On dreams, punch-ups, occult artifacts and Steampunk

Below, excerpts from a really entertaining interview printed in 2013 on The Chap magazine, issue 70. If you can, get a copy of the magazine! Highly recommended!

 

The Chap is a British humorous men's lifestyle magazine published quarterly, founded in 1999 by Gustav Temple and Vic Darkwood. 

For more info, visit the magazine's official site (HERE) and check the Wikipedia entry (here)

The Chap: [...] What, if any, are your recurring dreams?
Alan Moore: I remember when I was about five, my mother had taken me to the cinema - this wasn't a dream, this was real - to see a film by the Dead End Kids. And this particular film had them meeting a man in a dark suit and a bowler hat, who introduced himself as Mr. Boob. When he took his bowler hat off, it revealed two horns sticking out his bald head. I assume his name was a pun on Beelzebub or something like that. I was screaming and under the seat. And for about a year, thereafter, I would have serial dreams in which I was haunted by this pair of horns in a bowler hat. [...]

When was the last time you engaged in a genuine punch-up?
Because I was an unusually tall kid, I used to attract a certain amount of bullying, but the pattern was that I would put up with it for a certain amount of time. And then I would completely lose all rational control and go berserk, and I nearly strangled two of my classmates. I was quite a strong child. And I also - this is a creepy admission - used to work out by squeezing a weighing scale until I could exert my body weight with my thumbs. So there is this young strangler in here just trying to get out. That would perhaps be a good title for an autobiography: Strangler in Paradise or something. [...]

Could you disclose to our readers some of your favourite and most interesting occult artifacts?
My most powerful, without a doubt, is the Random House Dictionary of the English language, unabridged. That is the best book anyone will ever read. To understand language is to understand what is hidden, which is to say, the occult. [...]

Have you ever experimented with any contemporary fashions? EG Steampunk, Young Fogey, GothLoli etc.
I've got nothing against any of that. Steampunks, sometimes at its more committed end, come up with some really useful ideas. I'm friends with people like Margaret Killjoy, who contributed to Dodgem Logic and also, I believe, actually invented and built a desalination unit (which turns seawater into fresh water). So that's useful. One of my favourite jokes is: "How many Steampunks does it take to change a light bulb? It takes two. One to change the light bulb and one to glue an unnecessary watch part to it." [...]

If you can, find a copy of the magazine. Highly recommended. 

Moore sketch portrait by Alexander Bustamante

Art by Alexander Bustamante

Above, pencil sketch portrait of The Man form Northampton by American artist Alexander Bustamante.

 

For more info about the artist, visit his Instagram and Flickr page.

Occupy the world of comics!

Above, excerpts from Buster Brown At The barricades: Foment in the funnies and comics as counter-culture, a long essay written by Alan Moore to support the Occupy movement and serialised in the three issues of Occupy Comics, published in 2013 by Black Mask.

Alan Moore: [...] The present generation, those who mostly (although by no means exclusively) make up a large part of the modern protest movements, are the first who've grown up since the comic book upheavals of the 1980s and therefore the first who've grown up in a world where comics were a natural and accepted feature of the cultural landscape. This is perhaps evidenced by their gleeful appropriation of comic book iconography and highly-visible cartoon theatrics. It would seem that there has never been a generation for whom comics as a tool or an effective weapon are more eminently suited, nor a time of social crisis better able to lend comics a true sense of urgency and purpose. Times like these are arguably exactly those which comics were created to engage with.

So, by all means, occupy the world of comics. Occupy the doorsteps and the lobbies of the industry if you've a mind to...certainly the comic industry is as deserving of such treatment as is any other greedy and unscrupulous business concern...although it might be thought that mainstream comics are best left to manage their own imminent destruction, this being the one task which they've demonstrated a real attitude for over the last seven decades. A more positive and useful protest might be to support the families of the true titans of the medium, the cheated giants like Jerry Siegel or Joe Shuster or Jack Kirby or the scores of others that have never received fair remuneration or redress, in their courageous efforts to confront these massive corporate entities with their immense resources and battalions of lawyers. [...]

