The Magician is present

Above and below, the awesome art that I received from the extraordinary BEN WICKEY: that brand new Alan Moore portrait and the Moores from The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic!

I am speechless. Grazie mille, Ben!

Italian Sussidiario di Magia

Above and below, some pics I took of my Italian copy of the Bumper Book of Magic that I bought few days ago. The book has just been published by Panini Comics. 

It seems they did a good job on it. Viva la Magia!

The psychedelic experience

Excerpt from a recent interview posted by Spanish writer Roberto Bartual on his Substack.

You can read the complete piece HERE. Highly recommended! 

Do you think the psychedelic experience can help us understand language?
Alan Moore: I think that the psychedelic experience can help us to understand a great number of things, language included. Around thirty years ago, when Steve Moore and I were investigating the eighth kabbalistic sphere, Hod – the Mercurial sphere of intellect, science, magic and language, where all form is said to originate – I had what seemed to be an encounter with the god Hermes. During the ritual, I was under the influence of psilocybin and Steve wasn’t, acting more as a recorder and observer. I reported to Steve that I was seeing floating globules of a silvery and reflective semi-liquid substance, that I felt to be the ethereal material that abstract and insubstantial beings such as gods clothed themselves in so that we could perceive them. I tentatively suggested that this substance might be called ‘ideoplasm’, and then realised moments later that this was an unnecessary coinage, in that what I was looking at was simply a symbolic representation of language itself. Language is the reflective and liquid substance that the gods dress themselves in to reveal themselves to us. I further realised that this is true of us ourselves and of everything in our material universe. If we do not have a word and thus a concept for an object or phenomenon, then we simply cannot perceive it and are not conscious of it. I understood why modern linguistic theory insists that language precedes consciousness, and further realised why Hod, sphere of language, was where all form originated. So, yes, I think the psychedelic experience can help us understand language. 

The Autumn is Magic!

Cover art by John Coulthart

It's about time! Finally this Autumn (October 15th, to be precise!) we will learn all the secrets of Magic thanks to Messrs. Steve and Alan Moore & friends (and publishers Top Shelf & Knockabout). 

 

From the Top Shelf site:

The most acclaimed writer in comics history, Alan Moore, joins his late mentor Steve Moore (no relation) for one last graphic grimoire: a sprawling and stunning introduction to magic in all its timeless forms, brought to life by five wondrous and whimsical artists.

Splendid news for enquiring minds, and guaranteed salvation for humanity! Messrs. Steve and Alan Moore, current proprietors of the celebrated Moon & Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels (sorcery by appointment since circa 150 AD) are presently engaged in producing a clear and practical grimoire of the occult sciences that offers endless necromantic fun for all the family. Exquisitely illuminated by a host of adepts including Kevin O’Neill, John Coulthart, Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch and Ben Wickey, this marvellous and unprecedented tome promises to provide all that the reader could conceivably need in order to commence a fulfilling new career as a diabolist.

Its contents include profusely illustrated instructional essays upon this ancient sect’s theories of magic, notably the key dissertation “Adventures in Thinking,” which gives reliable advice as to how entry into the world of magic may be readily achieved. Further to this, a number of “Rainy Day” activity pages present lively and entertaining things-to-do once the magical state has been attained, including such popular pastimes as divination, etheric travel and the conjuring of a colourful multitude of sprits, deities, dead people and infernal entities from the pit, all of whom are sure to become your new best friends.

Also contained within this extravagant compendium of thaumaturgic lore is a history of magic from the last ice age to the present day, told in a series of easy-to-absorb pictorial biographies of fifty great enchanters and complemented by a variety of picture stories depicting events ranging from the Palaeolithic origins of art, magic, language and consciousness to the rib-tickling comedy exploits of Moon & Serpent founder Alexander the False Prophet (“He’s fun, he’s fake, he’s got a talking snake!”).

Art by Kevin O'Neill

In addition to these manifold delights, the adventurous reader will also discover a series of helpful travel guides to mind-wrenching alien dimensions that are within comfortable walking distance, as well as profiles of the many quaint local inhabitants that one might bump into at these exotic resorts. A full range of entertainments will be provided, encompassing such diverse novelties and pursuits as a lavishly decorated decadent pulp tale of occult adventure recounted in the serial form. Completing this almost-unimaginable treasure trove is a lengthy thesis revealing the ultimate meaning of both the Moon and the Serpent in a manner that makes transparent the much-obscured secret of magic, happiness, sex, creativity and the known Universe, while at the same time explaining why these lunar and ophidian symbols feature so prominently in the order’s peculiar name. (Manufacturer’s disclaimer: this edition does not, however, reveal why the titular cabal of magicians consider themselves to be either grand or Egyptian. Let the buyer beware.)

