Special 200th post!

This is the 

200th blog post

I've done for the 

Great Comic Book Heroes. 

Working on this blog has been an amazing ride.

Scott McCloud speaks about the vast world of comics in his classic Understanding Comics. 

I started writing the Great Comic Book Heroes in January 2011, about 4 and a half years ago because I was looking for a more rewarding way to spend my time and I wanted to get into my passion of Comics more deeply and maybe give something back to the Comics Community that gave me so much.

Happy New Year with Alan Moore and Tom Strong!

The Great Comic Book Heroes 

ushers in 2015 with Tom Strong's Timekeeper and the 

Tower at Time's End!

The Timekeeper and the Tower at Time's End was presented in Tom Strong #13, July, 2001 and was created by Alan Moore, Chris Sprouce, Russ Heath, Kyle Baker and Pete Poplaski. 

Happy 61st Birthday Alan Moore!

Alan Moore is special in the world of comics. Not only is he an amazing writer, but it can be said that he has influenced virtually every writer in mainstream comics since he started writing in the early 80’s. He's actually changed the medium he works in. What makes his work so special? In what ways has the medium changed as a result of his influence? These things I'd like to discuss in celebration of this incredible mage's 61st birthday. 



Alan Moore (center) and his creations by Alex Ross.



Happy Birthday Magus!

Alan Moore,

Born 18 November 1953

Alan Moore's Century: 1910 and the Black Freighter

When the Watchmen came out, Alan Moore was interviewed in the Comics Journal #116, July 1987 in which he gave a strikingly familiar account of Bertolt Brecht's the Threepenny Opera which he based the Black Freighter portion of the Watchmen on. I have copied the passage from the interview here and superimposed pictures from Moore and O'Neill's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; Century: 1910 for comparison. Enjoy.

Re-thinking the Copper Age of comics

Growing up reading comics in the 80’s, I have a very well rounded point of view of the comics of that time, so when I heard that people wanted to group early 70’s comics with comics from the early to mid 80’s in what would be called 'the Bronze Age of comics', something rang very false to me. It made me stop and consider the whole ‘Bronze Age of comics’ because to me 80's comics were a very different animal to comics of the 70's.

Copper Age of Comics

1978 to 1988

Some significant comics from the 80's from upper left to bottom right - Daredevil #181, Apr 82, Watchmen #1, Sep 86, American Flagg #1, Oct 83, Tales of the Teen Titans annual #3, July 84, Teen Age Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, May 84, Amazing Spider-Man #250, Mar 84, Batman; the Dark Knight Returns #1, Feb 86, the Mighty Thor #237, Nov 83, Swamp Thing #34, Mar 85

"I, Pneuman", by Brian K. Vaughan and Peter Snejbjerg

What happens when your robot takes his orders too literal? What happens when his orders contradict themselves? This is the problem we find with Pneuman in "I, Pneuman" from Tom Strong #28, as written by Brian K. Vaughan and drawn by Peter Snejbjerg.

Nemo, The Roses of Berlin from Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill

I've really enjoyed the later installments of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and this one is no different. I'm continually surprised by Moore's ability to reinvent and keep things fresh. After every League book I ask myself "what more can he possibly do?" and he always seems to find cool new references to mine.

 

Jack B. Quick in "I, Robert" by Alan Moore and Kevin Nowlan

Isaac Asimov's famous book I, Robot is the subject of Alan Moore and Kevin Nowlan's spoof I, Robert. In it Moore makes fun of the whole A. I. thing and the intelligence of man.

Joe Pi from Top Ten by Alan Moore and Gene Ha

Top Ten is a world where after WWII the Americans put all of their super powered beings into one city, Neopolis. In this city everyone has a super powers or is special in some way. And like all cities, it also has it's mistreated minorities. In Neopolis it's "clickers" or robots or artificial intelligence.
Joe Pi is the new cop on the beat, a token minority, and worse, he's taking the place of an officer that died in the line of duty. And her partner is none too happy about it.

Tom Strong in "the Rule of Robo Saveen!" by Alan Moore and Jerry Ordway

Being my favorite writer I enjoy occasionally revisiting the work of Alan Moore. Today's tale is one of giant robot monsters.

