If you find yourself asking “Who is Alan Moore?” don’t feel ashamed. Not too many people outside of college English departments, IT professionals, scientists, and comic shop owners (you know: geeks) know. He has written many great comics, and is a brilliant literary mind. He is also an eccentric and a recluse and has been worked over by Hollywood and the rest of the entertainment industry more than a few times, so whenever an adaptation of his work is made he wants no part of it. His most famous work is Watchmen, essentially a deconstruction of superheroes, and it inspired the movie that you’ve been seeing trailers for since you went to see The Dark Knight.
Watchmen hits theaters next week, and I’m prepared to be greatly disappointed. You see, I know the Great Big Change that Zack Snyder made to the ending, and–admittedly out of context–I’m angered by it. I will pass final (harsh, cold, unfeeling) judgment next week when I see the movie, but my hopes (which had been increased by the trailer attached to Friday the 13th) were dashed when I read this review earlier this evening. I guess I don’t have to say “spoiler alert.”.
In preparation for the movie, I’m re-reading the comic mini-series from which Snyder drew his inspiration. It’s just as jaw-dropping and mind-blowing as it was when I read it for the first time shortly after college, when I was convinced I was a hip and edgy bad-boy of academia who was about to hit the literary world like a blood-soaked storm (re: before reality set in).
Now is the perfect time to get into Watchmen, if you haven’t already, so you can look all cool and stuff when you’re talking about how badly the movie butchered your memories of that final, numbing, a-rock-just-fell-into-my-stomach scene that closed out the book’s exhilarating climax.
Why stop at Watchmen however? Why not delve deeper into the works of Alan Moore? He is only constantly trading places with Neil Gaiman as the greatest comics writer ever (at least in my mind).
In fact, don’t start with Watchmen. Let it be the second or third work of Moore that you read. Put off seeing the movie if need be. Start instead with something just as engaging and thought-provoking, but a little less multilayer and a bit easier to digest. V for Vendetta is the other major work of Alan Moore. You may remember the movie that came out a couple of years back. It was a good movie, but a not-so-good adaptation. I highly suggest you immerse yourself in the text and imagery of this work: experience a dystopia of epic proportions and the mad hero out to change it. Witness the young girl caught up in it all, the young girl who wants to see change but doesn’t know if she wants to see how it happens. Be prepared to walk away with a healthy distrust of government in general, coupled with this weird sense that chaos is brilliant.
Having polished off V for Vendetta, move on to Moore’s more traditional comics work. Swamp Thing was one of the more popular horror comics titles, and the run Moore had on it is phenomenal. He established it as a mature, intellectual comic; one not for kids or sensitive adults, one that dealt more with pain and loss and the human condition than it did with derring-do and damsels in distress. You can find his run collected as trade paperbacks in the Saga of the Swamp Thing series; a recent hardback edition of Volume 1 sees a never-before-seen reprint of the very first issue that Moore wrote, and it serves as a fine wrap-up to the stories before it, so the reader can fully appreciate the brilliant narrative transition Moore made that claimed the series as his own.
Batman fans need not be without “The Killing Joke.” It was a one-shot that Moore penned, a story that focuses mainly on the Joker. The mesmerizing performance of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight owes more to this book than you would think: Moore’s Joker is a frightening, unhinged, brilliant sociopath. Not to mention the ending is a surreal treat that ranks among the greatest comics endings ever. Pick up the trade that has a special bonus story where the Joker fantasizes about killing Batman in a variety of unique ways, or grab “The Killing Joke” as part of the trade paperback DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore. This is a good one because you can see Moore put his spin on numerous classic characters.
Some other works of Moore: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell, Promothea, a few issues of Spawn, and the highly controversial book Lost Girls. Lost Girls was Moore’s attempt at making pornography mean something; to make it a method of exploring human sexuality while still indulging in pleasures of the flesh–what erotica is supposed to be, but oftentimes ends up falling short. Unfortunately (for sensitive readers) he does so using your favorite fairy tale and childrens’ stories characters.
Definitely read Watchmen soon though, no matter what you do. I would say: “The Killing Joke,” V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing (at least the first volume of the trade series), and then Watchmen. After that, it’s your playground.
See a complete list of his works here, and when you hit the highlights start delving deeper. Your friendly neighborhood comic shop is happy to help you. They’ll hook you up with any trade paperback you would like, and they may have some of those old back issues for which you are looking. Plus, they know comics, so they can give you further recommendations and introduce you even more awesome writers and artists. Patronize them before throwing even more money at [INSERT NAME OF FACELESS CORPORATE ENTITY HERE].
So go out and read. Have fun. Discover one of the greatest writers that has ever lived, comics or otherwise. Go see Watchmen next week. All snarkiness aside, Zack Snyder had some serious wa-hoo-hahs to take on this film.
Just too bad it does not really have to exist.
Posted by Brandon 
Posted by Brandon 