Art by Rick Veitch

A colossal and audacious publishing triumph of three hundred and fifty-two pages, beautifully produced in the finest tradition of educational literature for young people, The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic will transform your lives, your reality, and any spare lead that you happen to have lying around into the purest and most radiant gold. -- a 9" x 12" hardcover

Book design by John Coulthart. Co-published by Top Shelf Productions & Knockabout LTD (UK).

COMING OCTOBER 15TH, 2024!

From John Coulthart site: 

[...] A couple of things are worth noting now that the book is about to enter the world. The first is that the contents are a little different to the press release from 2007 which announced a book of 320 pages, with 78 of those pages being brand new Tarot card designs. The authors subsequently realised that creating an entirely new Tarot deck is a huge task in itself, especially if, as was the intention, you wanted it to be as wide-ranging and authoritative as the Crowley/Harris Thoth deck. [...]

Art by Ben Wickey

The other thing to note is that this book is as much Steve Moore’s as Alan Moore’s, something which I’m sure Alan will want to emphasise but which news reports and reviews are inevitably going to overlook. [...]

The Bumper Book may superficially resemble a children’s annual but this isn’t a book for children. The essays include discussion of the use of drugs and sex in magic, and there’s a lot of nudity (also a fair amount of sex) in the illustrations. The book is a serious study, but not, I hope, a boring one. [...]

I could say more about the contents but I’m not going to spoil things. I’ve been immensely grateful to Alan, Tony and Chris at Top Shelf for not pressuring me to get this one finished. I’m often complaining that publishers don’t give you enough time to work on things but that wasn’t the case with this book. I just wish Steve Moore was still here to see it (and Kevin O’Neill, an artist whose work I always admired but I never got to meet). October this year is going to be lunar and serpentine. We’ll see you in the Theatre of Marvels.

Read the complete post HERE.

Art by John Coulthart

Duplicator Days: zines, Steve Moore and Dane Jerrus

Excerpt from Duplicator Days, an article written by Moore celebrating the glory days of UK fanzine scene and the key role of his friend Steve Moore, published in 2018 in Fanscene n.1. You can read the complete article downloading the fanzine HERE, page 6-8.

 

You can enjoy the whole Fanscene archive HERE. 

Also check the amazing project by editor David Hathaway-Price HERE: a digital repository of the Comics Fanzines published in the UK! Fantastico!

Alan Moore: I sometimes think that fanzines, blotchy and haphazard and ephemeral, are no less than the distilled breath of their various moments. All the memory-prompts and tangles of association that we have embedded in these frail, stab-stapled publications make them into crumbling paper repositories for fleeting and elusive atmospherics from a time when we were at our most enthusiastic; when we were indelibly imprinting all our strongest recollections. [...]

With the proviso that much of this brief essay may be entirely a product of my own disintegrating memory, I recall that it was here that I first learned of the existence of Frank Dobson’s Fantasy Advertiser, Tony Roche's Heroes Unlimited and Steve Moore’s KA-POW, and dutifully sent off postal orders for the requisite amounts. At this time I was setting out to walk the mile or two to school each day before the first post had arrived, and can remember the excitement on returning home if there was a manila envelope addressed to me, propped up behind the recycled brass shell-case ornament from World War I that stood upon the mantelpiece above the hearth. [...]

For my part, l was perhaps most struck by the last-minute inclusion of a Ken Simpson page illustrating a quartet of obscure British comic characters from the l940s or l950s. Amongst these was the memorably-named Dane Jerrus, who by a remote coincidence I'd just referred to in my script for issue three of the last volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It isn't an earth-shattering unlikelihood as coincidences go, but I was personally pleased by this absurd connection between my oldest friend's first work in the comic field and my own last work in that medium. And it is perhaps reassuring that even after almost fifty years, the basic materials that we are working with are still unchanged, even if the way in which we work with them has changed almost beyond recognition.

Without this tattered remnant, electronically resurrected, we would all, I think, be living in a very different cultural environment. Long may it abide, along with the memories of those times and people that it represents.

Check David Hathaway-Price's project HERE

2023: The Year of Magic!

Cover design by John Coulthart

Yesterday BleedingCool's Rich Johnson wrote: 

I attended London Book Fair today, and bumped into Tony Bennett from . [...] He [...] told me that a publication date had been set for The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic by Alan Moore and the late Steve Moore. [...]