An even more effective long-term strategy would surely be to occupy the medium itself. The many glories of comic strips past have never been so instantly accessible to the would-be comic creator, giving him or her the means to steep themselves, to educate themselves, in an astonishing array of concepts and techniques, from Little Nemo through to Jimmy Corrigan. Thus armed, with nothing more than a blank page and some variety of drawing implement, dissenting voices can refine and broadcast their ideas more widely and compellingly, while at the same time possibly making their protest into an enduring work of art that can enrich the medium and the broader culture in which it exists. Today's technology has made self-publishing more easily achievable, and in addition there are an increasing range of small and honourable publishers with a more flexible approach to new material, allowing access to new formats and fresh concepts which perhaps have a potential to transform the medium.

[...] If you care about what you are saying, if you seek a more effective way of saying it, then pick up that brush, pencil, pen, that mouse or even that discarded cardboard box out in the alleyway and pour your heart, your mind, your self into as many little panels as it takes to make your statement. You may find it opens up modes of expression and dissent that you have previously not considered or imagined.

You may even find you've got yourself an occupation.

Alan Moore
Northampton,
May-June 2012

The Comedian by Jason Pearson

Art by Jason Pearson

Above, an intense Comedian by acclaimed comic book creator Jason Pearson. Pearson passed away last month but the sad news emerged just few days ago (more here). Pearson was a fantastic artist and a personal favourite of mine. He also drew a couple of Tom Strong stories written by Moore.

 

The 17th of August 2013 he wrote on his Facebook page:

Here's my newest piece- The Comedian from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's 'Watchmen'. For those who don't know- Hollywood made a (terrible) movie about the series.
The piece is derived from the scene of the Comedian in Vietnam. It was a mental battle to do this or the scene from the bar when the Comedian kills a pregnant woman after she cuts his face open.

Yeah, I'm a sick minded individual.

Hugs and Kisses

-J

Draw in Peace, Jason!

Peter Bagge on the Kool-Aid Man

Excerpt from Other Stuff published by Fantagraphics in 2013.

Peter Bagge on his Kool-Aid collaboration with Alan Moore.

"The Hasty Smear of My Smile...": Comics writer Alan Moore would frequently tell me he wanted to do a strip about the Kool-Aid mascot as far back as the late 1980s. He had no idea what it would be about or why it needed to be done. He just knew if had to be done, and that I had to draw it. His living in UK (where Kool-Aid wasn't available), and his intentional lack of access to the internet meant I had to do the research for him -- made easy by my discovering of a plain text website accurately entitled "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Kool-Aid Man." So I printed it out and then faxed (remember faxing?!?) him all 50 pages. This strip was the result, along with a huge overseas fax/phone bill. 

Jeffrey Lewis and Alan Moore (again)

Art by Jeffrey Lewis

In the past days, I was lucky to exchange some emails with the great NYC comic book artist and musician Jeffrey Lewis. He suggested that it would be better off including all his various Moore-related stuff "in one post, because it's more valuable for people to see it all in one place for discussion, rather than parcelling it out to various posts where people won't see it all at once (which is, essentially, the situation all this material currently exists in, some on my FB, some on my website, etc)." 

So, here I am with this second post that integrates the first one I did (here). I am not sure it is the complete thing but... I tried my best, Jeffrey. ;)

Before starting, I highly recommend Lewis' The Complete FUFF Comix Collection: you can order a copy HERE!

Above, a Watchmen-inspired illustration posted on the 15th of March. Of course it's referred to the terrible, terrible war in Ukraine.

On a lighter note, in 2013 Lewis created the lo-budget biopic The story of Alan Moore (listen and watch here) and that same year, during his UK tour, he met... The Man Himself! Below, some pictures that Lewis sent me to share. Photographs by Heather Wagner.

Alan Moore and Jeffrey Lewis, 2013.

In 2015, Jeffrey Lewis listed his favourite comics for The Quietus: "bizarre autobiographies, superheroes and (SPOILER) a whole lot of Alan Moore". Lewis talked about:

• Watchmen, of course - "[...] it's a work of literature in a way that no other comic has even attempted. It's not even the best of what it does, it's the only thing that has ever tried to combine that kind of narrative richness in the comic book form. [...] I like the fact that it really can't be assimilated into literary culture because it is so lowbrow, and yet it's undeniably of a level of richness to which no other comic has ever come close. [...]" Read the complete piece here.
• V for Vendetta - "[...] nobody could make a list of the ten greatest comics of all time and not include V For Vendetta. Probably half the greatest comics of all time are Alan Moore comics [...]" Read the complete piece here.  
• A small killing - "[...] This is probably the best Alan Moore book, in terms of sheer consistency, because it was written as a piece. [...] It's a paranoid fantasy that keeps revealing different layers of this ad executive's life. It's very sharp, page for page, the way that the story unfolds. There is a sense of revelation and unfolding mystery as you read it. [...]" Read the complete piece here.
• Swamp Thing - "[...] Probably the best artwork in any mainstream comic of all time. Steve Bissette, John Totleben and Rick Veitch did really incredible artwork. And probably the best writing in any mainstream comic of all time. [...]". Read the complete piece here.

