Alan Moore

With a creator as widely read, celebrated, and analyzed as Alan Moore, it's pretty easy to think that you could go out and get everything he's ever written. I mean, you can find the big stuff like Watchmen or V For Vendetta just wandering around airports, and even older, more obscure titles like Halo Jones or DR And Quinch aren't that hard to track down. Heck, you can even get CDs of that dude singing his poetry if that's what you're into, and I know that because I've bought them. But there's one title that has managed to elude all but the most die-hard completists for the past three decades: Monster, a horror comic by Moore and artist Heinzl that ran in the British comic Scream in the mid '80s. But now, 2000 AD is collecting the entire series in a 190-page paperback, set for release in July.

Any look back over Alan Moore's career is likely to overlook a lot of really great comics. Beyond the usual works that are typically rattled off as the highlights of his career are British works that never got big in America, independent comics that never got wide distribution, and reams of short stories that have fallen between the cracks. You might have read a few of them, but they're all worth a look. Alan Moore's greatest hits include Watchmen, Saga of the Swamp Thing, From Hell, Marvelman, The Killing Joke, V for Vendetta, Tom Strong, Supreme, Top Ten, Promethea, the hundreds of pages of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and a couple of the best Superman stories of all time, but as this list proves, there's a lot more to Moore.

Born today in 1953 in Northampton, England, Alan Moore grew up to be a giant. His impact on comics is so vital and apparent that even reporting on his accomplishments feels both daunting and profoundly unnecessary. Widely regarded as the best comics writer of all time, Moore's influence is without question; his presence an articulate line of demarcation carving up the medium into two decidedly different eras. Moore is a juggernaut, monolithic in both influence and intractability, with a true legacy even greater than his supposed one.

Somewhere, Alan Moore’s beard is tingling. Zack Snyder’s cinematic adaptation of the iconic Watchmen comics by Moore and Dave Gibbons divided fans, some sticking with assertions of the source material as “unfilmable,” others acknowledging the film’s effort. That conflict may end up sparked anew, now that Snyder has reportedly met with HBO for a Watchmen TV series.

Many of comics’ most popular characters have been around for decades, and in the case of the big names from the publisher now known as DC Comics, some have been around for a sizable chunk of a century. As these characters passed through the different historical eras known in comics as the Golden Age (the late 1930s through the early 1950s), the Silver Age (the mid 1950s through the late 1960s), the Bronze Age (the early 1970s through the mid 1980s) and on into modern times, they have experienced considerable changes in tone and portrayal that reflect the zeitgeist of the time. With this feature we’ll help you navigate the very best stories of DC Comics’ most significant characters decade by decade. This week, we’re taking a look at the best Joker comics.

The Killing Joke is one of the more notable entries in Batman comic book history, offering one of the most sadistic versions of the Joker to date. Alan Moore’s book is one of the more divisive among fans, who either love it or despise it, and in further proving their commitment to the darker side of superhero stories, DC is taking The Killing Joke and adapting it…into an animated feature, of all things.

Now that Universal is rebooting their classic monsters franchises with a new expanded universe plan, 20th Century Fox wants to get in on a little of that action with a similarly-flavored reboot of their own: The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, based on Alan Moore’s graphic novel, which features various characters from classic works of literature by authors like Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain and more.

Many of comics’ most popular heroes have been around for decades, and in the case of the big names from the publisher now known as DC Comics, some have been around for a sizable chunk of a century. As these characters passed through the different historical eras known in comics as the Golden Age (the late 1930s through the early 1950s), the Silver Age (the mid 1950s through the late 1960s), the Bronze Age (the early 1970s through the mid 1980s) and on into modern times, they have experienced considerable changes in tone and portrayal that reflect the zeitgeist of the time. With this new feature we’ll help you navigate the very best stories of DC Comics’ most beloved characters decade by decade. This week, we’re taking a look at the Green Lantern.

Many of comics' most popular heroes have been around for decades, and in the case of the big names from the publisher now known as DC Comics, some have been around for a sizable chunk of a century. As these characters passed through the different historical eras known in comics as the Golden Age (the late 1930s through the early 1950s), the Silver Age (the mid 1950s through the late 1960s), the Bronze Age (the early 1970s through the mid 1980s) and on into modern times, they have experienced considerable changes in tone and portrayal that reflect the zeitgeist of the time. With this new feature we'll help you navigate the very best stories of DC Comics' most beloved characters decade by decade. This week, we're taking a look at Superman.

Miracleman, aka Marvelman, has one of the most convoluted publishing histories in comics. Created by Mick Anglo, but very closely modeled on Fawcett's Captain Marvel, the character has passed between several owners and publishers over the years, and run afoul of all sorts of legal entanglements. Those complications seemed to be resolved by a recent court case --- so this is clearly the perfect time to add yet another publisher to the character's long history! IDW is getting into the Miracleman game with a deluxe hardcover 'Artifact Edition' reproducing pages from the 1980s Miracleman revival in Warrior magazine, by artists Garry Leach, Alan Davis and John Totleben and "the Original Writer." (Pssst; it's Alan Moore.)