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[Corpsepyre]

End of an era.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/08/alan-moore-confirms-he-is-retiring-from-creating-comic-books

After writing some of the most famous and critically acclaimed comic books of all time, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Alan Moore has confirmed that he is retiring from the medium.

At a press conference in London for his latest work, Jerusalem, a weighty novel named after William Blake’s poem exploring the history of Moore’s native Northampton through several lives, Moore said he had “about 250 pages of comics left in me”.

He added: “And those will probably be very enjoyable. There are a couple of issues of an Avatar [Press] book that I am doing at the moment, part of the HP Lovecraft work I’ve been working on recently. Me and Kevin will be finishing Cinema Purgatorio and we’ve got about one more book, a final book of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to complete. After that, although I may do the odd little comics piece at some point in the future, I am pretty much done with comics.”

The decision came, Moore explained, when he realised he felt too comfortable in the medium. “I think I have done enough for comics. I’ve done all that I can. I think if I were to continue to work in comics, inevitably the ideas would suffer, inevitably you’d start to see me retread old ground and I think both you and I probably deserve something better than that,” he said.

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More at the link.

I'm a big fan of his work, but it makes sense at this point. He's written some of the best stories in the medium.

 

[Spaghetti]

Good for him. Alan Moore's relationship with comics is so fraught with bad memories that I can't believe it's taken him this long to leave the medium behind.

 

[Shake Appeal]

I just finished From Hell for the first time a few weeks ago and was blown away by it. Sad news!

On the other hand, if he wants to try his hand at writing movies, it's about time the DCU started taking some chances...

 

[Admiral Woofington]

I didn't even know he was still making them.

 

[HStallion]

I didn't even know he was still making them.

He is writing a series of Lovecraft inspired comics that are excellent.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

that's a penis

 

[Secret Fawful]

I didn't even know he was still making them.

They're still incredible, but miserably fucked up.

He's the greatest writer comics have ever seen. Better than Ellis. Better than Ennis. Better than anyone else. The most literary writer to ever write comics. He transformed them into a respected art form. Can't wait to see what he does in the literary world.

 

[adj_noun]

The man retired, but the beard will write on.

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

He's had a brilliant career and has said what he had to say. I think it's great that he's chosing to retire before he runs out of steam. That tends to happen to a lot of creators and it's never a pretty sight. There are exceptions of course like Scorsese but they are few and far between.

His latest book sounds too daunting for me to read it but maybe I'll give it a shot one day when I'm done with his comics.

My favorite comic of his is without a doubt From Hell. Such an incredible masterpiece. And for his superhero work, I adore "Whatever happened to the man of tomorrow?", one of the best Superman stories ever.

On the other hand, if he wants to try his hand at writing movies, it's about time the DCU started taking some chances...

He would probably just jump off a cliff if someone from DC ever dared to give him a phone call.

 

[Garlador]

He's crazy, but also a legend.

I wish he had been involved in the movie adaptions to some capacity... I imagine Zack Snyder might have learned a few things if he had.

 

[Corpsepyre]

He is writing a series of Lovecraft inspired comics that are excellent.

That's a great comic! Made a thread on this sometime back. A must-read for Lovecraft fans. Complete deconstruction.

 

[Cerato]

Top 10 is fantastic. Not one of his commonly cited comics, but it's just fantastic. Probably Moore at his funniest and most humane.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

V for Vendetta blew me away when I was first getting into graphic novels. I truly do believe he elevated the medium.

 

[FullMetaltech]

Moore is definitely one of my faves.

 

[phanphare]

that's a bummer man

 

[Ross61]

Again?

 

[UltraGunner]

What he gonna do with his time now, besides complaining and smoking spliffs in honor of the Snake God.

 

[Ricky_R]

that's a penis

Hahah

 

[SpaceWolf]

Extremely glad to hear he'll at least be working on a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 3 before he steps back from the medium.

Has anyone here read Jerusalem? I've heard markedly little about it since it released. Presuming it has released?

 

[Secret Fawful]

What he gonna do with his time now, besides complaining and smoking spliffs in honor of the Snake God.

Write books and scripts for films, apparently.

 

[TheSeks]

it's about time the DCU started taking some chances...

Is this a joke? Alan Moore loathes DC and WB. For the way they treated him. He'd rather slit his own wrists than work with them ever again.

 

[Bronx-Man]

A crazy bastard and one of the greatest writers comics has ever had. Swamp Thing was a great reimagining & Watchmen is a classic for a reason, I always pick up on some new detail everytime I read it.

His presence will be missed.

 

[DOWN]

His opinions on his works being adapted always rubbed me the wrong way but oh well, he made some of, if not arguably the best, comic books ever made

 

[kris.]

this makes me sad

i'm not completely caught up on Providence yet but it's freaky and awesome

 

[HStallion]

His opinions on his works being adapted always rubbed me the wrong way but oh well, he made some of, if not arguably the best, comic books ever made

Its not like any of his adaptations came close to the originals though I did enjoy V for Vendetta but that was never one of my favorite works of his. I'd love to see someone attempt Lost Girls ;D

 

[ebullientprism]

I wonder if not doing Comics will make him a happier person? Every interview I have read of him, he comes off as a right miserable bastard. Ferociously talented but never happy. Then again, maybe those two are connected.

 

[Puck Beaverton]

Has anyone here read Jerusalem? I've heard markedly little about it since it released. Presuming it has released?

It comes out Tuesday. EW has a review up that says it is really good but extremely difficult and ambitious.

