Happy April Fools with the clowns of comics!

Bring on the clowns!

Of coarse everyone knows the clown prince of crime, but there are many other clown themed heroes and villains throughout comics history.

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

"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!"
 

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.

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