Rowan's assignment

Excerpt from a 2020 interview with Alan Moore, originally published in French (read HERE) and  reprinted in English in Metal Hurlant n. 1 (2025), recently released (read HERE and check HERE). 

What are your artistic projects for the future?
Alan Moore: Well, I’ve written a couple of short stories that I thought were interesting, and I believe that the illustrative component of The Moon & Serpent Bumper Book of Magic inches towards completion.

My main focus at the moment is the forthcoming feature film The Show, directed by my Northampton counter-cultural affiliate Mitch Jenkins, which will be released whenever it becomes possible to release films again. As for what I’m working on right now this afternoon, that would be the second episode of a thus-far-imaginary five season television series that is also, lazily, titled The Show. 

And I’ve been given an assignment by my second-eldest grandson, Rowan, to present him with a story that is four words in length, so we’ll see how that goes.

I confess that I would like to know those four words and whether Rowan liked them or not. :)

The Show Score by Andrew Broder

From Lex Records site.

The official score to Alan Moore & Mitch Jenkins feature film THE SHOW, out 7th October. Yellow vinyl. 

By Andrew Broder.

A collection of pulsing, darkly lush and banging tracks, inspired by Broder’s collaboration with legendary writer Alan Moore (Watchmen, Jerusalem) on Moore's original screenplay of the same name. The Show Score features by Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon, Serpentwithfeet, Moor Mother, and Billy Woods. 

New single "Herbert" is out now.

"Over the last few years, I have grown into phase of my work with a greater focus on physicality - I want to get beat up by music and create sound that the body responds to- less precious, more confident. Meeting and jamming with techno artists like Boys Noize and Dustin Zahn unlocked something for me about the therapeutic and collective nature of dance music. This tune is on the harder edge of ‘Wet Streets at Night’ Techno" Andrew Broder.

Artwork and design by Eric Timothy Carlson.

For more info about the artist: Twitter - Bandcamp

Again, about The Score ost (here available also as Digital Album)

British politics

Tom Burke in The Show

A small excerpt from an interview published few days ago on The New European, mostly focused on The Show movie. The complete piece is available HERE. 

Alan Moore: “Our politics over the past five years have been entirely predicated on dream and illusion and nonsense. Our fundamental reality is starting to collapse under the onslaught of all this delirium.”

Moore and Veitch's lost SUPERVERSE project

Art by Rick Veitch

Some time ago, I wrote about a lost Moore and Veitch's project... 

In the past days more details and character sketches have been revealed by Veitch himself on his Facebook page: they clarify a bit the situation but, at the same time, "invalidate" part of the previous info I had. In any case, it's something that will remain unrealized. But... who knows?

Rick Veitch: "[...] It was a giant project called "Superverse" that included knock-offs of every superhero ever made. Sort of like "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" but with long underwear guys.  

[It was] probably 8 or 9 years ago. [...] post ABC and integrated with THE SHOW, the film Alan and Mitch Jenkins were trying to finance. Alan's idea was to create products that would be in the movie but also exist in the real world.

[...] There was no written outline. Everything done over the phone so I've forgotten many of the story details. There were a bunch of character sketches though.
[...] It was a many worlds story. With a very young brother and sister split up and living in different universes as Thunderman and Thundergirl each unaware of the other until...

Art by Rick Veitch. First shown in 2017.

Art by Rick Veitch

The Show official poster

The Show

 More info HERE.

The Show is... here!

The Show!

Dreams of serious things.

 

From the mind of Alan Moore comes a new feature film directed by Mitch Jenkins starring Tom Burke, Siobhan Hewlett, Alan Moore, Ellie Bamber, Darrell D'Silva, Richard Dillane, Christopher Fairbank, and Sheila Atim. Watch the trailer HERE!

 

More info HERE. 

The Show... in October

The Show, the movie written by Moore and directed by Mitch Jenkins, will be finally premiered this October at Sitges Film Festival!

 

More info and details HERE.

These Boots Are Made for Flyin' by Otto Gabos

Art by Otto Gabos.

Above, The Flying Boots by Italian comic book artist, illustrator and graphic novelist Otto Gabos.

The illustration is paying homage to Alan Moore playing the role of Mr. Metterton in Show Pieces. Mo(o)re also HERE.

Grazie, Otto! Great boots, mate!

Dispelling Northampton's veil of anonymity

The Show is... coming soon! Photo by Mitch Jenkins.

Excerpt from an article published today on BBC.com, here.

Alan Moore: [...] Everything in the film is a product of Northampton and my imaginations from living there for 65 years. I wanted to capture the oddness of the town and its importance. The film presents an alternative Northampton. 

My hope is that the film will dispel... [Northampton's] veil of anonymity.

The Show... coming soon!

Posted the 11th of December on Facebook Alan Moore Official Page:

Although this is my first attempt at working seriously in cinema, the audience may want to know how it connects with my just-recently-concluded comic book career. The answer, as I see it, is “not very much at all”: this is completely fresh, with staggering new possibilities for mesmerism and immersive storytelling.
Then again, those seeking bleak dystopias in my narratives will be relieved to learn that this, occurring in the recently collapsed town of Northampton, is a fine example, with as many otherworldly characters as one might reasonably expect.
And yes, there is a superhero, but not like you think.

This hasn’t been adapted from work that was never meant for cinema; this is me and the talented, fantastic people that I’m working with, attempting to make the most stunning piece of British film that anyone has seen in years.

This is The Show, and we’re doing it right here.

 
Alan Moore

The Show in the making

Art by Paul Chessell.

Today Mitch Jenkins has launched The Show official site on Instagram: "Official site for Alan Moore and Mitch Jenkins' new feature film, The Show. Regular updates now that the film is fully funded and in pre-production."

