20th February 2013 / Alan Moore / Musings
Back in 2003, I wrote a thing for ALAN MOORE: PORTRAIT OF AN EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN, about the first time we spoke. The book is long out of print, but now you can read it at Alan Moore World.
5th December 2012 / Alan Moore / Alex Rider / On Sale
Issue #4 of FASHION BEAST is now on sale.
One of the things that surprised me at NYCC in October was the fan and critic reaction to this comic. Frankly, I expected FASHION BEAST to be a book I enjoyed working on and was proud of, but that critics would overlook. For whatever reason, I was wrong — and I’m very happy to be so.
Here’s the issue solicit:
There is no nuclear winter in the seasons of the fashion world. And while life outside of Celestine’s empire is tumbling toward oblivion, within the doors of the temple to fashion Doll becomes enwrapped in the disdain and contempt of the Madames. But while Doll strives to raise her station from commoner to elitist, she discovers that the wrong turn of phrase can do more than ruin a career, it can take a life. For in this world only the designs of Le Patron are immaculate and everything else is terminally flawed and to be scorned, used, and eventually discarded.
The order code is OCT120827, available from all good comic stores. You can read a preview at Avatar’s website.
This brings all of the Alex GNs to date (the others being of course STORMBREAKER, POINT BLANC, and EAGLE STRIKE) in line with the new format, so there’s a nice holiday gift idea for you…!
The next two books, SCORPIA and ARK ANGEL, will continue in the same style. If you missed the announcement about those, and our new series artist, you can read more here.
3rd October 2012 / Alan Moore / On Sale
The second issue of FASHION BEAST is now on sale.
The story continues right from where we left off last issue, with Doll out on the street and desperate for a job. Any job. Lucky for her that Celestine is hiring.
At least, Doll thinks it’s luck…
Doll doesn’t fit in anywhere. And when fate seems to wash her in the direction of the mysterious unseen benefactor, Celestine, she discovers that the all-too glitzy fashion world with its glamour and excess is home to a brand of horror that the self-obsessed ignore until it is too late.
The order code is AUG120841, and you can read a preview at Avatar’s site.
5th September 2012 / Alan Moore / On Sale
The first issue of FASHION BEAST goes on sale today.
FASHION BEAST is a 10-part series, adapted from a 1985 screenplay by Alan Moore, which was itself based on a story idea by Alan, Malcolm McLaren, and Robert Boykin. It has a somewhat storied and beleaguered history.
It also happens to be the last Moore adaptation I wrote for Avatar, completed almost eight years ago. In honesty, I’d started to think it would never actually see publication — the script is just as complex and detailed as the screenplay, and we had more than a few false starts with artists…
Until we found Facundo Percio, best-known for his stellar work on Warren Ellis’ outlandish sci-fi book ANNA MERCURY. Facundo has been drawing FASHION BEAST for almost four years. The man is seriously dedicated, and without him I doubt this book would be on stands today. If you’re as happy to see this as I am, all your thanks should go to Facundo.
The order code for this issue is JUL120796, and you can read an eight-page preview at Avatar’s website.
12th April 2010 / Alan Moore / Wolverine
WOLVERINE: Over the weekend, you may have heard the sad news that Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman’s X-MEN: MISFITS manga has been cancelled. Alas, I can confirm that the same fate awaits WOLVERINE: PRODIGAL SON.
It’s a great shame. I was very pleased with the second volume, and Wilson’s work for it was even better than for the first. And I really hoped we could take it still further; although the initial story came to a close in Volume 2, I wrote it in such a way that it left open the possibility of many more adventures for young Logan.
Unfortunately, the simple truth is that not enough people bought them. Despite WOLVERINE being praised by readers and selected for two library YA lists, despite MISFITS making it onto the New York Times bestseller list, and not least despite all the efforts of Del Rey themselves and our editors there, there just weren’t enough readers to justify the costs. This is, sadly, more common than you might think in comics.
THE BEAST: Also confirmed over the weekend was the graphic novel adaptation of FASHION BEAST, Alan Moore’s famous “lost” screenplay which he wrote in conjunction with Malcolm McLaren who planned to produce it as a film.
This isn’t a recent project. FASHION BEAST has been in production as a comic since 2003! But anyone who’s read the screenplay knows that it’s an incredibly complex and detailed work, and my script reflects that. So it’s taken us a long time to find an artist who could deal with the sheer amount of work it requires. Fortunately, Facundo is up to the task, and has already produced some fantastic pages.
