'Bob Wachsman Tummler', art by Moore, script by Harvey Pekar.
After a thousand and one odd jobs, Northampton lad Alan Moore started out as an underground comix artist, only to realize that his writing might be better than his drawing. Among his graphic influences are Leo Baxendale, Vaughn Bodé, Robert Crumb, Kim Deitch, Steve Ditko, Will Eisner, Rick Griffin, Jay Lynch, Harvey Kurtzman, Winsor McCay, George Metzger, Victor Moscoso, Paul Reinman, Spain Rodriguez, Gilbert Shelton, Robert Williams, Jim Woodring and S. Clay Wilson.
Moore's claim to fame with the mainstream audience stems from the monumental 'Watchmen' (art by Dave Gibbons), a clever and obsessively detailed take on the phenomenon of men in tights, A.K.A.. superheroes. "Who watches the watchmen?" is the central riddle of this late eighties classic. In the fifth issue of 'Watchmen', the supplemental text section was written by Joe Orlando.
What most people in the mainstream missed, are Moore's earlier scripts, like the Orwellian 'V for Vendetta' (David Lloyd), the eco-horror 'Swamp Thing' (with Stephen Bissette and John Totleben) and the Batman story 'The Killing Joke' (with Brian Bolland).
Artwork: Eddie Campbell.
And it's not only the quality of Moore's writing that impresses - those who would like to know more about Moore's quality standards for comics script-writing are highly recommended to read his essay on the subject (reprinted in 'The Comics Journal') - but also his work ethic. The man keeps creating new worlds, new characters, new images.
After 'Watchmen', Moore has worked on 'Greyshirt' (Rick Veitch), 'Big Numbers' and 'Brought to Light' (with Bill Sienkiewicz), 'Lost Girls' (with Melinda Gebbie, influenced by the work of Franz von Bayros), 'Judgement Day' (with Rob Liefeld), 'Marvelman', 'Warpsmith' (with Garry Leach), 'Terra Obscura' (with Yanick Paquette), 'Another Suburban Romance' (with Juan José Ryp) 'Tom Strong' (with Chris Sprouse), 'Promethia' (with Jim H. Williams III), 'The Bojeffries Sage' (with Steve Parkhouse), 'A Small Killing' (with Oscar Zárate), 'Top Ten' (with Gene Ha and Zander Cannon), 'Ironwolf: Fires of the Revolution' (with Mike Mignola and Howard Chaykin), 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' (with Kevin O' Neill), 'Jack B. Quick, Boy Genius' (with Kevin Nowlan) and 'From Hell' (with Eddie Campbell) among many, many other projects. And let's not forget his novel 'The Voice of the Fire' on his home town Northampton, and his public readings, like 'The Birth Caul', to be adapted for comics by Eddie Campbell. He married Melinda Gebbie in 2007.
In 2007 he was special guest voice in Matt Groening's 'The Simpsons'. In the episode 'Husbands and Knives', he starred alongside Art Spiegelman and Daniel Clowes.
Alan Moore wrote a personal homage to Robert Crumb in Monte Beauchamp's book 'The Life and Times of R. Crumb. Comments From Contemporaries (St. Martin's Griffin, New York, 1998).
Alan Moore had a strong influence on many artists. In the United States he influenced Chad Bilyeu. In Europe he has admirers in Belgium (Conz, Willy Linthout), France (Algésiras, Anton) and Iceland (Hugleikur Dagsson). In Brazil he inspired Caio Oliveira and Germana Viana. Oliveira also published a graphic novel about Moore, titled 'Alan Moore: O Mago Supremo' (2015). In Egypt he counts Ganzeer among his fans.
Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie at their marriage (photo by Neil Gaiman).