 

Tony Bennett told me that there was now a firm publication date for The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic for 2023. The book is described as "a clear and practical grimoire of the occult sciences that offers endless necromantic fun for all the family."

Exquisitely illuminated by a host of adepts including Kevin O'Neill, Melinda Gebbie, John Coulthart, José Villarrubia and other stellar talents (to be named shortly), this marvelous and unprecedented tome promises to provide all that the reader could conceivably need in order to commence a fulfilling new career as a diabolist." We are also told that "
 

Its contents include profusely illustrated instructional essays upon this ancient sect's theories of magic, notably the key dissertation "Adventures in Thinking" which gives reliable advice as to how entry into the world of magic may be readily achieved. Further to this, a number of "Rainy Day" activity pages present lively and entertaining things-to-do once the magical state has been attained, including such popular pastimes as divination, etheric travel and the conjuring of a colourful multitude of sprits, deities, dead people and infernal entities from the pit, all of whom are sure to become your new best friends.

Also contained within this extravagant compendium of thaumaturgic lore is a history of magic from the last ice-age to the present day, told in a series of easy-to-absorb pictorial biographies of fifty great enchanters and complemented by a variety of picture stories depicting events ranging from the Paleolithic origins of art, magic, language and consciousness to the rib-tickling comedy exploits of Moon & Serpent founder Alexander the False Prophet ("He's fun, he's fake, he's got a talking snake!").

In addition to these manifold delights, the adventurous reader will also discover a series of helpful travel guides to mind-wrenching alien dimensions that are within comfortable walking distance, as well as profiles of the many quaint local inhabitants that one might bump into at these exotic resorts. A full range of entertainments will be provided, encompassing such diverse novelties and pursuits as a lavishly decorated decadent pulp tale of occult adventure recounted in the serial form, a full set of this sinister and deathless cult's never-before-seen Tarot cards, a fold-out Kabalistic board game in which the first player to achieve enlightenment wins providing he or she doesn't make a big deal about it, and even a pop-up Theatre of Marvels that serves as both a Renaissance memory theatre and a handy portable shrine for today's multi-tasking magician on the move.

Completing this almost unimaginable treasure-trove are a matching pair of lengthy theses revealing the ultimate meaning of both the Moon and the Serpent in a manner that makes transparent the much obscured secret of magic, happiness, sex, creativity and the known Universe, while at the same time explaining why these lunar and ophidian symbols feature so prominently in the order's peculiar name. (Manufacturer's disclaimer: this edition does not, however, reveal why the titular cabal of magicians consider themselves to be either grand or Egyptian. Let the buyer beware.)

A colossal and audacious publishing triumph of three hundred and twenty pages, beautifully produced in the finest tradition of educational literature for young people, The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic will transform your lives, your reality, and any spare lead that you happen to have laying around into the purest and most radiant gold.

 

A 320-Page Super-Deluxe Hardcover, co-written by Alan Moore and Steve Moore, and illustrated by various luminaries from the comic book field.

Read the article here.

 

So, it seems the wait is over... almost! I confess that I will believe it only when the book will be in my hands. And I can't wait to see any preview material. 

All is full of magic!

 

The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic is a co-production Knockabout and Top Shelf.

A Chronology of Everything (almost)

Below, a timeline created by Alan Moore & Steve Moore for the Quality Universe, the shared universe for the Warrior's characters such as Marvelman, V, Alex Pressbutton, the Warpsmiths, and so on.

It was written some time between the SSI newsletter in 1981 and Miracleman n.16 in 1989 or later but it's possible that it was completed before October 1983 when it was mentioned (or something very similar) in Dreams of Empire Nightmares of Pressbutton, an illustrated article written by Pedro Henry and published in Warrior n.14.

[...] some time back I got together with the large and impressive Alan Moore to talk all this out (“Alan Moore", incidentally, is not a pseudonym for Pedro Henry).
Eventually we managed to write the entire history of the universe in under two pages, which we've been using ever since. This way, everything should tie in neatly together without you having to buy a separate book to find out which dimension each story's set in. We hope ...

[Pedro Henry (pseudonym of Steve Moore), Warrior n.14, October 1983]

The original text resurfaced for the first time in Kimota! The Miracleman Companion (2001) by the extraordinary George Khoury.

A CHRONOLOGY OF EVERYTHING (ALMOST)

by Alan Moore & Steve Moore

A "Quality Universe" Timeline by Alan Moore & Steve Moore

1400 - Renaissance of Firedrake activity on Earth (growing stronger over following centuries)

1700 - The Chronarchy (a race like Earth-2 Time Lords) attack the Warpsmiths of Hod. Warpsmiths wipe out all but a few of the Chronarchy with Death-Cats, the ultimate weapon provided by the Rhordru Makers.

