Alan Moore!

'Perhaps Allan has just knocked out Ralph Malph's teeth for looking at Mina, or just being a twat.'

So, Big Numbers: the "most ambitious comic book of Alan Moore's career," according to a

...slightly rubbish Slate article on Slate. I haven't read it. Did he ever finish it? Should I look out for it?

don't bother.

Loads of potential, but it was still in the setting-up stages so no idea how well it was going to go. There were a couple of bits that were Bojeffries-level funny.

It might have been ambitious, but BIG NUMBERS is the least complete of just about anything he's written that I can think of. An interesting fragment, yes.

Loads of potential, but it was still in the setting-up stages so no idea how well it was going to go. There were a couple of bits that were Bojeffries-level funny.

Exactly so. It doesn't actually get started before it runs out (there are only 2 issues extant, right?)

I want to say there's three, but I only have two of them. Maybe it was that there was a third one completed and then destroyed (as the story goes.)

I thought it was two as well.

If you can find those two issues they are worth getting (great art too) and it's definitely his great unfinished work (and it's not his only unfinished work).

Two were published. I seem to remember that Al Columbia destroyed a bunch of the art he did for #3...?

WmC's recollection matches mine.

Actually, I think all of 3 and significant headway on 4.

Dave Sim would probably try to strike me dead telepathically for saying this, but I wonder if the series might have progressed farther if Moore hadn't been under the pressure of trying to self-publish.

Of course it would have, the completed #3 could have been printed if he hadn't gone bust paying his wife and her girlfriend a wage and office expenses. Or the other publisher hadn't chosen not to, as actually happened (Tundra had taken over by then).

#1 and #2 were done by Sink and Columbia and published. #3 was done by Sink solo and never published (though many pages were later shown unlettered in Submedia and TCJ and another magazine that I forget right now but had a green cover). #4 was completed by Columbia solo and then destroyed.

I bought a copy of the script for #3 from a CBLDF auction a few years ago. It's very good, and very long.

ysi?

otm

Just spent the day knocking up a silly tune sampling a bit of Moore from the Stewart Lee interview:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/mdyqas

oops just posted this on the watchmen thread by mistake

Alan Moore and Pat Mills talking abt the genius of Ken Reid:

http://www.archive.org/details/PanelBordersTheArtOfKenReid

Great examples of Reid's work here:

http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Interviews/KenReid/KenReidOverview.asp

So LoEG 1910 is pretty underwhelming huh. Barely enough plot to get your teeth into, I'm just hoping it's building up to a pay-off in the second two chapters.

Re-read Halo Jones over the weekend. That's how you do it.

Looking back at Moore's body of work, I've started getting the feeling he's always been more of a concept man and the babies themselves are a little thin and spindly when they finally plop out onto the ground. I'd say From Hell and the Bojeffries stories are tied for his best.

Looking forward to the complete (with new final story) Bojeffries Saga!

What?!?! I missed this news!

Moore mentioned it in a recent interview at Forbidden Planet blog (http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/?p=12835)

Relevant bit reprinted here:

PÓM: And I think the other thing that I know is forthcoming – I believe is forthcoming – is – isn’t there a new Bojeffries Saga story?

AM: Yes, Bojeffries Saga. ... yeah, I have written a final Bojeffries – well, I don’t know if it’s a final – but I’ve written a kind of, it wouldn’t hurt if it was the last one, although maybe me and Steve will want to do some more with them. What we’re going to do is, we’re going to collect up, with Top Shelf, all of the Bojeffries material that’s appeared to date, and we’re going to cap it all off with a twenty-four page story called After They Were Famous, which is the Bojeffries in 2009, existing side-by-side with culture as it is now, as opposed to culture as it was in the eighties and the early nineties, and I think it’s the best Bojeffries thing yet, and

It’s great working with Kevin on the one hand and Steve Parkhouse on the other. They are two of the most British of all of my collaborators, you know, their influence are – I mean, this is not to mock the artists whose influences are more from the other side of the Atlantic, but there’s something very cheering about working with a couple of artists who grew up on the same Beano and Dandy illustrators that I did. You know, the Paddy Brennans and the Ken Reids and the Leo Baxendales, and who kind of worked that into their style.

