Best PRE-WATCHMEN Alan Moore

I'm fond of his vigilante story, it's kind of a thematic precursor to Watchmen, and one of the most morally engaged and serious-minded things here. I voted for Swamp Thing, though.

really early stuff that no one's read.

oh come on, no Maxwell The Magic Cat, no credibility.

also his Time Twisters were way better than his Future Shocks. The Reversible Man! Chrono-Cops!

and yeah you said no back-ups but Vigilante ahead of Mogo Doesn't Socialise!!?!

Voted for Marvelman, but if his Green Lantern Corps stories had been on there, it might have been different.

I always thought of Time Twisters as coming under the Future Shocks banner.

Halo Jones all the way. Oh how I wish he'd gotten to finish it.

He's happy enough with the ending as an ending, isn't he?

man swamp thing was maybe my fave comic when i was a kid so that easy

I don't know if he is. I'm not. I mean, it's an ending, but there's still 70% of it missing... and I want to find out what it was Halo did!

Swampt Thing, all the way. However, I bet he was writing Watchmen and the final Swamp Thing concurrently. I write that without looking it up, but it seems right... '86 to '87' when he finished Swampy - around #64, I think?

Yes, I don't even spell check before I hit 'Submit'. :(

Yeah, Halo Jones all the way.

Although it is only my favourite, there are at least three better than it... oh well.

I think I want to vote for Marvelman, just because of the episode where Kid Marvelman destroys London (#17?).

you know the way some of these stories were only finished AFTER Watchmen? This means you are only allowed vote for the bits that were available when Watchmen came out, so none of the whingey later Marvelman or the unsatisfying last bits of V for Vendetta.

It's kind of a shame that Business As Usual and the one about The Ultimate Weapon Of The Deathsmiths Of Goth do not appear here. They were drawn by David Lloyd, appeared in Doctor Who Monthly, were never reprinted, and are total genius.

(xpost) If by unsatisfying you mean awesome, I agree completely.

Actually, where does the break in Miracleman come?

Oh yeah, good point on Miracleman. I think that puts the break as the Warrior issues being the only ones that count then, the Garry Leach run.

I suppose that makes Swamp Thing the answer.

No "Stars my degradation"? Not that I'd have voted for it anyway.

Halo Jones! Eaasy. I still love that one, I like the downbeat feel the thing has, and I like the secondary characters, Rodice and Toy. I half wish Moore/Gibson had finished it, but half of me kind of likes it the way it is, it's fun to make up your own continuation anyway, a good way to occupy yer brain on a long bike ride.

you know the way some of these stories were only finished AFTER Watchmen? This means you are only allowed vote for the bits that were available when Watchmen came out

No it doesn't! Vote for the whole stories, it's simpler that way.

No way, only vote for the pre-Watchmen stuff. OBEY ME.

On Marvelman - the pre-Watchmen stuff is the Garry Leach and Alan Davis art stuff.

On V4 - the pre Watchmen stuff is up to V saying "welcome home".

DV, the guy you're arguing with is the one who actually set the poll.

he started the poll, but he is not the boss of me.

ILC def. needs more inter-thread beef, trumped up or real.

I grow weary of this insolence. Guards, have him flogged!

Chap, you will be laughing on the other side of your face when I trick you into visiting THE CHURCH, where I have GODLIKE POWERS.

anyways, what is Vigilante 17-18?

also, did Alan Moore write Nightraven at some stage?

Another great one that should have been listed: "For the Man Who Has Everything," Dave Gibbons art, Superman Annual #11.

that's great too... a good pair with the last Olde Superman story.

Voted Future Shocks, probably like V For Vendetta and Swamp Thing better but they'll get their props.

Of the ones I've read, I adore them all almost equally. But probably MM.

I have voted for V for Vendetta - BUT only for the pre- Watchmen black and white Warrior V4.

anyways, what is Vigilante 17-18

chap discusses it in his second post. it was two issues of a DC comic about a supervillain (OR IS HE A HERO IN THESE DARK REAGANITE TIMES?!?!??!) who capped bad people, basically an attempt to do The Punisher with some left-wing moral shading [te hee]. Teen Titans spin-off.

Captain Britain

I've never read Cpt Britain. Worth getting then?

I liked Captain Britain much more in black and white.

yes, the colourising (and the repro on the black lines) is TERRIBLE on the Marvel US reprints. If they did the TPB versions on the horrible glossy paper they tend to use these days, I expect it's pretty close to unbearable, reading-wise.

I liked it. I reckon it would be better in black and white - great Alan Davis art.

SUPERMAN. Dude, come ON.

I mean squeezing all that stuff into two issues (two PANELS, when it comes to poor Jimmy and Lana), and making it a wonderful read, that's just genius. Bonus "vote" for "Tygers". Man, Abin Sur is easily the best GL.

Oy, I didn't realise that one page of future apocalypse in Tygers has been seized as a holy text by Geoff Johns and used as the blue print for Sinestro Corp Wars. Just say no to continuity fundamentalism, kids!

This thread is making me want to go buy Halo Jones (I've seen something like three or four different editions of this at different shops in the city, so I hope they're all "complete") and the DC Universe trade. Stop making me spend money, ILC!!!

(And yes, "For The Man Who Has Everything" is a wonderfully constructed story. And every time Mongul reappears, somebody thinks it'd be a great idea to rewrite it with different characters...)

V for Vendetta FTW!

HALO JONES, I say yay - I can't imagine a more perfect comic than an incomplete one.

