Gary Spencer Millidge

Solid bio and overview of Moore and his work, though it's more a coffee-table book with high production values and interesting new graphics I'd not seen in other bios.

Thus, if you're looking for new material on or by Moore, this isn't really the book, but it's well worth looking at for the details.

If nothing else, it's got a more concise talk by Moore about his writing processes than in other interviews or bios. And being able to see copies of his typewritten scripts and/or notebook scribblings gives some color to what you might already know about the man.… (mais)

“Alan Moore: Storyteller” by Gary Spencer Millidge is an excellent, 320 page over-sized hardback that canters through the career of the great man. Moore is one of most important creative forces in the history of comics, with his best works being towering peaks on the modern cultural landscape – his graphic novel “Watchmen” was considered by Time to be amongst the 100 greatest novels of the 20th century. Millidge’s book surveys Moore’s expansive output from the best-sellers through to his more underground experimental work and on into his modern guise as Crowleyesque magician. Unfortunately, however, the book does come across as hagiography in places – there is no informed critical analysis of Moore’s work, other than Moore’s own views, with a lot of that commentary being taken from previously published interviews. Anyone who has viewed “The Mindscape of Alan Moore” DVD will be familiar with a lot of the more startling quotations and assertions. All that said, this is a beautifully produced and illustrated tome that provides rare insight into Moore’s working methods and his philosophies. As a bibliography and catalogue of Moore’s oeuvre the book is superb. There is a massive amount of new materials including a fascinating look at Moore’s working methods, with many examples of his amazingly intricate scripts. The sections dealing with Moore’s battles with his many publishers are illuminating, as is Moore’s vicious approach to those who would make movies of his comics. Moore famously refuses to sanction any of his comics being made into movies; refusing to take payment for movies made when he didn’t hold the rights and refusing to have his name in the credits of any movie. Moore takes the view that his work was developed specifically for the comic book medium and can therefore only work as a comic, with any reinterpretation into other media being a second-rate travesty of the original work. This uncompromising belief in the power of the medium makes Moore an inspiration to all lovers of the radiant beauty of good comic books. Overall then, this is a luxurious and highly enjoyable, albeit highly uncritical book, but one that does give a fair degree of insight into the life of Northampton’s greatest living dope-smoking hippy.… (mais)

I’d first heard about Strangehaven many years ago and never got round to to picking it up so I was delighted to see all three trades available. I was also lucky to get each trade signed by the author. This is a series which covers a broad range of themes from relationships, conspiracies, secret orders, magic, mystery and a whole lot more. The artwork in itself is very different to what I normally find in comics. Reading the first trade, I couldnt quite pin down what it was that I found jarring about it, but it wasnt until I read the foreword in the second trade that I twigged it was to do with the characters and their expressions. The artist (who is also the author) seems to use real people for his characters and I can only surmise draws them based on their actual appearance. Whatever method used, it is extremely effective. Once I really looked at the figures, I realised the character’s expressions were real, not fixed and each speech bubble related to each panel. Wonderfully portrayed and made the characters come alive. However, as unique as the artwork is, it’s the storytelling that pushed this series forward. The gelling of stories, some just minor character vignettes, others pushing a more obscure or real theme, is carefully woven together. The ongoing arc picks up threads and some get completed whilst the main thread shifts and wanders into interesting new directions. Masterful piece of writing.… (mais)