In his first post Jenkins announced: "Me and Alan start our new adventure as of now. It seems the bloody feature film has been fully funded. We will be posting everything Alan / Mitch and The Show here most days." 

Are you ready?

Faith No More

A frame from Act of Faith short movie.

Excerpt from an interview conducted by Amy Galante and published on her site in January 2017.

AMY: Still touching on Faith, I loved the Faith No More CD in the film.

MOORE: I’m glad you noticed that! We tried to pay attention to everything. Like the bottle of vodka she puts down is Tunguska, which is where, in 1908, a meteor or something, impacted and completely devastated the area. It looked like a nuclear attack. So we thought, “Tunguska Vodka: It will flatten you.” Everything that you see is something that we invented, with the exception of the Faith No More CD. It was an irresistible pun.

[The complete interview is available HERE.]

Mr. Metterton and Mr. Matchbright double act

Alan Moore plays Metterton in A Professional Relationship.

Below, some dialogues from "A Professional Relationship" one of the five videos included in SHOW PIECES, the film project created by Alan Moore (writer) and Mitch Jenkins (director).

[From the video's synopsis] A Professional Relationship: Matchbright and Metterton - a working partnership, a meeting of two minds. A Double Act. Well at least that's the general concept. All is fair in love and war.

Metterton: 

I mean, I'm the conceited, judgmental one, and you're the monumentally ugly face of darkness, sin, and temptation.
I mean, that's who we are, Nick.
That's our act. That's our double act.

Matchbright:
Oh, right. We're a double act.
We're Morecambe and Wise.

Metterton: 
Yes, that's the general concept, you know.
Hitler and Churchill, Tom and Jerry,
thesis and antithesis, that kind of thing.

Matchbright:
We're not a double act.
We've never been a double act.

It's always been about you, isn't it?
The Great I Am.

I don't get any say in how things develop, do I?
I'm just here to take all the blame and make you look good.

Metterton: 
Well, to be fair, Nicky, I think I look pretty good already.

I mean, gold skin and a haircut like the Big Bang?

I mean, I look like the light of the world, whereas you look like Death's prolapsed rectum.

But I take your point, Nicky.
I take your point.

I've been very hard on you.

You're a good man, Nicky.
You're a good colleague and I don't give you enough credit and we've been with this project since its genesis.

And believe me, you're going to be there for all of its final revelations, you can depend upon it.

I value your contribution, Nicky.
I really do.

 You can buy the Show Pieces box set here.

Also an interesting review here.

M for Metterton

Art by by sTUDIOpAZZIA.

Above, a portrait sketch of Frank Metterton (from Jimmy's End) by sTUDIOpAZZIA (note that it has been drawn the 18th of November, Moore's 62th birthday).

The Show: "doing it our way again"

Signed Show Pieces!

Excerpt from Orphans of the Storm news page:

"[...] Next stop.....THE SHOW! Alan's screenplay is now in the hands of our trusted fellow Orphan, David Crabtree. David has been the most supportive first AD that any director can have. He is now in the process of producing our shooting schedule, the plan being to start shooting the feature next summer. We have had so many serious offers of big cash from Networks, both terrestrial and digital, the issue being that they all seem to require more jeopardy and want to get Alan to re write things to fit their vision! Hmm, lets think about. So, we are doing it our way again. More money doesn't mean better but it can mean less imagination." [Orphans of the Storm]

About making films

Alan Moore and Mitch Jenkins.

Excerpt from The Leeds International Film Festival Q & A event. Transcript by Hannah Means Shannon for Bleeding Cool.

Alan, we know you’ve been unhappy with previous film adaptations of your work. What inspired you to get into making films first hand?

Alan Moore: I did read a review that said I was the “human avatar of Grumpy Cat”. You’re all laughing because you know what grumpy cat is. I don’t. My feelings about the adaptation films, if you can call them that is that I don’t like adaptations generally. There’s always going to be a couple of things that go against that premise, but there are no exceptions in the films that have been made of my work. I have nothing against the film medium—it’s a great medium. But actually I don’t see much film these days.

When things switched over to digital, for some obscure reason, I stuck with analog, so it’s now a dead TV in the corner of the room. But I do have an affinity for cheap cinema. If you’ve got money, then you don’t need imagination, and if you’ve got imagination, then you don’t need money. The main thing that differs from comics is that you can be kind of sociopathic in comics. All the people you are putting in these terrible situations are made out of paper. The first time that was put to the test was when we made Act of Faith. Mitch asked me along to the shooting, and I said I’d rather not because I’d met Siobhan Hewlett and I thought “She’s a nice woman and I don’t want to see her choking in a wardrobe”. By the time we got to His Heavy Heart, with Darell D’Silva in physical pain, I was cold-hearted.

Read the complete piece here.

His Heavy Heart trailer

 

His Heavy Heart's trailer is out there!

"I am puuuureeeeeeeeeeeee!!!"

Enjoy.

More info at Mitch Jenkins' blog here.

Is Moore planning to take over the world?

Frank Metterton in Jimmy's End

In all honesty, how much of what you write now is part of some über-large magical ritual for you to take over the world? With your beard? You could do it you know.
Alan Moore: Of course I’m not attempting to take over the world. What a grotesque concept. On the other hand, in Jimmy’s End and its projected sequel The Show we do present the story of a bearded Northampton-based occultist, performer and writer who is attempting to subjugate the globe by first colonising its imagination, but that obviously only has a coincidental relationship with any real circumstances or people. I mean, the very idea. Do I look like the sort of person who might do something like that? [Read the complete interview HERE]

Also watch this video!