I don't think Moore was a "novelist posing as a comic writer" as much as he was an writer/artist who found himself more regularly employed as a writer. He can draw quite well, and I think as a result, knew exactly what he wanted his scripts to look like in comic form, and tried to convey that to the artists he worked with in as much detail as he could. You could definitely say he was a bit of a control freak! I don't think he was overrated, or took himself too seriously at all. He wrote consistently great stories across many genres, and there are very few, if any, other comic writers you can say that about.
I'd recommend seeking out the stories he did on Supreme, they're a perfect homage/parody/pastiche of Silver Age Superman stories, and the stuff he did with his America's Best Comics line at Wildstorm is phenomenal!
Alan Moore is Alan Moore. He is not without his flaws or faults but what distinguishes him is that he stuck to his guns and principles. That being said, I can count his best work on the my fingers and most of it is all top tier. This is what differentiates him from most... he walked away before he could phone it in and get some quick cash.
I have Alan Moore down as a brilliant storyteller and a clever writer - the difference being that his comics and his spoken word bits work better than his prose. Or rather they stand at the top of their field, whereas his novels are just more good books in a big old world of good books.
Like many autodidacts he has a magpie approach to subject matter and a playful curiosity that - I think - plays out perfectly in the intimate spaces of a comics page
I read Watchmen issue by issue. Skipped the pirate prose after the first one and never went back to those parts. I liked it when Gerber did an issue of Man-Think in illustrated prose but that was the author addressing the reader (due to deadline stress), a one off, and funny.
Moore used to hit that tone in his fan articles, but his prose-in-comics pages take themselves to seriously for where they are
The irony of Moore disliking the term Graphic Novel is that he, more than many, was writing what could literally be called graphic novels... in that they contained a high enough word count to move them closer to being 'novels' than 'comics'. Which reminds me, I recently bought a copy of his novel 'The Great When' but I haven't managed to start reading it yet - only because I have such a huge pile of reading to get through and a lot of my books are yet to be unpacked after a recent house move - I'm interested to see how he fares as a novelist, minus the pictures (as it were).
Not being a huge comic reader, I did love Watchmen and V for Vendetta, even From Hell was interesting but I think that's about it for my Alan Moore collection! As for his Wacky Wizard persona... he's pretty much been like that forever, as far as I can recall... well, since I first heard of him about 35 years ago and saw pictures of him in his younger days bedecked in freaky jewellery and capes etc.
I've never been a big fan of caped superheroes, to be honest. But, yeah, the holier than thou goodie twoshoes protagonist is dull AF. Even Luke Skywalker had to battle his ying and yang.
I used to say that NG was probably the best comic book writer ever because he had done a such a critically acclaimed series however, because of his scandal more has moved into the top spot simply because Moore is just a great writer
1. Ushered in the self-aware and self-critical comic genre which was fun for a while but has become increasingly insufferable as time has gone on.
2. Despises his own fan base / medium seemingly, and suggests people should grow up while believing invisible women that both he and some other guy can see. There's an irony to that discussion.
3. Takes his own work far too seriously for someone that holds the opinions in point 2.
4. I feel the things that allowed him to make great comics and perform 1 are stored within 2 and 3. Part of his writing style is specifically that he believes he knows something you don't, or wants to tear down reality / fictional norms.
For the most part, I feel he's overrated in the same way that Joss Whedon is overrated. He is the voice that ushered in all the good and the bad of a new era. Whedon with witty dialogue and characters that blend into one another because they all need to have one liners; Moore with his overly serious self-awareness about his medium.
In both cases we get some nice things like Chris Nolan's Batman. In both cases, I would very much like to see what we would have if we could give it back.
His repeated use of sexual assaults as a plot point becomes troubling as his career progresses, as well as his increasingly dense prose
One feature of reading Watchmen in single issues was the publication delays as the series went on. In the gaps we read all the back matter looking for clues and filling out the world they live in. But in graphic novel format the articles can be skipped.
Cool, I never read the issues but that sounds fun. I agree on the rapey years. It got to the point where EVERY story of his had to have some kind of SA in it. Halo would not approve.
Halo Jones is my favourite Moore story as well. I think it's some beautiful, ground breaking and original writing, and the art, especially book three, is sublime. And I'd rather V for Vendetta over Watchmen any day (and I was there getting it monthly when it came out). I've never read all the text pieces in Watchmen, and I don't think that's ruined the story for me. Nice to read your take on him.
