his range and history.

You do know that all these great british comic writers are occultists and practitioners of magic? Ellis, Morrison and Moore are all at it.. something to look into more perhaps?

My producer told me that another producer in the games industry once had Morrison cancel a meeting because he'd been doing DMT while conducting a seance in the highlands and things had got a bit heavy.

He said that he'd never had someone cancel a meeting due to breaking through into other dimensions.

r.

[blankslatejoe]

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once again Joe proves to the world he is not a douche bag.

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Woo hoo!!!!! GO ME!!!

[Sett]

So far everything I've bought by Moore has been excelent to very good. The only stuff that was so-so was the 1963 run.

http://sett.tv/junk/topx_th.gif (http://sett.tv/junk/topx.jpg)

[pogonip]

I might put Alan moore as maybe the greatest writer if any of his comics were my all time favorites . In that case I would have to say Katsuhiro Otomo who wrote and illustrated Akira to be the best ever , or Sam Kieth's The Maxx , or Kingdom come by Mark Waide. Though I did like The Watchman a lot .

[Zatoichi]

Alan Moore is also a magician in EVERY sense of the 'word', don't forget.

[hawken]

for me, american and english comics are just too short. You pay £4 odd and get 20 pages. Often it's over in a matter of minutes.

however, paying the same for a manga will get you 200 pages, and high quality work from the artist. Often they are writer too.

my three favorite comics of all time are:

1. The Adventures of Luther Arkwright (2 books) (written and drawn by Bryan Talbot)
2. Domu, A childs dream (3 books) (written and drawn by Katsushiro Otomo)
3. Green Hill (3 books) (japanese)

lol! so no, I don't think Alan Moore is the best, by quite a margin.

[jzero]

I think Alan Moore IS one of the greatest comics writers. Keeping in mind that he has actually created very little from scratch, I think his greatest work comes when he re-interprets existing material (i.e. The Watchmen were originally based on the old Charlton characters) What I think he does best is bring new and startling angles to previously flat characters and settings: Marvelman's 'Shazam'-like past life was really a simulation designed to prevent him going crazy; Watchmen's Rorshach is the essential portrait of how the superhero is a kind of psychotic; LXG's 19thC characters and their shadowy secret lives...

Alan Moore has done some masterful things with comics, some which I think are unique to the medium. The Black Freighter sequence in the middle of Watchmen takes narration from a comic book and mixes it with the modern happenings in a way that I don't think could ever be successfully translated off the comics page. That's mastery of the medium.

Alan Moore's 'Watchmen' permanently destroyed my suspension of disbelief in regular superhero comics. That's genius.

/jzero

[Malekyth]

Ermm. I like a lot of Alan Moore, and most of Rick's list happen to show up on my list of favorite books evar ...

Then there's "From Hell", the most boring thing I've ever narrowly succeeded in slogging through since history class in junior high! It's a hundred and fifty thousand pages of London travelogue, then a couple pages of neat Jack the Ripper stuff. Blech. The more recent Prometheas are so obscure, culty and dense that they take me back to the days of being a moody Goth kid, reading the giant-sized "Handbook of the Golden Dawn" and pretending to understand it for the benefit of passers-by. I couldn't get more than partway into "Supreme" before I started to feel embarassed to be reading it. Maybe I just can't understand the goofy nerdy DC Comics hero mindset?

Yeah, I like Alan Moore, but I also can't stand him. I am sorry. I feel dirty.

[Kevin Johnstone]

Supreme bored me too and I can see why you write off Prometheas dense later material but From Hell is fantastic!

r.

[Dukester]

Ya know, I was thinking about digging up the V for Vendetta books I have to re-read since there is a movie coming out, but I'm beginning to think it would be easier to order a compilation new than it would be to figure out which box thay are stashed in /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[moose]

i enjoy allan moore's stuff, but i gotta admit i like Ellis a bit more. There is just something about the realy raw "fuck you" type writing i like. I gotta give some of Moore's books another dedicated shot though... cause im sure im just missing a little somethin.

ooo new goal. read moore more. nnstuff, things.

[Malekyth]

I would do Warren Ellis.

...

Oh come on, all heterosexual men have a list, right? Just in case they had to, to save the life of a loved one, or win a million dollars?

... Right ..?!

[Kevin Johnstone]

I'd shag pretty much anyone in this thread for a million dollars.
What do I care, a quick poke up some bloke's gary glitter and then I could coast on the 130k interest earned of a million dollars each year for the rest of my life /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Anyone like Moore's early stuff on Captain britain, his work with Alan Davis was great back then even though it was a bit green too.

r.

[Jackablade]

Hm. So if I was to wander along to the comic store with $50 or so, what would I be wanting to lay my money on?

The only graphic novels I've ever really gotten a hold of are a couple of issues of Sin City that I picked up after the movie and some really horrible comics that my dad bought me for a long car trip when I was very young (Turok: Son of Stone for the win).

[Rick Stirling]

Come on, sure you'd bugger us for a tenner /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Jackablade - I'll give you a varied list:

The Watchmen
Batman Year One
Preacher
Transmetropolitan
Cerbereus The Aardvark

[Kevin Johnstone]

Rick:Have you made it all the way through the Cerebus series?

r.

[Mark Dygert]

Alan Moore is great, I couldn't stand V for Vendetta but thats because I was blind to the whole Guy Fawkes history. Now that I know that I am kind of excited to read it again. I might even go see the movie.

Warren Ellis is another one of my favorites. Mostly for his work on planetary, Transmetropolitan and The Authority.

I stopped reading Cerebus when I caught up to the serries "going home". I'm not sure if Cerebus is finished and out in "phone book" form yet? If so I'll look to pick up the remaining soon I am interested to see what happens. I can't read Cerebus month to month. I end up getting pissed that he filled half the book with the same panel. It doesn't bother me so much in phone book form (/shrug). Church and State1-2 are my favorites for humor and deep progression.

[Rick Stirling]

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Rick:Have you made it all the way through the Cerebus series?

r.

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Naw, jsut one of the books. I keep meaning to pick them all up.

[Gmanx]

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Anyone like Moore's early stuff on Captain britain, his work with Alan Davis was great back then even though it was a bit green too.

r.

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Yes I enjoyed that, and Dr and Quinch:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/comics/2000adstrips/drandquinch/drandquinch01.shtml

..great fun from way back, and Alan Davis was a TIGHT inker.

[Marcus Dublin]

Todd Mcfarlane all the way!

Marcus Dublin

[Noisybast]

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Anyone like Moore's early stuff on Captain britain, his work with Alan Davis was great back then even though it was a bit green too.

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I rate some of Alan Moore's early work as some of his best.
Check out The Ballad Of Halo Jones (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904265413/strontiumdog-21/202-1742138-7010230?creative=6394&camp=1406&link_code=as1) or DR & Quinch (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904265480/strontiumdog-21/202-1742138-7010230?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=1634&link%5Fcode=xm2 ) if you don't believe me.

[Kevin Johnstone]

i have those too, i enjoy his early work, ive even got his collected thargs future shocks and you can't really get any earlier than that for moore /images/graemlins/wink.gif

r.