1911 - Emil Gargunza born in Rio de Janiero.

1933 - The Qys (the race of body-changers - the Marvelman prototype race) become aware of Firedrake activity on Earth and launch expedition. Takes 15 years to reach Earth from Rigel (540 light years away).

1938- Gargunza starts working for the Nazis.

1940 - Mickey Moran born.

1941 - Dicky Dauntless born.

1944 - Gargunza defects to Allies.

1947 - Johnny Bates born.

1948 - Qys expedition crashes on Earth.

1952 - Project Zarathrustra (the Marvelman project) begins under Gargunza.

1954- Mickey Moran and Dicky Dauntless chosen for Proj. Z.

1956 - Johnny Bates chosen. Gargunza starts building Fate Computer.

1962 - Marvelman Family "released" by Gargunza. Fate completed.

1963 - Gargunza sussed, flees to Paraguay. Marvelman Family destroyed. Second Qys expedition arrives on Earth.

1966 - Mike and Liz Moran marry.

1982 - Marvelman reborn.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 ALTERNATIVE REALITY ONE

1982 - Marvelman not reborn.

1988 - World War III.

1992 - Fascist take-over of Britain, controlled by Fate.

1997 - V debuts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1983 - Qys and Warpsmiths establish ambassadors on Earth. Marvelman's daughter born.

1984 - "Challenger Force" established, Silence built.

1985 - Return of Kid Marvelman.

1989 - Marvelman and Marvelwoman marry. Marvelman's son born.

2300 - Warpsmiths begin to take over Earth, providing more and more "advisors." Fate Computer "goes into hiding" and learns.

2350 - Marvelman descendants leave Earth, head off into space. Warpsmiths begin to purge Earth of super-heroes.

2400 - Warpsmiths take over Earth and reduce it to colony.

2450- Earthmen resentful, Chronarch agents stir up trouble.

2470 - Uprising on Earth (set up by Chronarchs). Large numbers of Warpsmiths come to Earth to settle trouble. Earth/Chronarch saboteurs damage Warp battery on Hod, marooning Warpsmiths on Earth. Qys attack and destroy Hod, using time-weapons provided by Chronarchs and urged on by same. Qys return home. Warpsmiths from Earth attack Qys homeworld with death-cats. Qys and Warpsmiths annihilated or reduced to negligible number.

2480 - Rhordru Makers clean up mess left by death-cats.

2700 - Remaining Chronarchs withdraw into the far-reaches of the time/space universe. Fate Computer comes out of hiding and uses all the knowledge and alien technology it's learned to help Earth recover and expand to nearby stars. No major alien races threaten Earth now.

2891 - Fate reveals itself to a lady of the back-streets on Sirius planet. Fate makes her Empress Selene I, sets up a puppet Empire over all the Terran Worlds; a Theocratic Matriarchy. "First Empire" (23 Empresses, 2 Emperors) grows rapidly, later regarded as "Golden Age." Sirius planet renamed "Capitol." Empire expands to take in most of Western Spiral Arm of the Galaxy.

3600 - The Rhordru Makers, feeling threatened by Fate, give it an electronic nervous disease which slowly eats through its circuits, over thousands/millions of years, finally sending it crazy. Fate withdraws from interaction with humans for some time while attempting to cure disease. It manages to stay it considerably, but can't cure it completely. Unguided, First Empire goes into decline, due to unwieldy size and advancing decadence.

3802 - First Empire breaks up; partitioned into two major states (remnant of Selenite Empire and a confederation called the "Helix of Yi") plus minor breakaway states. Helix of Yi remains stable; Selenite Empire fragments further.

3940 - Start of civil wars.

3980 - Selenite Empire falls. "Capitol" burned by Helixiaca (a major cultural crime). Fate goes underground and out of sight.

3990 - "Second Empire," grown out of Helix of Yi, gains control of 80% of human worlds.

4123 - "Depravity" the sin world established.

4470 - Collapse of Second Empire, when chief seats of government decimated by alien plague; barbarism and chaos; billions slaughtered.

4530 - Ektryn the War Woman born Naglfar.

4562 - Ektryn encased in silver.

4580 - Dendrellian assassins formed.

4800 - Barbarism ends; numerous local states, ranging in size from 1 to 100 star systems, all independent but loosely confederated in that they are all human; free travel, free trade; "Merchant Princes" are powerful figures; money talks. After barbarism, live-and-let-live...