Obviously, we were hoping to produce it soon, and get Malcolm on board for publicity; he was enthusiastic about the project, and there’s no question he would have enjoyed bringing his own inimitable style of rabble rousing to comics. With his sad death last week, all we can do now is try to honour his memory. RIP.
17th March 2009 / Alan Moore / Interviews / On Sale
Wide distribution of LIGHT OF THY COUNTENANCE commences tomorrow, apparently. What that means is that every store that’s ordered copies should have it, and/or can re-order it with confidence.
To coincide with this, I was interviewed by Hypergeek about the book, and my adaptation process (which is very hard to define, as it’s mostly about whether or not something “feels right”). The interview’s now live, and you can click here to read it.
In other news, everyone’s gearing up for the launch of WOLVERINE: PRODIGAL SON, Volume 1 on April 7th. Expect to see a few interviews, PR pieces, etc. about that popping up over the next few weeks.
8th March 2009 / Alan Moore / On Sale
Speaking of my Alan Moore adaptations, I’m also told that LIGHT OF THY COUNTENANCE is now finally available in stores.
(Distribution has been spotty, which is probably why I wasn’t even sure it was out, but there are definitely copies out there.)
8th March 2009 / Alan Moore / Musings
I’ve been working away for a few days, but returned to find that the New York Times has finally started to produce a bestseller list for graphic novels.
This in itself is a very good thing, but I was even more pleased to see that the new colour edition of THE COURTYARD is at #7 on the softcover list. Nice!
11th November 2008 / Alan Moore / Pre-order
Here’s one I wasn’t sure would ever see the light of day (no pun intended): LIGHT OF THY COUNTENANCE will be published by Avatar Press in January, according to Avatar Creative Director Mark Seifert in a thread on Whitechapel, Warren Ellis’ message board.
LIGHT is an adaptation of Alan Moore’s damning poem/essay on television, a piece which is both enlightening and disturbing, and is fully painted by Felipe Massafera. If you don’t recognise the name, Felipe also painted the cover to the HYPOTHETICAL LIZARD collection that came out last year. There’s a Flickr gallery of some interior LIGHT pages, plus a larger version of the cover, here.
I actually finished the script for this book more than five years ago (!) but finding someone capable of illustrating it has been tough—it’s a very demanding script that requires a fanatical attention to detail, enormous amounts of visual research, and a somewhat surrealist imagination. I’m glad to see it’s finally on the way.
3rd August 2007 / Alan Moore / Anthologies / Appearances / On Sale / Texas Strangers / Wasteland
I’m back from San Diego, which was by all accounts another record-breaking year; Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all sold out, attendance was up overall, and almost everyone I spoke to was selling more books than ever before. Good times.
Ben and I shifted loads of copies of the DEAD SPACE teaser and posters. Having someone like Ben on a book like this is invaluable – the line at both our signing times seemed neverending. Everyone wanted a sketch from the man, and it gave us the opportunity to get plenty of people interested in the book.
Oni sold more copies of WASTELAND than anyone expected – I don’t know the exact figure, but Randal Jarrell told me it was more than double what they planned for. Chris and I were pretty busy, even on the couple of times our signings were at off-peak hours, and I want to thank everyone who came by to see us. I especially want to praise everyone who recommended the book to someone else; a lot of people bought a copy of Book 1 at the show because a friend had raved about it to them, and that’s the sort of thing that makes all the San Diego stress worthwhile.
We also shifted a few TEXAS STRANGERS issues and ashcans, mainly to people who’d never seen the book before, which was great. (A few people asked if the book was only a miniseries, because they haven’t seen any solicitations past #4. The answer is no, but we paused solicitations when it became clear that #2 was going to be late, which of course pushes all the other issues back, too. We’ll be back in PREVIEWS soon, promise.)
POSTCARDS and 24SEVEN were both received well, and the POSTCARDS signing in particular was chaotic fun, with up to seven creators at a time all trying to sketch and sign while squeezed into a space designed for three at the Comic Relief booth. Space notwithstanding, the CR staff were great, and it was all a kind of mad laugh with books flying back and forth as people tried to decipher signatures and work out if someone had already signed their copy or not.
Finally, I picked up a copy of the HYPOTHETICAL LIZARD collection from Avatar, which is gorgeous. Not sure if it’s hit stores yet, but if not then it can’t be far off. [EDIT: yes, it's on sale now.]
Right, back to the grindstone…
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