Speaking of which, where is Ian Gibson and what doesn't he draw my comics anymore?

It's hard to pick one out of that bunch. I went with SWAMP THING as it was my first real exposure to his work. But there are days when I put V FOR VENDETTA at the top of Moore's work overall, so it's tough to make a final call.

Douglas did you mean "Whatever Happened to..."? "For the Man..." is great too, but not on the poll. But, it has Mongul. Andrew doesn't that just show how great "Tygers" is? And make a kinda sad comment on how hard everyone else seemingly finds it to work with Green Lantern? Moore's GL stuff is so good, I wish he'd written more. Preferably at least a few more vignettes that elegantly both hint at and explicate what a lovely idea the GL Corps is.

Basically "DC Universe" is a v good buy.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Somehow I thought Halo Jones would win... But I have no problem with those two winning. Swamp Thing is patchy but occasionally brilliant, and V I think is still among his 5 best comic works ever.

V for Vendetta FTW!

-- hyggeligt, Friday, 20 June 2008 16:12 (Friday, 20 June 2008 16:12)

My God, I'm some kind of psychic!

Swamp Thing is great in issues, not so good in books.

It is totally suckass that no one voted for DR & Quinch.

Skizz I am less surprised to see getting no votes. I bet no Americans have ever seen this, and always did seem like a painful cross between ET and The Boys From The Black Stuff.

It has a great line about Madness and The Police, but that's about it.

Skizz I am less surprised to see getting no votes. I bet no Americans have ever seen this, and always did seem like a painful cross between ET and The Boys From The Black Stuff.

I've seen it but I would have voted for Halo Jones had I seen the poll in time.

Again, no Maxwell no cred.

Likewise, I'm an American and have read DR & Quinch. They even have it at our local library.

I actually just read Halo Jones based on the vociferous support it was getting here. I'm not sure I entirely understand the appeal. It's got some nice moments, but didn't strike me as ambitious or as interesting as the other items in the running here. Maybe I was missing something.

I'm American and I own but have not read DR and Quinch.

WTF, me??!?

If you have a B&W version, hurry up and read it, it's very funny. If you have a colourised version, give it away and keep waiting.

Poisoned Chalice - 16 part series on the long and torturous history of Marvelman

boo at me for not being outraged at the absence of Bojeffries Saga in 2008

I still haven't read Swamp Thing. Should I? SO MANY WORDS.

yes

16 part series on the long and torturous history of Marvelman

ugh this is so depressing to read

holy crap, the length and breadth of that story is astounding. and i've read a million articles and stories about the history of Marvelman!

I still haven't read Swamp Thing. Should I? SO MANY WORDS.

The first two collections of Moore's run are very good (the second volume - with Arcane, Abby in hell, POG, et al. - may be one of my favorite things ever) and then, for a good chunk of vol. 3 and a bit of vol. 4, it slows down - NUKEFACE! new gothic monsters! America! - and becomes the preachiest thing that ever preached. Thankfully, the momentum picks up for the remainder of the run.

The American Gothic storyline has the introduction of Constantine, Swampy coming to terms with the full extent of his powers, the Parliament of Trees and the massive battle in heaven, I think it's pretty good*. The following (and final) space saga is the definition of curate's egg.

*Don't think I've properly read it since I was a teenager, the preachiness would likely bother me more now.

Love the Swamp Thing hits Gotham story that links AG & Swampy in Space.

Yeah that one's terrific. Redwood Swampy!

I liked the Parliament issue! Funny enough, the Crisis tie-in (45,46?) is where I'd say the series regains something like its earlier excitement, which it manages to carry through to the end.

I'm keen on the Space Swampy saga - prog Swampy!

Yeah, prog swampy indeed.

I liked these enough to track them down as back issues towards the end of Moore's run on the book (later '86, early '87). I bought the trades and read through 'em once years ago. Wonder how they'd hold up now, honestly.

Much of what made those comics sparkle back in the day are things that I loathe now because they've been imitated badly for so many years since then. Difficult to separate my personal distaste for that sort of material today from how good they were back then.

Rick Veitch's run that followed Mr. Moore's is very, truly, deeply WEIRD. Pity that it never got finished.

holy crap, the length and breadth of that story is astounding.

it's really unbelievable, like a Steve Aylett novelette about copyright law. I never liked Todd McFarlane to begin with but damn dude does not come off well. cat yronwode parts are also all "very much in character", what a weirdo.

Lol alright you talked me into reading this thing. You had me at yronwode.

i was looking over her fanciful editorial page breakup poem, just thinking, "who WAS this person?"

She was a bagful of lols.

I talked to her at a couple of cons and corresponded with her a few times and she was indeed.

I was peripherally aware of her while Eclipse was putting out stuff, both through her own writings and through references to/parodies of her (Dave Sim etc)

now she's into telepathic pet research or something iirc

did not know Yronwode was a name of her own invention, that alone is pretty lol

she is like the anti-Dave Sim

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Wrap your cash in tinfoil, put it in a regular letter envelope, and mail it to me with your order.

An addition to the Poisoned Chalice articles:

Alan Moore Speaks about Marvelman

For those unaware, the "recent events" mentioned are Marvel's solicitation of the Miracleman reprints.

That's a pretty unnecessary addition, all the pertinent info has already been extracted into the articles themselves, as well as appearing in about 900 other Moore interviews over the last 30 years

that'll teach him to post things.

ha, tbh I assume it's mainly to keep the "brand" alive while he's too cancered-up to write actual new posts, then again The Beat doesn't pay contributors so argh at him putting himself through the effort