Moore, Alan (1953-…), is an English author and cartoonist who helped revolutionize comics in the late 1900’s. Moore has written a number of graphic novels that rank among classics of the form. A graphic novel is a book-length story that combines text and illustrations. Moore’s work brought a unique literary and adult character to graphic novels. His works combine science fiction, adventure, fantasy, horror, and social criticism. These works reflect Moore’s sophisticated understanding of the formal qualities of comics, such as the ability of words to comment on the pictures.
Moore’s best known and most influential work is Watchmen, a graphic novel about a collection of superheroes. It was illustrated by Dave Gibbons. The characters are powerful crime fighters, but they suffer a broad range of human emotions and weaknesses. Watchmen is a complex work that is dark and violent in tone. It is set in 1985 but moves back and forth in time, examining culture and politics in the United States during the mid-1900’s. Watchmen was first published in 12 comic book issues beginning in 1986. It was issued in one volume in 1987, and in that form ranks among the best-selling graphic novels in history.
Moore set V for Vendetta in the near future in the United Kingdom, where a fascist government rules. A fascist government is one that has total control of political, economic, cultural, religious, and social activities. In V for Vendetta, the only opponent to the government is a masked figure known as V. David Lloyd illustrated the book, which was published from 1982 to 1989 and issued in one volume in 1989. From Hell, illustrated by Eddie Campbell, was published from 1991 to 1996. It is a fictional story about Jack the Ripper, an actual mass murderer in London in 1888. It was published in one volume in 1999.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a series of books illustrated by Kevin O’Neill and begun in 1999. Moore gathered a number of fictional characters from famous adventure stories of the 1800’s. They include Captain Nemo from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), by the French novelist Jules Verne, and the dual character of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), by the Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson. As the series progresses, it includes many additional characters from fiction of other time periods, as well as pop culture references.
Moore’s major nonillustrated work is the 1,280-page novel Jerusalem (2016). The book is set in the author’s home town of Northampton. The vast, interconnected narrative explores such themes as life and death, space, and time, mixing realism with fantasy and the supernatural. The writing is filled with historical and literary allusions, sometimes reflecting the style of the Irish-born writers James Joyce and Samuel Beckett.
Moore’s vast output includes unfinished series and work collected in multiple books. Among his most prominent works are The Saga of Swamp Thing, (1983-1987); Miracleman (published in the United Kingdom as Marvelman, 1982-1989); the unfinished Big Numbers (1990) and 1963 (1993); Promethea (1999-2005); and Lost Girls (2006). Anthologies of his collected stand-alone stories include Across the Universe: The DC Universe Stories of Alan Moore (2003) and Alan Moore: Wild Worlds (2007). He also wrote a novel, Voice of the Fire (1996), and the short story collection Illuminations: Stories (2022).
Moore was born on Nov. 18, 1953, in Northampton, England. He was expelled from school at the age of 17. After working in a variety of jobs, he began a career as a cartoonist in 1979. Moore turned to writing in 1980. He created comic strips for 2000 AD, a weekly British comic magazine that emphasized science fiction. He gained widespread attention with the series The Ballad of Halo Jones, begun in 1984. Moore was recruited by DC Comics in the United States in 1983, the first of many United Kingdom writers and artists hired by American comics companies in the 1980’s. In addition to being a writer, Moore is a strong supporter of free speech and the rights of creators to profit from and control their work.