5057 - Axel Pressbutton born.

5076 - Mysta Nystralis cloned.

5086 - Mysta destroys Dendrellian assassins.

5087 - Pressbutton eaten alive by Vegan Green Fungus.

5089 - Mysta and Pressbutton meet on Crmuz.

5094 - Mysta and Pressbutton part company.

5096 - Foobl's bar established on the planet Barfo.

5103 - Pressbutton meets Dingbunger & Mupdook on Zutzbas.

5104 - Pressbutton and Mysta meet again on Depravity.

5105 - Pressbutton parts company with McGurk, Dingbunger, etc.

5111 - Pressbutton and McGurk killed on Zilchtron.

MILLIONS OF YEARS LATER...

Crippled Fate Computer sets itself up on Earth in Castle Core, where the disease rapidly eats its brain.

War with the Wur.

Castle Core flips out and cuts off Earth from rest of universe.

Jay Verlane arrives on Earth with Fylar...

Watchmen and... Moore's self-plagiarism

Above, the final panels from the Three-Eyes McGurk and His Death Planet Commandos story originally printed in "Dark Star" n. 22-25, published by Dark Star Publishing in 1979-1980. It was reprinted in 1981 in Rip Off Comix n. 8. Art by Curt Vile (a.k.a Alan Moore), story & inks by Pedro Henry (a.k.a Steve Moore).

Below, some iconic panels from Watchmen, issue n.7, cover date March 1987, DC Comics. Art by Dave Gibbons, colours by John Higgins. 

You can see the similarities, can't you? :)

Unearthing Live!

Alan Moore's Unearthing live performance.

"Alan Moore's live performance with Crook&Flail in the Old Vic Tunnels in 2010 was thought to be lost. But the tapes have been found and remastered into a glorious frenzy of bizarre and dream like visuals by Damien Sung."

More information HERE.

PETER HOGAN: STRONG AND BEYOND

Cover for Tom Strong and The Planet of Peril N. 2. Penciler: C. Sprouse; Inker: K. Story; Colorist: J. Bellaire.

Peter Hogan is a well-know British comics writer with a long career in the industry. He collaborated with Alan Moore on the ABC's line, especially on Tom Strong series. After the conclusion of the line he wrote solo two miniseries of the character - Tom Strong and The Robots of Doom and Tom Strong and The Planet of Peril. He is also the co-creator - with artist Steve Parkhouse - of Resident Alien series published by Dark Horse. As announced just few days ago, he is also part of Electricomics, Alan Moore's most recent project.

Below you can read an interview I did with Peter Hogan, conducted via email in April and May 2014.

My special thanks to Mr. Hogan for his kindness and willingness.

Peter Hogan's entry at The Comic Book Database: here.

Peter Hogan.

smoky man: Tom Strong remains the only “survivor” of Moore’s ABC line. You contributed some issues to the original series created by Moore and artist Chris Sprouse, collaborated with Moore on the Terra Obscura miniseries and then, after the end of the line in 2006, you became the writer of the title producing the new miniseries Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom and the recent Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril.

What do you find interesting in writing Tom Strong? I think it’s an almost perfect mix of classic and modern, also a great vessel for entertaining and intelligent adventure stories.

Peter Hogan: Yes, I agree. Tom’s a great character, with a great supporting cast. A lot of people tend to pick up on the pulp trappings, but to me Tom is more of a Silver Age character. He has that purity of being, and whatever the modern world throws at him… I won’t say it has no effect on him, but he can handle it.

I also think that Tom Strong’s family plays a great, key role in his stories, the human dynamics. What is your approach, regarding this aspect? I am curious as a reader interested in better understanding the “creative process”, how you - as writer - approach and handle this specific characters and… characters general…

Well, the good thing about Tom and his world is that it’s on a very human scale. There’s continuity to be dealt with, there’s a complex array of relationships and quite a few characters to be taken into account … but it’s all of a manageable size, so it’s possible to write involving and dynamic stories. I think where the big superhero universes have gone drastically wrong is that they’ve been strangled by their own continuity. There’s a strength and an elegance to simplicity, which is what they once possessed but no longer do.

As to how the character dynamics work … the answer isn’t that easy, because I don’t truly understand it myself. I mean, you can plot out logically what should happen, what you’d like to happen … but the characters might not go along with it. It’s an aspect of writing that probably sounds pretentious to anyone on the outside, but it’s absolutely true. Characters will say and do things that really surprise and delight you, and whether it’s your own subconscious at work, or whether you’re channeling something from out of the Aether … who knows ? But that is genuinely how it works. Bad writers are the ones who can’t put their own egos to one side and allow that process to happen, and consequently their characters tend to be two-dimensional.