 

[GAMEPROFF]

And nothing of value was lost at this point

 

[Secret Fawful]

It comes out Tuesday. EW has a review up that says it is really good but extremely difficult and ambitious.

He made it sound like he wrote a novel that required you to read a certain set of authors to even understand it. I think that's great, but it's going to be inaccessible for many.

 

[ohhthegore]

He is writing a series of Lovecraft inspired comics that are excellent.

I need to check this out

 

[Anung]

He is writing a series of Lovecraft inspired comics that are excellent.

Yeahhhhh boi!

 

[Tizoc]

You mean he hasnt already :v

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Crazy genius bastard. But I doubt he's retiring for good.

 

[HStallion]

And nothing of value was lost at this point

Providence is one of his best works.

 

[Dan]

I wonder what this final League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book will be like.

 

[HStallion]

I wonder what this final League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book will be like.

Wasn't it supposed to go all John Carter of Mars? The second one was not his best work despite my enjoyment of the first.

 

[SpaceWolf]

I wonder what this final League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book will be like.

Best guess: Sci-fi.

 

[Dan]

Wasn't it supposed to go all John Carter of Mars? The second one was not his best work despite my enjoyment of the first.

I'm not sure, I can't recall if he's said anything about it before. Yeah, I'd say LEoG II was solid but not as great as the first series. The Century book/trilogy got progressively messier as it moved into present day and had to get wackier to bring in modern analogs of copyrighted characters. The three Nemo books were quite nice, however. No matter what, I'm intrigued by what he does with the characters and world.

 

[Creamium]

I love everything I've read of Moore, and there are still essentials I need to get to, like his Swamp Thing run. Anyone a fan of Top10? That's my favorite of his lesser known books

 

[Lord Frieza]

As crouchy as he's become, and as much as I came to disagree with a lot of his views, I will miss him. Definitely one of my favorite authors, of any medium, and I think his dissection (or deconstruction, as some would call it) of fiction has been so fascinating throughout his career.

I didn't even know he was still making them.

Yeah, he never stopped, but he's decidedly off the mainstream grid, mostly writing for Avatar since they will basically let their creators do anything.

He's had a brilliant career and has said what he had to say. I think it's great that he's chosing to retire before he runs out of steam. That tends to happen to a lot of creators and it's never a pretty sight. There are exceptions of course like Scorsese but they are few and far between.

His latest book sounds too daunting for me to read it but maybe I'll give it a shot one day when I'm done with his comics.

My favorite comic of his is without a doubt From Hell. Such an incredible masterpiece. And for his superhero work, I adore "Whatever happened to the man of tomorrow?", one of the best Superman stories ever.

Nah, if you can handle From Hell, you can handle Providence. It's pretty straightforward, if a tad denser than your average book. The main thing that probably would hinder some is that it has tons of obscure ass Lovecraft stuff that only the hardcorest of the hardcorest Lovecrafters will really recognize. But, if you can read his later League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and not feel lost at the almost indecent amount of references, you can handle that.

Basically, Providence is a Lovecraft version of his later League stuff. Instead of tying all fiction into one universe, though, he's taking all the various Lovecraft stories and elements and crafting them into this single, cohesive narrative.

 

[echoshifting]

I just finished From Hell for the first time a few weeks ago and was blown away by it. Sad news!

On the other hand, if he wants to try his hand at writing movies, it's about time the DCU started taking some chances...

A cold shudder passed through Alan Moore as you posted this. He'll never be able to explain it.

 

[Dan]

I love everything I've read of Moore, and there are still essentials I need to get to, like his Swamp Thing run. Anyone a fan of Top10? That's my favorite of his lesser known books

Ooh, you gotta get to his Swamp Thing run. Damned good stuff.

I haven't read Top 10, but I'd say my favorite of his less famous works is The Ballad of Halo Jones. Cool, pulpy space adventures with a female lead.

 

[HK-47]

As crouchy as he's become, and as much as I came to disagree with a lot of his views, I will miss him. Definitely one of my favorite authors, of any medium, and I think his dissection (or deconstruction, as some would call it) of fiction has been so fascinating throughout his career.



Yeah, he never stopped, but he's decidedly off the mainstream grid, mostly writing for Avatar since they will basically let their creators do anything.



Nah, if you can handle From Hell, you can handle Providence. It's pretty straightforward, if a tad denser than your average book. The main thing that probably would hinder some is that it has tons of obscure ass Lovecraft stuff that only the hardcorest of the hardcorest Lovecrafters will really recognize. But, if you can read his later League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and not feel lost at the almost indecent amount of references, you can handle that.

Basically, Providence is a Lovecraft version of his later League stuff. Instead of tying all fiction into one universe, though, he's taking all the various Lovecraft stories and elements and crafting them into this single, cohesive narrative.

He is talking about his prose book.

 

[Kayhan]

Currently reading his Providence Lovecraft series. On issue 4.

Pretty great so far.

I enjoyed the previous The Courtyard and Neonomicon as well.

 

[Lord Frieza]

He is talking about his prose book.

Oh right, I totally forgot about that lol. Never read any of Moore's prose.

 

[antispin]

Had Providence ended? Time to jump in?

 

[Lord Frieza]

Had Providence ended? Time to jump in?

Still ongoing. The 10th issue just released, and I believe it's slated for 12.

 

[Hades Hotgun]

Moore is easily the greatest, most influential, and important writer in the medium of comics. I doubt he will be eclipsed in that position any time soon. If he feels he has done what he wanted with his work, then I wish him all the best with whatever he does from here on.