Alan Moore

Writer

• Born: November 18, 1953
• Place of Birth: Northampton, England

Biography

Alan Moore was born November 18, 1953, in Northampton, England. He is best known for his work in comics, particularly such graphic novels as Watchmen (1986–87), a retro superhero story; V for Vendetta (1988–89), in which an anarchist antihero takes on a fascist regime; and From Hell (1989–96), a treatment of Jack the Ripper. He has also written two novels, Voice of the Fire (1996) and Jerusalem (2016), and a series of short films collectively called Show Pieces (2012–14).

Moore worked in several jobs after secondary school before starting as a cartoonist in the late 1970s. His first professional work in the field was a series of comic strips for the music magazine Sounds, published from 1979 to 1983 under the pseudonym Curt Vile, sometimes in collaboration with fellow comics writer Steve Moore (no relation). Soon after, he began the weekly strip Maxwell the Magic Cat, published under the pseudonym Jill de Ray from 1979 to 1986.

Moore began writing scripts under his own name for the short comic strip series Future Shocks, which appeared in the weekly British comics anthology 2000 AD. Some of his strips were reprinted in Alan Moore’s Shocking Futures (1986). He also wrote stories for Marvel UK’s Doctor Who Weekly (later Doctor Who Monthly, now Doctor Who Magazine), Star Wars, and Captain Britain. His comics work is credited with bringing a mature literary sensibility to what has often been seen as a juvenile art form. He experiments with form in his work, combining text and images in new ways.

In 1983, Moore was hired by DC Comics to write for the second Swamp Thing series, titled Saga of the Swamp Thing. He deconstructed and revamped the series, reviving many of DC's previously retired characters and notably introducing the character of John Constantine, whose subsequent spin-off series Hellblazer (1988–2013) would eventually become DC's longest-running title. Moore also wrote for a number of other DC characters, including Batman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, the Omega Men, Vigilante, and Superman. His work on the latter included the two-part story “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” (1986), now widely regarded as one of the best Superman stories. However, it was his original series Watchmen, also published by DC, that brought him both critical and commercial success. The series portrays an alternate US history in which superheroes existed since the 1940s.

In the wake of Watchmen, a rift developed between Moore and DC. This was due in part to the publisher marketing a limited-edition Watchmen badge set as a “promotional item” rather than merchandising, which resulted in Moore receiving no royalties from their sales. Another factor was DC's proposal to implement an age-rating system similar to that used in movies, to which Moore and several other writers objected. After finishing V for Vendetta in 1989, he left DC. His 1987 proposal for the crossover miniseries Twilight of the Superheroes, which would deal with the twenty-first-century future of a political marriage between two superhero “houses”—Superman and Wonder Woman on one side, the Marvel Family (originally of the now-defunct Fawcett Comics, later acquired by DC) on the other—was a casualty of his departure.

Moore went the independent route, producing a variety of projects and briefly forming his own publishing company, Mad Love, with his wife, Phyllis, and their mutual lover, Deborah Delano. He returned to mainstream comics in 1993 to work on several series for Image Comics, including Spawn and several spin-off miniseries, as well as his original miniseries 1963 (1993). Image cofounder Jim Lee offered Moore his own imprint under Lee's own imprint, WildStorm Productions. Moore accepted and named the imprint America's Best Comics (ABC). Soon after, Lee sold WildStorm to DC, but despite his previous bad experiences, Moore went ahead with the deal. His first release under his new imprint was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (1999–2012), a multi-universe crossover of Victorian literature featuring such characters as Mina Murray (from Bram Stoker's Dracula, 1897), Allan Quatermain (from H. Rider Haggard's series of novels), and Captain Nemo (from Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, 1870).

Due to continued interference from DC, Moore once again withdrew from mainstream comics. He continued publishing League under Top Shelf Productions and Knockabout Comics and has worked on various other series for the independent publisher Avatar Press. He also began working on a series of short films with director Mitch Jenkins, collectively titled Show Pieces. The first two "episodes" of the series, Act of Faith and Jimmy's End, were released online in November 2012; the final installment, His Heavy Heart (2014), was financed through Kickstarter. The series was released on DVD in 2015 and included two previously unreleased installments, Upon Reflection and A Professional Relationship. Moore has written a screenplay for a full-length film, titled The Show, to conclude the story.

Moore has two daughters, Amber and Leah, with his first wife, Phyllis. Leah Moore is also a comic book writer, having worked on a number of series for WildStorm as well as the Top Cow Productions series Witchblade. Moore's first marriage ended in the early 1990s, when his wife left him for Delano. In 2007, he married comic book artist Melinda Gebbie, with whom he had previously collaborated on several projects.

In 2022, in an article in the Guardian, Moore said he no longer wanted to write comics. However, he continued writing. In 2022, he published the short-story collection Illuminations. He began writing a new fantasy series called The Long London, publishing the first book in the series, The Great When, in 2024. When finished, the series would consist of five books. In 2024, he returned to comics, publishing The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic, which he wrote with his lifelong friend, Steve Moore.

Moore is a practicing magician. As of 2023, he lived in Northampton, England.

Bibliography

Berlatsky, Eric L., ed. Alan Moore: Conversations. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 2012. Print.

Gaines, Dixon T. "Alan Moore Didn't Just Make Comics an Art Form, He Made Them Gay, Too." Queerty. Queerty, 4 Mar. 2009. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.

Khoury, George, et al. The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore: Indispensable Edition. Raleigh: TwoMorrows, 2008. Print.

Lamont, Tom. "Alan Moore: Why I Turned My Back on Hollywood." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 15 Dec. 2012. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.

Leith, Sam. "Watchmen Author Alan Moore: 'I'm Definitely Done with Comics.'" The Guardian, 7 Oct. 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/07/watchmen-author-alan-moore-im-definitely-done-with-comics. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

Millidge, Gary Spencer. Alan Moore: Storyteller. New York: Universe, 2011. Print.

Moore, Alan. Interview by Jared Wilson. LeftLion. LeftLion, 7 Aug. 2012. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.

Moore, Alan, and Mitch Jenkins. "Alan Moore and Mitch Jenkins Get On with the Show (Pieces)!" Electric Shadows. Electric Shadows, 7 Sept. 2014. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.

Parkin, Lance. Magic Words: The Extraordinary Life of Alan Moore. London: Aurum, 2013. Print.