Chris Sprouse's cover for Tom Strong N. 23.

Character-driven story versus plot-driven story: which one is your favourite choice as writer? Or maybe this is not a proper question and it depends from time to time…

I don’t really think in those terms. You need good characters, and you need a good plot, whatever you’re doing. But I remember Neil Gaiman once defining ‘plot’ as : anything that keeps the reader turning the pages, and doesn’t leave them feeling cheated at the end. I’d go along with that. So, ‘plot’ can be a pretty loose concept, but you absolutely can’t do without good characters.

Back to Tom Strong. Another key ingredient of the series is… the sense of wonder, often with a classic sci-fi flavor. Which are your references or influences, or just simple interests regarding this subject?

Well, I’m only six months younger than Alan, so broadly speaking we have the same set of influences. We grew up with the same comics and movies and books … and up until the very late 1960s I think that all that sci-fi adventure material was largely very positive and optimistic, and the future was viewed as a set of dazzling possibilities. I think there are echoes of all that in Tom Strong, but it’s all filtered through a modern sensibility.

Which is a hard thing to pull off. It’s a bit like trying to do a Capra-esque fantasy movie now. It’s really, really hard, because the modern world isn’t as innocent as the 1930s, and you have to take that into account. It CAN be done – Groundhog Day did it, for one – but it’s hard.

Page 13 from Tom Strong and The Robots of Doom N. 6. Pencils: C. Sprouse. Inks: K. Story.

We are talking about comics which means… drawings and storytelling, of course. So… what about your collaborative relationship with artist and co-creator Chris Sprouse? I personally think Sprouse’s clean style is the perfect match for Tom Strong being able to create a classic sci-fi atmosphere for the city, the architectures, the machines… and, at the same time, to make the characters act with great naturalness…              

I agree. Tom is Chris’s baby, and he does him better than anyone else. For me, that’s a joy, because I know Chris will always come up with the goods and I can just trust him to get on with it. Hopefully Chris feels the same way about me! When Wildstorm asked me to revive Tom for Robots Of Doom, none of us were sure if Chris would be able to take part, but I’m very glad that he did.

And I think Chris would be happy to keep on with Tom forever. On my side, I have ideas for at least the next two storylines, so … I just hope they give us the go ahead to do them. 

Now Tom Strong is under the Vertigo label: did this impact in any way on the character and the way you handle him and his stories?

Absolutely not. It was just a change of label, and our editor now is Kristy Quinn, who was the assistant editor on all the ABC titles. I do think it’s a shame that they didn’t keep the ABC name on it, just because, but … it was their call. They probably felt you couldn’t have a comics line with just one comic in it. 

The Planet of Peril is still unpublished in Italy. I read the original issues but I don’t want to spoil any bit of the story… so, can you reveal anything about it for the Italian readers?

It sort of grew out of the fact that the last time we saw Tesla in Robots of Doom she’d just announced that she was pregnant. Which I thought was just a nice thing to do, to have Tom becoming a grandfather – and curiously, it also coincided with Alan becoming a grandfather ! Anyway, when it came time to think of a follow-up story it occurred to me that the pregnancy might actually be a dangerous situation for Tesla, since her husband is a fire-being. It could be life-threatening.

So what might save her ? I came to the same conclusion that Tom does in the story, and that leads him to travel to Terra Obscura. Since I’d wanted to go back there anyway, and this allowed me to do it, I was delighted. But it’s a VERY dark story, because Terra Obscura is in the middle of a crisis where millions of people are dying. So there’s no big villain here, and it’s basically a story about death and how people deal with it. People who were expecting a more conventional superhero adventure didn’t really get it, but the people who were a bit more open-minded seemed to really love it. Anyway, it does have a happy ending, and I’m very proud of it.

Terra Obscura volume. Cover by Janick Paquette. Ink: Karl Story.

You and Alan Moore. This is an obvious question for you, probably one you answered several times in the past… So, how did you collaborate with Moore on previous stories and… did you “consult” him, or ask him any “support” or “comment” on the new mini-series you wrote “solo”?

Well, with Terra Obscura it was a full collaboration – Alan and I sat face to face and thrashed out the plots, and then I went home and wrote the scripts. With the other ABC stuff, like the early Tom stories, we’d chat on the phone and sometimes he’d suggest things, but mostly it was me asking him questions about backstory and so on.