So, yeah, I mean, I don’t know what the schedule is, I believe that Steve is working away, he said he found the script very challenging, but he thought it was a perfect ending, a perfect contemporary take on the Bojeffries, so that, I think people will enjoy that when it comes out, it’s very funny. It’s also got, they’ll never need to make a movie of the Bojeffries because one of the episodes in this twenty-four page story is coverage of the Bojeffries Movie, which shows a few shots, two scenes, a clip from the Bojeffries Movie, which starred, I think, Meryl Streep as Uncle Raoul, which is probably all you need to know.

It’s pretty good, it’s pretty good, and that’s just one part of this story. There’s a whole Big Brother part to it, and Ginda is a Blair’s Babe, Reth is a Booker Prize-winning author hanging out with Julie Burchill at the Groucho Club, and, yeah, what happened to Baby, and what happened to Jobremus, and what happened to Granddad. It’s pretty good. The entire family is broken up, by the way, when the story starts. They haven’t seen each other for years, which doesn’t sound like the most promising introduction, but it leads to a very, very good story, so I think that everyone’s going to enjoy that.

P; I always loved Bojeffries, I felt they were…

AM: One of my favourite strips, and fantastic to be working on it again. Writing the script it was like I’d written the last one a couple of months before. The characters were just immediately there, and I suspect that Steve is going to find some similar things when he’s drawing it.

Never heard of this Bojeffries thing. Worth picking up? I'm kind of a non-comics fan who loves Moore in general.

It's one of his best series ever, ever ever.

I'd love to read the Bojeffries Saga, but apparently it's only been reprinted once, in 1992, so it's probably impossible to find (in Finland at least).

there's always the internet... oof, not that cheap though:
http://www.alibris.co.uk/booksearch?wquery=bojeffries

Several of them have been reprinted before, eg in Dalgoda (colourised though - but so was the Tundra version. Which stopped me from buying it). Why not just wait for the new edition?

So there's gonna be a new edition?

What we’re going to do is, we’re going to collect up, with Top Shelf, all of the Bojeffries material that’s appeared to date, and we’re going to cap it all off with a twenty-four page story called After They Were Famous

Okay, cool!

Top Shelf is going to get lots and lots of my money. This year it's Eddie Campbell's Alec: The Years Have pants, Jeff Lemire's Complete Essex County and Marshal Law by Mills and O'Neill. Next year is the two volume complete Bacchus and hopefully this Bojeffries collection.

They're reprinting Marshal Law? Cool, I might want to get that.

I thought Marshal Law was owned by Marvel though?

Marshal Law was initially published through Epic, which gave Mills and O'Neill certain rights; that they were then able to take it to several other publishers - Apocalypse, Marvel again and Image all published further adventures - and that they own the copyright says much. They're probably paying a licensing fee to reprint it.

Top Shelf info here:

http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?type=2&title=598

I only know Bojeffries from the Dalgoda reprints, always thought they were really funny.

Seriously doing a little Snoopy dance here over a Bojeffries collection.

I've never read any Bojeffries, but the level of enthusiasm here is getting me excited.

It's some funny stuff alright. Probably the funniest thing I've read from the Discliple of Glycon.

I remember thinking Bojeffries was funny enough, but there are other funnier things in the world.

Like "DR & Quinch Go To Hollywood".

PS - I saw Halo Jones at half price books the other night. Should I go back and nab it?

Do it. The only bad point is annoyance that it's only a third complete and will more than likely remain so.

Absolutely, it's one of Moore's best works. It's more of a "episode comic" than a perfectly crafted whole, like Moore's later work, but many of the episodes are brilliant in themselves, and in the end it does also provide a pretty moving story about the protagonist's growth from a naive teen girl to self-respecting adult. (The ending is left a bit open though, as there was supposed to be sequels, but they never happened.)