Check out Tom Strong in "The Rule of Robo-Saveen!"
 

Alan Moore's Hypernaut from 1963

Can hardware have a heart? 

Can circuits have a soul? 

Heads up humanity... Here comes 

the Hypernaut!

A sizzlin 1963 souvenir by Affable Alan Moore, Sturdy Steven Bissette and Charmin Chester Brown!

Have a Top Ten Christmas!

Welcome to Alan Moore's wacky world of  Top Ten where even Santa is a repeat offender for breaking and entering!

Alan Moore's Cobweb in "Doll-O-Vision"

I feel like every other post on The Great Comic Book Heroes is on an Alan Moore comic. I don't mean to favor him, it's just that I find his work so inspiring. For example I was reminded of Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's character Cobweb the other day. She is a typical 40's style cheese cake superheroine. She doesn't have any real superpowers but what she does have is a see through costume and no undies. Perfect to make a 13 year old boy's mind go wild with lustful thoughts.

Tom Strong #9, The Perils of Dhalua, by Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse

I've been an Alan Moore fan since Swamp Thing #40, the first Moore comic I read. One thing about Moore's writing is that he seems to be able to come up with amazing concepts on a regular basis. This doesn't seem to have gotten less true as the years go by either. I was unexpectedly surprised by much of his America's Best Comics imprint as I was by his work for DC in the 80's. One good example of this is in Tom Strong #9 (Sep, 2000), The perils of Dhalua, Volcano Dreams. Tom Strong is a pretty strait forward action comic though the stories tend to be more heady than your normal comic. In The Perils of Dhalua Moore surprises us with a great twist that just stunned me the first time reading it and left a strong impression.

Swamp Thing #21 "The Anatomy Lesson", A game changer

This is my 69th post on my blog, The Great Comic book Heroes. 69 is a special number for me because it was the year I was born, 1969. It seems appropriate that I would post my all time favorite comic, The Saga of the Swamp Thing #21 on this special 69th installment of The Great Comic Book Heroes.

I don’t know if it’s possible to communicate the significance of Swamp Thing #21, "The Anatomy Lesson" adequately to someone who wasn't there. Simply speaking it was a game changer. It changed everything else that came after it. I know what a big statement this sounds like and I can appreciate that some would be incredulous and will disagree but in this post I will try to communicate the significance of it and give some reasons for this boastful statement.

Alan Moore’s Greyshirt “How things work out”

In 1999, hot off the heals of working on Image comics like Supreme and Glory, Alan Moore started his own comics line called America’s Best Comics. It seems that Rob Liefeld was getting flaky and so Jim Lee offered Alan his own imprint. Being the slothful writer that he is he started with no less than 5 titles.

Tomorrow Stories was his anthology title which contained 4 different features. They were all fun in their own way but one stood out from the others.

from the ABC Sketchbook 2002

Alan Moore on The Smiley face

"The smiley face is evidently the purest symbol of innocence the human race has been able to come up with thus far."

Alan Moore

Though it was the most famous, it seems that the Watchmen wasn’t the first time that Alan Moore used the smiley face motif in his comics.

Hey! It's A Four Color Alan Moore! (Moore's appearances in his own comics)

It’s always fun to find little unexpected Easter Eggs in your comics. It’s extra fun when it’s one of your favorite comic writers the way Alan Moore is mine.

Alan Moore's Time Twisters!!

Early in Alan Moore's writing career he penned a number of short stories for 2000 AD where he developed his ability to spin fun stories from cool concepts.
Two of my favorites featured a funny little character that Moore and Watchmen collaborator, Dave Gibbons created, called Doctor. Dibworthy.

Alan Moore, a very brief retrospective

Alan Moore is my favorite comic writer.


Alan Moore by Frank Quietly. For a treat click on the picture and look closely into the beard.

No one writer has written as dramatic or profound stuff as he has IMHO. Moore can do it all. He writes plots like no other, his dialog is usually spotless, and he loves to get all dramatic and dirty (He along with Miller were credited with bringing "gritty" to comics.) but I think the thing I like best about his work is his mind. It seems so fertile and agile. He seems to be able to absorb whatever he is writing about and come up with fresh lively perspectives on it. He takes old stuff and makes it feel new.