Back to Watchmen, which is a fundamental influence: Jeffrey Lewis wrote his college thesis on Watchmen and since the end of the '00s he gave lectures dedicated to Moore & Gibbons' masterpiece.

"I'll just be talking about things that I've found in the book and my theories on what they mean, hopefully sufficiently backed up by evidence from the book so that people don't just think I'm crazy. I'll be projecting slides of certain panels that I refer to, but just using projections when it's necessary to point out certain details or certain panels or compare certain panels. Mostly I'll just be talking. I suppose I'll do a Q&A session after the talk. It's definitely for people who have read Watchmen, probably boring (and definitely a "spoiler") for those who haven't." More details here, dated 2019.

 

In 2010, he drew a whole Watchmen page homage for his sketchbook, featuring ROM, his favourite character, a recurrent appearance in Lewis' works. See below.

Art by Jeffrey Lewis

In 2015 Lewis was interviewed by The Comics Journal. The introduction said: "For 18 years, he has been sporadically working on a book about Watchmen." In March 2017 Lewis wrote on his Facebook page: "After a mere 20 years of re-re-re-editing this I'm just about getting ready to draw a book-cover for it and call it done (I hope)." See picture below.

Art by Jeffrey Lewis

Then Revelations in the wink of an eye has been self-published by Lewis in very few copies, afaik, and it's currently sold out. Read more here and here.

 

Last but not least, in December 2021, on his Facebook page, he shared some gems from his "autograph collection (circa 1990s)!" And... ta-da, Gibbons and that bloody smiley badge!

 

Jeffrey Lewis' links:

www.TheJeffreyLewisSite.com

@JeffreyLewisBand (Instagram)

Facebook.com/JeffreyLewisBand

Jeffrey Lewis: Comedians, Watchmen and.. all Moore

Art by Jeffrey Lewis

I have been thinking about posting something about the great Jeffrey Lewis and his known fascination with Moore for a very looong time but, being aware it's a complicated and time-consuming task writing an exhaustive piece (shame on me!)... here I am starting (above) with a comic page he created in 2011 for the lyrics to the Art Brut single Bad Comedian... well, it features familiar faces!

A step back... Jeffrey Lewis is an American singer-songwriter and comic book artist who lives and creates in New York. Read an interview with the guy at The Comics Journal, here, watch him at his own home, here!

 

He wrote and talked several times about Watchmen (see here and here) and in 2013, to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Bearded One, he created a wonderful illustrated, rhymed biography of him! Watch here and here! Amazing!

Jeffrey Lewis: The Story of Alan Moore

For more info about the artist: Official Web Site - Wikipedia entry

Alan Moore by Marek Markiewicz

Art by Marek Markiewicz.

Above, a graphic Alan Moore portrait by Polish artist Marek Markiewicz.

More info about the artist, here.

Arthur Machen and Alan Moore

Art by HUNT EMERSON.

Above, Alan Moore appearance in the Arthur Machen biography included in Lives of the great occultists by Kevin Jackson and HUNT EMERSON (previously published on Fortean Times' pages).

 

I strongly recommend Emerson's Lives of the great occultists: it's a fabulous reading and has lots of links with Moore's interests. Check it HERE!

For more info about EMERSON visit his site: HERE.

Turning to steam by Samanta Flôor

Art by Samanta Flôor.

Above, an illustration - related to The Mindscape of Alan Moore documentary film - drawn by Brazilian artist Samanta Flôor.

For more info regarding Flôor, visit her site HERE.

The Indelicates: Immoral earnings in the UK

Art by Kevin O'Neill.

A song from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Century: 1969, pp. 72-74, performed by The Indelicates. Video below. Enjoy!

Alan Moore by Stephen Green

Art by Stephen Green.

Above a portrait of Moore by comic book artist Stephen Green.

More info regarding Stephen Green HERE.

Alan Moore by Juha Veltti

Art by Juha Veltti.

Above, a dark portrait of Alan Moore drawn by Finnish artist JUHA VELTTI included in his 50 Writers project. 

For more info about Veltti and his works visit his site here.