(x-post)

Halo Jones is brilliant, I recommend it highly. The unfinished thing people talk about is not a problem - it is like the life of someone from before they were famous. In this case, probably the more interesting bits.

The unfinished thing people talk about is not a problem

It does work perfectly well as it stands. I just want more!

lol so weird reading a fawning Alan Moore quote on a publisher

All words no pictures for all that?

I'll draw you some to go along with the books as they are released.

the 1000 page thing scares me to the point where i haven't read it but these look interesting

Reading through his Swamp Thing run at the moment. Just got into Constantine and the American Gothic storyline. Some of these issues are so good, I don't know what to do with it. I expect it to go downhill eventually, but the highs of Rites of Spring (psychedelic yam sex) and Love and Death (first issue without comics code stamp) are amazing. I had a copy of Love and Death when I was 8 years old, rereading it now I'm amazed at how much went totally over my head.

Would like a collection of short stories but I'm sure the fantasy series will be cool.

daniel: cool, please draw me at least one picture for every twenty words and arrange them sequentially and bind it. then scan it. thanks in advance.

(my first swamp thing was the American Gothic / Crisis Crossover episode #46 and was such a mess. but didn't stop me buying all the others)

the 1000 page thing scares me to the point where i haven't read it but these look interesting

Have had it lying around for years, think I'll make it my last pre-vaccine doorstop (I usually read on public transport so used this time to tackle some bigger works).

it (Jerusalem) is also available as a 3x400 page box. but these days i find a kobo is much friendlier and would be perfect for this, as long as there's nothing tricky happening with the formatting.

I keep trying and giving up Swamp Thing. So many words! One day. Same trouble with Miracleman.

There was certainly a period mid 80s to mid 90s when 'mature' comics were ridiculously wordy.

yer Don McGregors and Claremonts in the '70s and early '80s had set the bar for turgidity in colour comics pretty high already. most of the people copying Moore were still slightly above that level of readability.

Pre-Moore Swamps was just as verbose but not nearly as good. I started from the beginning and when I got to the Moore years it was a quantum leap in quality. Just about every issue would refer to a “ MUCK ENCRUSTED MOCKERY OF A MAN!!!”

Pretty sure the first time I read Moore's Swampy in my early teens I skimmed over most of the verbose captions and still enjoyed the story fine.

I must admit I generally enjoy Claremont's over-writing. I find it just kind of pops in spite of itself

Ugh. American Gothic storyline ended kinda lame. WAR IN HEAVEN OCCURS but doesn't really amount to much.

Just about every issue would refer to a “ MUCK ENCRUSTED MOCKERY OF A MAN!!!”

― Cow_Art, Wednesday, May 5, 2021 11:27 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah I hate this. I've read quite a few comics that did this kind of thing. Even Leiji Matsumoto's Esmeraldas does stuff like this.

I do sometimes get the impression that even a lot of the writers who grew up on comics back then and even loved them maybe didn't have the same level of personal investment and pride in what they written as is normal today. There's a certain laziness to a lot of that 70s stuff that makes me think they really didn't give a shit sometimes.

They must've been working to pretty tight deadlines on several books, no?

Yeah and I'm sure most prolific mainstream comic writers get jobs they really don't want but I still think today there's probably a bit more will to try and make everything good.

In the even earlier days there were more people who just saw it as a job.

also they were writing for children, who weren't expected to read every issue

https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/miracleman-omnibus-collection-announcement

i wonder if he'll take his name off this?

anyway, contains:

* Material from Warrior (1982) 1-18, 20-21
* Miracleman (1985) 1, 3, 6-16
* Marvelman Special (1984) 1
* Material from A1 (1989) 1
* All-New Miracleman Annual (2014) 1

the floppies i have are probably 1985 series, so what's the warrior stuff? and i know some of the 1985 was reprints for various reasons, but i didn't think it was 3 whole issues.

ok, 1985 1-5 were themselves reprints of the 1982 warrior stuff, with some new bits.

he already took his name off it eight years ago

His name isn't mentioned in that promo piece!

i did notice his name wasn't on the covers, but figured they weren't final

i saw it here https://gizmodo.com/alan-moores-legendary-miracleman-run-is-getting-an-omni-1848292736 which is all about the AM connection

His name is on the privately printed omnibus I had made for myself, since I could never get this stuff any other way, so there, Alan.

