Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/12/06/leah-moore-alan-moores-daug.html
…
13 Likes
I just figured his underwear was chaffing.
7 Likes
I’ve only heard of him from my visits to bOING bOING.
Are we sure he isn’t the wizard from Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell?
Being cranky is a legitimate mood. No apologies required.
20 Likes
The sad thing is that I’m a Grant Morrison and an Alan Moore fan so he would hate me doubly so even though I see parallels in their treatment of the same characters in their own runs (both love Superman and really understand the character better than most).
8 Likes
Quite frankly, he could have done that perfectly well without dealing with the “corrupt despots” he loathes.
I’m not sure why Alan Moore isn’t more aware of the robust indie comics scene, but I know a half-dozen quite successful comics authors and artists who work with small publishers or self-publish. If Moore truly had the deep desire to create “book after book” of “vast worlds”, he could have done that for the last 40 years rather than spend four decades rage-quitting.
Yes, it’s tragic that he got fucked over. It’s just a shame, and sad indeed, that he didnt’ find a way to still create what he loved rather than let it consume him.
5 Likes
to be fair, people have only said he was grumpy – nobody is alleging he’s crazy.
8 Likes
I know bits and pieces of the stories of Moore getting screwed over, but I don’t know the whole story. Is there an article somewhere that does a good job summarizing the length and breadth of his story?
3 Likes
I suppose the indie scene didn’t have enough resources for him to do what he wanted to do on the scale he wanted to do it? Some people are just incapable of scaling down their ambitions, which I guess is both a blessing and a curse… well, more of a curse in this case.
5 Likes
That’s a good question. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen it all come together in a single place. I know a lot of it started with Watchmen. The rights were supposed to revert to Moore and Gibbons one year after the books went out of print — which made sense, at the time, when graphic novels weren’t a “thing.” But then the book never went out of print. Ever. So he got screwed on money. So he said “fuck you guys” and went to work on some other comics. Eventually, he got involved with Jim Lee’s Wildstorm comics … which ended up getting bought out by DC, bringing him back into the fold. IIRC, DC tried to make some concessions to Moore — offering him money and apologies some 10-15 years later — but he interpreted it all as a way to butter him up so they could make even more money off the Watchmen property. And now they owned his Top Ten comics and other books, too.
I believe this all came to a head around 2000 or so, which is also when the shitty film versions of FROM HELL and LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN came out, and I think he just felt betrayed by EVERYONE.
I think this sums it up pretty well: https://www.cbr.com/291190-2/
21 Likes
Meanwhile DC is just cashing those checks they don’t deserve. I understand that legally they’re in the right but they know what the spirit of the agreement over Watchmen was supposed to be. Seriously fuck them.
13 Likes
Thanks for summing up; no wonder the man is bitter.
8 Likes
This does do a pretty good job, filled in a bunch of blanks for me. Thanks!
5 Likes
Holy fucksocks; somehow I never knew Moore was also the author of Halo Jones.
TIL…
13 Likes
Well plenty of people over that span on time have managed to do plenty ambitious stuff, particularly in the last 20, independently. And they didn’t have Moore’s connections and name recognition. Just for example the entire board game/pen and paper boom.
Also it looks like he spent 40 years checking out of politics so hard he didn’t even bother to vote. Which speaks to a pretty significant tendency to rage quit society. That goes back a hell of a lot farther than any of the DC fights. So this guy was writing about the dangers of rising fascism, satirizing Thatcher and Reagan. Giving rabidly political interviews. And at the same time he wasn’t voting or getting involved?
I like Alan Moore’s crotchety, snake worshipping ass just fine as it is. But the fact of the matter is the guy has kind of been full of shit this whole time.
4 Likes
Except for all those gnomes who keep hurling endless ridicule at him from the heating vents when they aren’t busy stealing his empty tuna cans. But that’s the CIA for you.
7 Likes
Alan Moore knows the score
I would add that he is an anarchist (of the left wing variety), which is why his decision to vote is so surprising. Maybe counter-power is becoming a predominant idea now.
10 Likes
Indie comic creators basically cannot make a living unless they get incredibly lucky. It would be just as valid to ask why he didn’t spend all of his food and rent money on lottery tickets.
3 Likes
That only makes sense if one considers the very system of democracy to be worth engaging with.
Why would an anarchist vote?
[ETA: I’m not expressing my personal politics! 
]
2 Likes
Yeah I totally get how chew up and spat out the comics industry can be. In the 90s was the first time that creator owned stuff finally got real legs with the birth of Image. IIRC he was doing stuff under their banner for awhile. And Americas Finest for LofEG. I am a little surprised he doesn’t just do his own thing. He should have the capitol to self publish, and if not I know there are enough indie places like Fantagraphics or Dark Horse, or even Image, or some of the other companies I am less familiar with. I am sure he would have no shortage of artists wanting to work with him. But it could also be burn out and maybe he wants to retire and relax.
I am still a bit gobsmacked at the whole Watchman thing. Though I guess to be fair, when it was made, the idea that a graphic novel would be published constantly since its release was completely unheard of at the time.
If one recalls Neil Gaiman sued Todd Mcfarlane for using characters he made with out compensation, and not paying him for reprints of stories etc. Tood who was a champion of creator rights, still failed due partly to being a dick, and partly for his “fly by the seat of your pants” way of doing things. If you google it you can read the transcript of the trial (I’ve read about a fourth of it, and need to buckle down and finish), but it offers a glimpse into how creators were paid in the 90s and the deals they got.
8 Likes