Then when Wildstorm asked me if I’d revive Tom a few years later, it was completely conditional on Alan being okay with the idea. So I rang him up, and fortunately for me he was happy for me to carry on. But there was kind of an implicit understanding that I was on my own from then on, and shouldn’t bother him about it at all. So from that point on it’s been just me.

What did happen to America’s Best Comics: A to Z? Will we ever see the two remaining planned issues?

I very much doubt it. They just cancelled the whole thing halfway through. The only one of mine that never appeared was the entry on Smax, which was the weakest one I wrote by far, so I’m not that sorry that it never came out. The remainder of those issues would have been written by Steve Moore, and that is a loss … I would have absolutely loved to see what Steve might have done with Promethea, but I don’t know if he even wrote a word of it before they cancelled the series. If he did, maybe it’ll surface after all his papers have been gone through.

The whole A-Z thing was weird. It was basically Alan’s idea. He was finishing up his last couple of issues for ABC, and so I think he envisioned this series as a way of rebooting the line, giving Wildstorm a springboard from which to relaunch all the titles. Looked at in that light, it makes perfect sense, whereas if Wildstorm already knew that they were going to shut the ABC line down it made no sense at all – but I think that was actually the case.

They just wouldn’t discuss future plans at all, and that had been the case for months and months before the A-Z series even got under way, so it’s not like it was the poor sales of that which made up their minds. I think they’d just decided to shut it all down the second Alan walked out the door … which is kind of understandable, but I think they could have made it work without him if they’d actually thought about it. They made a LOT of bad decisions back then. 

Any desire to do something with the other ABC’s characters, under the hypothesis that it could be something possible? Personally I think you could write a great Top Ten run…

Well, I did get to do Top Ten – and a lot of the other ABC characters – in the A-Z series … but any more than that isn’t very likely. They haven’t even let Zander Cannon finish his run on the title, and I really wish they would. I was thoroughly enjoying it, and I know I’m not the only one.

Right now I’m waiting for them to agree to another series of Tom, which is my first priority. After that, I’d also like to do another series of Terra Obscura … and the only other character that might really tempt me beyond that is Jonni Future. If they ever ask me, we’ll see. 

Steve Parkhouse's cover for Resident Alien N. 0.

You are also writing an interesting comic for Dark Horse titled Resident Alien, with art by Steve Parkhouse. Can you say something about it? I read that Parkhouse provided the initial impetus for the series…

Yeah, that’s true. I’d worked with Steve before, and wanted to work with him again, and he’d said that he’d like to do something that involved aliens. Resident Alien is what I came up with, and it’s about an alien who’s shipwrecked here, waiting for a rescue ship that might never come. He’s been laying low, and masquerading as a doctor … and even though we show him as an alien throughout the whole story, it’s clear from other people’s reactions that everyone he encounters sees him as being human.
Anyway, when the local town’s doctor gets murdered, they ask him to help out. And he likes being a part of the town, and gets hooked on solving crimes … So, the movie pitch would probably be : alien detective. That’s pretty much all you need to know. The second series is just about to come out in trade paperback, Steve’s currently drawing the third series and I’m halfway through writing the fourth. We plan to be doing this for a while !

From your privileged perspective, what is your perception of comics today, both as a medium and as an industry?

As a medium it remains as fantastic as it ever was, and I think that will endure indefinitely, whatever effect technology has upon how people read.
As an industry it seems to be right in the middle of some big changes, and some of those changes are exciting and some of them are a little scary. We have far more publishers around now, and ones who are open to a wider range of ideas and genres, and that’s a very good thing – especially since the Big Two seem far less adventurous these days than they have been in the past. I’m reminded of dinosaurs, and I wish I wasn’t.

The industry will change, that’s the only thing that’s for certain, but … I wouldn’t want to place any bets on how ! Just so long as we can still create comics AND make a living, it’ll all be okay.

What about your future projects?

More Resident Alien, for sure. Right now I'm just putting together a proposal for a graphic novel, which I hope I can find a home for. And, as you know, I've done a short story for Electricomics.

Electricomics' people at work.

And... exactly, what is Electricomics?

It's an anthology of short stories written especially with electronic gizmos - things like tablets - in mind. Alan Moore rang me up about this nearly three years ago, and asked me if I'd like to take part. It's taken that long to get the project off the ground. The idea is basically to try and come up with stories that take advantage of an electronic medium, that couldn't be told the same way in print. So ... it's kind of an experiment, and was very challenging to write.

Can you also reveal us any detail about Cabaret Amygdala your contribution to it announced as "modernist horror"?