It was (in this instance) specifically Marvel’s involvement that made him withhold his name and redirect any royalties, so I think you’re good.

(Marvel’s solution remains hilarious, and will presumably be retained in this edition.)

the recolouring is still the pits, though

I was quietly hoping James' bootleg was made from Warrior scans.

It is, I found high quality scans of all the original publications and used those.

https://www.bbcmaestro.com/coming_soon/alan-moore/storytelling

I got illuminations today: therein is What can we know of Thunderman, and if it is his umpteenth exercise wherein he renames characters so as to make whatever points he wishes…well, there can never be enough such exercises, for me at least.

This time, it's just prose, and this time, it's 100% a "fuck you, every one of you in this business has always sucked and shame on me for not saying so in the 80s and 90s" whereas 1963 and Supreme he was very much accessing his long ago affection for the source material. But this thing drips with disdain for the fans turned pro that he made seem so pitifully parochial 40 years ago (he is brutal in belittling every single thing about them), like the affable al columns from 1963 but coming out of 15 years in which he believes (and so do I) that super hero content has had a hideously bad effect on culture worldwide. It's almost as if he now thinks that all the naysayers, from Wertham down to the teachers saying "you should read real literature" to the bullies who laughed at nerds clutching their precious comics featuring kiddie characters, calling them stupid and immature, were right.

I'm only 30 pages in, but can only put it down to write these words. Everyone who used to frequent ILC during its most active time in 2006-2008 should pick this up post haste.

Sounds about as entertaining as jabbing yourself in the eye with a fork.

Did you like In Pictopia, 1963, or Supreme, jimbeaux?

To be perfectly honest, I haven't read any Alan Moore since about 1991. I was reacting to veronica moser's description of Moore's latest book, which sounds from that summary like a miserable exercise.

I did like Warren Ellis's reworking of "Supreme," and admired much of Ellis's work before he was revealed to be a very problematic person.

There is an omnibus collection of "Miracleman" coming soon that looks to be worth the investment.

sounds great veronica, will pick up once it hits softcover

Jerusalem was a ton of fun

I liked 1963 and Supreme, and agree with Jimbeaux.

I agree with Daniel_Rf it sounds fun

I've seen a bunch of talk about how unfair he's been to a bunch of his collaborators and speculation about how well he understood his contracts but is this prose story supposed to be taken as seriously as people seem to be taking it?

If anyone wants to watch a low-bandwidth Zoom conversation with Alan Moore from the WI book festival...
https://www.crowdcast.io/wisconsinbookfestival

just finished Thunderman today. imo its tone is at times bewildering (american characters consistently speak in british english idiom, for example), but the ending is very, very strong.

I am re-reading my checker trades of the Supreme run; I know that they are widely disliked, lousy reproduction, liefeld licensed the material to the Checker goofballs so that they could establish their company, which they did not succeed in doing, but they are fine for me, as I wasn't fuckin' with comics in the late 90s and didn't know about this shit until 2003 when the trades were published…

and yet I have a recollection seeing a Professor Night solo story, not the one with Supreme in which he and Prof (and Dax and Jack a Dandy) switch M.O.s… this would be a solo Prof Night/Twilight story, drawn by Veitch obviously in the style of Bill Finger/Dick Sprang… I cannot find any citation to this story in any references, particularly my copy of Khoury's extraordinary works of Alan moore reference…anyone know about this? did I dream this? and was there any other Supreme/Weisinger era pastiche material that was published during the Image/Maximum/Awesome run that didn't make it into the Checker trades?