With next workweek ’s moving picture coming out , everybody ’s rediscovering the awesomeness of Watchmen . But there are gross ton of other intellect - expanding Alan Moore comics that you should also look into out . Here are our favorite .
The Ballad Of Halo Jones . Moore was write for 2000 A.D. , Britain ’s long - running scientific discipline fiction adventure comic well known for its Judge Dredd feature article . Moore saw that most of England ’s “ IPC little girl comics were head for that last outstanding midnight feast in the dorm , ” and that 2000 A.D. had a bigger female readership than anyone realized . So he lurch a comedian about an average young cleaning woman — not “ another ruffianly Bitch With A Disintegrator And An spare Y Chromosome ” — having adventures in space in the far futurity . The effect is one of the most unique space opera of all fourth dimension , featuring crazy adventures and dizzy humor and lots and lots of desolation . ( Jones ’ friends tend to drop dead on her on a regular basis , and in the last loudness , she capture involved in a blinking space war . ) Thewhole thing is availableas a individual hardback mass from Titan Books .
Captain Britain . Moore started save for Marvel Comics in the U.K. , and took Captain Britain on a tour through alternative cosmos . This may be the first time that the Marvel Universe ’s “ normal ” version of Earth is referred to as Earth 616 in comics , and it also features an evil Prime Minister of England , who wants to round up all the superheroes and put them into concentration camps . I read these comics when they were reissue as X - Men Archives Featuring Captain Britain a few years ago , and was amazed at how fresh and weird they still seem . They ’ll likely never be reprinted again , but those reissues can be tracked down , and there ’s alsoa collected edition . Also notable : Moore ’s study on Marvelman , aka Miracleman , which is even harder to find these daytime ( and which I ’ve never actually interpret ! )
The Saga Of Swamp Thing . Swamp matter was a low - selling repugnance comedian when Moore took it over , and he transform it into a supernatural / weird science epical that still helps to set all of DC ’s “ mature ” horror / supernatural funnies , include all the Vertigo Comics stemma . My favorite is still the first volume , in which Swamp matter divulge that he ’s not Alec Holland twist into a industrial plant , after all — he ’s a plant that thinks its Alec Holland , thanks to a weird chemical stroke . And he becomes the guardian of The Green , the spirit of all plant sprightliness on Earth , which is nearly usurped by the insane Jason Woodrue . All of a sudden the Swamp Thing has , not just poignancy , but also a soul and literal relationship , especially with the prematurely white - haired Abby .
V For Vendetta . This one , you ’ve probably already read — but if you have n’t , you should rush out and trail down a transcript . It ’s a dystopian time to come , and England has collapsed , giving rise to a new fascist authorities run by a sociopath who ’s in sexual love with his electronic computer — literally . So it ’s up to the Guy Fawkes - masked syndicalist vigilante known only as V to aid tumble the hateful tyrannous regime , but his method acting — especially his agency of recruiting a successor — go out a peck to be desired . Just as much as Watchmen , V4V is a marvellous exploration of whether the ends warrant the means , and the soul ’s family relationship with a mess - up lodge .
Whatever occur To The Man Of Tomorrow ? Of all Moore ’s body of work on DC ’s main character , this is my favorite . ( Yes , more than “ The Killing Joke ” or “ For The Man Who Has Everything . ” ) DC was winding up its Superman news report , in preparation for John Byrne ’s Greco-Roman reboot . So Moore had the chance to compose the final Superman story , in which he shows how Superman ’s foes become darker and more frightful , until finally Superman has to resort to the ultimate sanction . Superman disappear soon afterwards , and is presumed dead , but 10 class later , a reporter investigates . You ’ll have a concentrated metre viewing other Superman stories the same means after reading this one . Luckily , it ’s collected in a single volumealong with all of Moore ’s other DC Universe work — including the awing Green Lantern short story about the aliens that do n’t have any construct of light or colors .
