Barry Windsor-Smith on Moore's perspicacity

Marvelman by Barry Windsor-Smith

In 2000 legendary artist Barry Windsor-Smith sent me a short text contribution for the Alan Moore special that I was running on my Ultrazine.org site (not online any more).

The intelligence and perspicacity of Alan Moore's MARVELMAN was responsible for bringing me back into the field of comics. For that, I'm torn between loving and hating him. I've admired all of Alan's work from the 1970s to the present, with the ABC line. 

Barry Windsor-Smith

 I highly recommend BWS' new book Monsters, a masterpiece 35 years in the making. 

 

 

Barry Windsor-Smith, Alan Moore and Miracleman

Barry Windsor-Smith cover art for Miracleman N. 24 (Eclipse Comics).

Excerpt from The Comics Journal N. 190 (September 1996).
"[...] Within my parameters, my overview, say, when I was in my mid-20s, I honestly believed the comic books I was creating had value to them … not all of ’em mind you, Avengers #100 didn’t really rise above street level, y’know, but I had pride in something about those books like Conan, Doc Strange, and stuff I forget now. My drawing wasn’t always the greatest but I believe my storytelling had integrity because I had a background in books and plays and other literary endeavors that wasn’t just comic-books: Hell, I read Steinbeck when I was 14.1 don’t see intensity in modern Marvel and Image and what have you, no matter how abstracted it might be for the sake of the superhero genre, I can’t see it. 

But when I read the entirety of Alan Moore’s Miracleman I was thrilled by his diverse experience and knowledge — you don’t find that depth in Youngblood." [Barry Windsor-Smith; the complete interview can be read here]

Excerpt from George Khoury's Kimota! book.

"[...] The fact is that Moore made me a fan again. He was one of the reasons that I returned to the field. He rekindled my spirit, my sense of wonder, and my foundering faith that the medium can be an artform." [Barry Windsor-Smith]