Well, it's actually called Cabaret Amygdala Presents ... Second Sight. Cabaret Amygdala was Alan's title, which I thought would make a good umbrella concept, like The Twilight Zone. Anyway, Alan asked me to come up with a horror story that would make people feel ... uneasy. It's not standard supernatural horror at all, because I can't really relate to that. There are aspects of the supernatural that I believe in, like ghosts, but I'm not at all scared of them. And most other aspects - the devil, vampires and so on - I just think are ludicrous, and also well past their sell by date. With this story I pulled together a couple of concepts that I personally find kind of creepy, and I hope other people will feel the same way.

Thank you Peter for your time and the great answers.

Italian version: here.

Moore and... God is dead!

From June 2014 Diamond Previews, an interesting surprise project by Avatar Press!

"GOD IS DEAD BOOK OF ACTS ALPHA
(W) Alan Moore & Various (A) Facundo Percio & Various (CA) Jacen Burrows

The greatest assembled team of writers unleash all-new tales of Gods and men in the biggest event of the summer! Two giant-size issues could only be kicked off with the biggest writer in all of comics, ALAN MOORE, as he brings a tale only he could tell - when his personal God Glycon comes to Earth! Reunited with Facundo (Fashion Beast) Percio, Alan himself stars in a story about where Gods really get their power. [...] 

The Alpha and the Omega, two epic tomes that you don't want to miss! 

Available with lovely Regular, Iconic, and End of Days covers by series cover artist Jacen Burrows. Also a Carnage Wraparound by German Nobile and Divine and Pure Art Retailer Incentives by Burrows. You also don't want to miss the Glycon Leather cover by Burrows or get everything at once with the Deluxe Collector Set!"

UPDATE (from Bleedingcool): 

"[...] Alan Moore returns to comics with a fully scripted stand-alone story as part of the God is Dead universe which is poised to enter its second arc entitled The Book of Acts. God is Dead launched in 2013 with Jonathan Hickman and Mike Costa as writers, later taken on fully by Costa, and drawn by German Erramouspe [...].

In August, a two-part significant addition to the story will include “Alpha” and “Omega” containing multiple stories of gods returned to earth, and encapsulated within Costa’s wider final answer to the question “Who killed God?” Alan Moore’s 10 page story with artist Facundo Percio (Fashion Beast), entitled “Grandeur and Monstrosity” delivers what comic readers almost certainly never expected to see: a full-blown discussion of the origin and significance of Glycon as a god. And so much more.

The story is set in the “modern day” of the God is Dead universe when many of the gods have already returned to earth, garnering worshipers and wreaking havoc, and the premise draws Moore even further into the world of current comics by including Alan Moore the character in a story of his own devising, as active participant and narrator. It’s a fourth-wall breaking astonishing appearance that shows just how experimental Moore is prepared to be as a writer.

As people become disillusioned by the returned gods, the noticeably unreturned god Glycon piques curiosity and hope in a few would-be-followers, drawing Moore into their desperate plea for a priest and an encounter with Glycon himself. Moore so deftly comments on the impact of “incarnated gods” and the ideas that sway humanity that the story, laced with “edgy” and very funny moments, acts as a kind of commentary on the whole God is Dead storyline. Expect to not only encounter Glycon for yourself as a reader, replete with his historical context, but also some of the other “returned Gods” in the Judeo-Christian tradition to react to this monstrous puppet deity.

[...] the comic is also dedicated to Steve Moore in honor of his work and the lasting impact he had on the lives of his friends."

Alan Moore & Steve Moore

Panels from V for Vendetta. Art by David Lloyd.

"Steve Moore sat in the armchair opposite his bed with ballpoint pen and notepad, spiral bound, neat sloping capitals, each line a blue queue leaning forward, barely masking their impatience, as the book-crammed room around him pales unnoticed into dusk there on the top of Shooters Hill." 

[...] Pay attention to his spectacles, refracted light turning the puzzled eyes beyond the lenses into abstract clots of pearl and white. Just change the point of view a little, move an inch or so to one side or the other and the optical illusion fails… There’s nobody there, was never anybody there except a fluctuation in the visual purple, a perceptual misunderstanding, trick of moonlight."

[excerpts from Alan Moore's Unearthing]

"[Unearthing is]... more of a human excavation than the excavation of a place, but because Steve Moore has lived his entire life in one house on top of Shooter's Hill and he currently sleeps no more than four paces from the spot where he was born, it does become a work of psychogeography as well." [Alan Moore, excerpt from The Quietus interview]

British writer Steve Moore - a key figure in UK comics scene and Alan Moore's mentor, collaborator and close friend - passed away few days ago.