1963 . Moore ( with veritable collaborators like Steve Bissette , Dave Gibbons and Rick Veitch ) put out asix - issue miniseriesof pastiche of early 1960s Marvel comic , with form of address like taradiddle From Beyond , Tomorrow Syndicate and Mystery Incorporated . They feature made - up superheroes like Horus , and even though they claim to be stand - alone issues of unlike comics , they have a continuing storyline of sort . Plus uproarious bastard ads and unhinged letter of the alphabet to the editor . It ’s Moore at his most wacky and fun , and pay homage to superheroes or else of attempt to hearten them or puff them into the “ real world . ” ( And it ’s more fun , for my money , than Moore ’s afterwards Tom Strong ’s Terrific Tales and Tomorrow Stories anthology . ) There ’s no collect version , as far as I know , but I used to see the individual outlet in the dime bag bins at many mirthful playscript stores . Amazon now has them allfor between $ 1.00 and $ 15.00 per issue .
http://www.amazon.com/s/?tag=gizmodo08c-20
From Hell . Moore and artist Eddie Campbell piece together all the clues about Jack The Ripper , in a huge , sprawl history of Victorian political relation and Satanic rituals . The closed book is n’t who bolt down those women — it ’s why , and as the graphic novel give way on , it disrobe back layer after bed of priggish society to bring out more and more perverted intellect for the vehemence .
The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen . If you ’ve only seen the horrific flick , you owe it to yourself to track down the comic . A set of far-famed literary figures , include Edward Hyde , Mina Harker , Allan Quartermain , the Invisible Man and Captain Nemo , team up to carry through the British Empire from a series of otherworldly terror . My absolute favourite is volume two , where our hero sandwich face off against the Martian Tripods from War Of The Worlds … and this time it ’ll take a fleck more than the common common cold to put those foreign scumbags out of action . As with 1963 and several other Moore works , the fake ads come with the comics are deserving the price of price of admission all by themselves , and Moore also include some amazing text pieces . It ’s a journey into retrofuturist Victoriana . And thank goodness there ’s a third full volume coming soon , after the slimly disappointing hardcover oneshot The Black Dossier .
Promethea . Okay , this is blasphemy , I have it away — but the first 12 topic of Promethea might actually be my favorite Moore work of all time . I ’m not pronounce it ’s better than Watchmen , just that it holds a peculiar place in my heart . With Promethea , we come full circle to Halo Jones — it ’s another narration of an ordinary little girl in extraordinary circumstances , except this time around our heroine , Sophie Bangs , is inquisitive and rum . She pieces together the history of Promethea and figures out her own way of flex into the heroine , which requires an individual bit of creative thinking . Promethea ’s not just your middling superhero — she ’s an embodiment of creative thinking and storytelling , and she may be destined to put down the world alternatively of save up it . ( In the end , it ’s actually a lot more complicated , puzzling and — yes — rewarding than that binary implies . ) The more Sophie discovers about thaumaturgy and fables , the more powerful she gets and the closer Moore and artist J.H. Williams come to last take the cartoon strip medium apart altogether . ( The first two volumes are my ducky , but the balance of the series is , at the very least , fascinating and memorable . ) Oh , and did I advert it ’s an alternate 1999 with superheroes and weird cyberculture ? And an android supervillain called the Painted Doll ?
Top 10 . Another comic which Moore created for his America ’s Best Comics imprint was Top 10 , the taradiddle of a super - powered police squad in a creation where middling much everybody has unearthly powers . In demarcation to Extraordinary Gentleman ’s literary exploration and Promethea ’s wizard journey , Top 10 is mostly just hilarious wicked weird fun . At time , it really does read like a version of Hill Street Blues set in a world of flee people and superstrong blue man . My favorite type : the exoskeleton - wearing canine constabulary sergeant , Caesar . Moore gave supercop Jeff Smax his own spin - off graphic novel , and later did an astonishing prequel phone Top 10 : The 49ers . It ’s all moderately addictive poppycock . Science fable writer Paul Di Filippo afterwards did a Top 10 miniseries , which enamor the inventiveness of Moore ’s creation pretty well but was n’t quite as charismatic .
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