Alan Moore and Malcolm McLaren

Excerpt from the introduction written by Moore (dated "Northampton, June 14th, 2013") for the Fashion Beast collected edition published by Avatar Press.

Alan Moore: [...] While I confess that I had no ambitions or genuine creative interest in the world of cinema, I had always idly wondered what it would be like to write within that form. More persuasively, I was keen to meet and if possible work with Malcolm McLaren, to my mind one of the most effervescent pop-culture intellects of the twentieth century. Thus it was that a week or so later I found myself rendezvousing with this self-consciously Mephistophelean figure in the lobby of the London hotel he was staying at. Arriving a few minutes early, I walked in on the last few shots of a photo-session for the avowedly sensationalistic Sun. A cheerily salacious newspaper photographer was coaxing Malcolm into a variety of poses to accompany a feature on the previous day’s multi-million pound court settlement with members of the Sex Pistols. “Fantastic. That’s fantastic. Now, can you turn your pockets inside-out and look miserable? Lovely.” Always with a touch of the uproarious English pantomime tradition in his carefully composed patchwork persona... perhaps Aladdin’s uncle proffering new lamps for old... Malcolm was gleefully playing along with this, although not for a moment could anyone have the impression that, in this encounter with the tabloid press, he was the one being manipulated.
When the photographer was gone we talked, and I was able to gain an impression of him in repose, between performances as the public Malcolm McLaren, the knowingly Dickensian loveable-villain cartoon that he himself had engineered for popular consumption. At least as tall as I am and considerably better-dressed, he had a bird-like quality... most probably the magpie mentioned earlier, but certainly some manner of ingenious corvid... and when standing he resembled nothing more than an anthropomorphic candle, with that orange blaze of cerebral combustion rising from the human wax. [...]

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.

Watchmen by Luciano Salles

Art by Luciano Salles.

Above, a great portrait of Watchmen characters by Brazilian artist Luciano Salles.

For more info about Luciano Salles visit his site here.

Alan Moore by Eddie Campbell

Art by Eddie Campbell.

Above, a magic portrait of Alan Moore by From Hell's artist Eddie Campbell. It's an ex-libris produced for the French edition of The Birth Caul. More details here.

Eddie Campbell's blog: here.

Alan Moore's early days

Hypernaut © and ™ Stephen R. Bissette.

Excerpt from an interview by Lance Parkin.

Alan Moore: [...] It wasn’t until I was about twenty-four that I came up with Plan B.

Lance Parkin: And that was to write and draw an epic space opera, possibly one you could sell to 2000AD. You’ve said you had elaborate plans, but after a year you only had a couple of pages completed. I don’t think you’ve ever gone into detail.
Alan Moore: It was all in my head. I think it was called Sun Dodgers, but whether I lettered that up, I doubt it. They were a group of superheroes in space, with a science fiction explanation for each of these characters. They were a motley crew in a spaceship, probably going back the kind of strips Wally Wood was doing in witzend and The Misfits. That was certainly the model Steve Moore was building on with Abslom Daak. I was thinking along the same lines. I can remember somebody looked a bit like a futuristic samurai.

Lance Parkin: Like Warpsmith?
Alan Moore: I suppose so. A coincidence. It was Garry Leach who came up with that look, I gave him a free hand, I wasn’t adverse to it. There was also a humanoid robot thing with a big steel ball for a head, which probably later surfaced as the Hypernaut in 1963. There was a half-human, half-canine creature who ended up as Wardog in the Special Executive. I only got a couple of pages done. The ideas I had … actually, thinking back, there was a character whose name was Five, and I don’t think I ever got around to drawing him, but my vague idea was that he was a mental patient of undefined but unusual abilities who had been kept in a particular room, room five, that might have been an element which fed into V for Vendetta. I don’t think there was anything else that ended up in anything.

The complete interview can be read here.

Lance Parkin is the author of Alan Moore: Magic Words biography.

Watchmen meet Hanna-Barbera

Art by Daniel García-Nieto.

Above, a fantastic mash-up homage by Daniel García-Nieto.

More info about the artist at his website: here.

V for Vendetta by David Hitchcock

Art by David Hitchcock.

Above and below, two amazing V for Vendetta commissions drawn by British artist David Hitchcock.

Details on Wednesday's Heroes site: here.

For more info about David Hitchcock visit his blog: here.

Art by David Hitchcock.

David Hitchcock

David Hitchcock

David Hitchcock