Alan Moore: A Critical Guide

257 Pages·2021·5.459 MB·English

by  Jackson Ayres

ALAN MOORE
BLOOMSBURY COMICS STUDIES
Covering major genres, creators and themes, the Bloomsbury
Comics Studies series are accessible, authoritative and comprehensive
introductions to key topics in Comics Studies. Providing historical
overviews, guides to key texts, and important critical approaches, books
in the series include annotated guides to further reading and online
resources, discussion questions, and glossaries of key terms to help
students and fans navigate the diverse world of comic books today.
Series Editor Derek Parker Royal (c. 1964–2019)
Titles in the series
SUPERHERO COMICS
Christopher Gavaler
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL COMICS
Andrew J. Kunka
CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULT COMICS
Gwen Tarbox
WEBCOMICS
Sean Kleefeld
Forthcoming titles
MANGA
Ronald Stewart and Shige (CJ) Suzuki
ALAN MOORE
A CRITICAL GUIDE
Jackson Ayres
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are trademarks of
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in Great Britain 2021
Copyright © Jackson Ayres, 2021
Jackson Ayres has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identified as Author of this work.
For legal purposes the Acknowledgments on p. xii–xiii constitute an extension
of this copyright page.
Cover design: Namkwan Cho
Cover image © Rebecca Clarke
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ISBN: HB: 978-1-3500-6047-0
PB: 978-1-3500-6046-3
ePDF: 978-1-3500-6049-4
eBook: 978-1-3500-6048-7
Series: Bloomsbury Comics Studies
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To Marcia and Ted Ayres: my supportive parents and gracious, albeit
accidental, comics archivists.

CONTENTS
List of Figures x
Series Editor’s Preface xi
Acknowledgments xii
Introduction 1
Do We Need Moore? 2
The Original Writer 4
A Guide to This Guide 9
1 Historical and Biographical Contexts 11
Mage of the Midlands 11
Thatcherism 14
The British Invasion 17
Creator Rights 20
2 Key Texts Part One 25
Invading British Comics 25
Origins 25
2000 A.D.: Short Stories, Skizz, D.R. and Quinch,
and The Ballad of Halo Jones 28
The Bojeffries Saga 35
Reinventing Superheroes: Britain 36
Marvelman/Miracleman 36
Captain Britain 42
V for Vendetta 45
Reinventing Superheroes: America 52
The Saga of the Swamp Thing 52
Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? 58
The Killing Joke 64
Watchmen 71
Contents
3 Key Texts Part Two 87
Horrors of History 87
From Hell 87
A Small Killing 95
Big Numbers 98
Brought to Light 102
Re-imagining Superheroes 104
1963 105
Supreme 110
Moore’s ‘90s Superheroes 115
Cultural Commons 117
“In Pictopia” 117
Lost Girls 119
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 123
America’s Best Comics 128
Tom Strong 128
Tomorrow Stories 133
Top 10 137
Promethea 141
Histories of Horror 147
Lovecraft Cycle: The Courtyard, Neonomicon,
and Providence 147
Crossed + 100 153
Cinema Purgatorio 155
4 Critical Questions 159
Themes and Techniques 159
Intertextuality 162
Magic 165
Psychogeography 168
Englishness 170
Representations 176
Race 177
Sexuality 181
Sexual Violence 185
viii
Contents
5 Social and Cultural Impact 189
Authorship and Ownership 189
The Revised Superhero 194
Mature Readers? 197
Politics and/of Comics 202
Cultural Remixing 206
Moore After Comics, Comics After Moore 211
Glossary 215
Works Cited 220
Index 234
ix