I think V's a favourite for a lot of people. I agree on Halo book iii. That prologue episode where she's sitting in the window with a sniper rifle is incredible writing.
Must agree about too many words sometimes, love a good wordless scene/page. Having a local comic shop with the cornucopia of 80s American comics available on a regular basis I missed out on his work in 2000AD and Warrior (and others too - but catching up now with collection after collection). Never thought of myself as a ‘collector’ more a reader who keeps what they’ve read 😂My first Moore would have been Swamp Thing so that & From Hell are favourites, great marriages of story & art (comics!?) and I could just look at Kev O’Neill’s work on League all day without reading it.
Thanks for your thoughts, Simon. I think that's a pretty good assessment. Yes, his prose in comics is definitely too self-serious, but also too purple for my liking.
I don't know from 'overrated', but I have often found that Alan Moore is a creator whose works I respect more than I actually enjoy. There's no doubting or denying the influence of his work, but I tend to like his books that are either his 'lightest' (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 1) or, somewhat amusingly, those which he dismisses or disavows (The Killing Joke). His seminal works -- Watchmen especially -- are impressive on a formal level but tend to leave me a bit cold.
I don't think Moore was a "novelist posing as a comic writer" as much as he was an writer/artist who found himself more regularly employed as a writer. He can draw quite well, and I think as a result, knew exactly what he wanted his scripts to look like in comic form, and tried to convey that to the artists he worked with in as much detail as he could. You could definitely say he was a bit of a control freak! I don't think he was overrated, or took himself too seriously at all. He wrote consistently great stories across many genres, and there are very few, if any, other comic writers you can say that about.
I'd recommend seeking out the stories he did on Supreme, they're a perfect homage/parody/pastiche of Silver Age Superman stories, and the stuff he did with his America's Best Comics line at Wildstorm is phenomenal!
Alan Moore is Alan Moore. He is not without his flaws or faults but what distinguishes him is that he stuck to his guns and principles. That being said, I can count his best work on the my fingers and most of it is all top tier. This is what differentiates him from most... he walked away before he could phone it in and get some quick cash.
Yes, he was not prolific, which helped every new story to feel more significant.
I'll always appreciate Moore's work as writer but I find him as a personality extremely self-centered and pretentious.
He definitely comes across a bit aloof. But at least there's no awful scandals surrounding him.
I have Alan Moore down as a brilliant storyteller and a clever writer - the difference being that his comics and his spoken word bits work better than his prose. Or rather they stand at the top of their field, whereas his novels are just more good books in a big old world of good books.
Like many autodidacts he has a magpie approach to subject matter and a playful curiosity that - I think - plays out perfectly in the intimate spaces of a comics page
I read Watchmen issue by issue. Skipped the pirate prose after the first one and never went back to those parts. I liked it when Gerber did an issue of Man-Think in illustrated prose but that was the author addressing the reader (due to deadline stress), a one off, and funny.
Moore used to hit that tone in his fan articles, but his prose-in-comics pages take themselves to seriously for where they are
The irony of Moore disliking the term Graphic Novel is that he, more than many, was writing what could literally be called graphic novels... in that they contained a high enough word count to move them closer to being 'novels' than 'comics'. Which reminds me, I recently bought a copy of his novel 'The Great When' but I haven't managed to start reading it yet - only because I have such a huge pile of reading to get through and a lot of my books are yet to be unpacked after a recent house move - I'm interested to see how he fares as a novelist, minus the pictures (as it were).
Not being a huge comic reader, I did love Watchmen and V for Vendetta, even From Hell was interesting but I think that's about it for my Alan Moore collection! As for his Wacky Wizard persona... he's pretty much been like that forever, as far as I can recall... well, since I first heard of him about 35 years ago and saw pictures of him in his younger days bedecked in freaky jewellery and capes etc.
Another great read, cheers!
Thank you and thanks for your thoughts. You're right about the irony in his attitude to graphic novels.
No.
YES
NO
I love the guy. Warts and all.
Rorschach and V are the two most compelling characters in the genre for me.
I got a few things signed by the guy, and they are treasures to me.
Rorschach is a great character. An INCEL with a high level of disgust and fondness for a far-right media outlet feels zeitgeisty in 2026.
Deep childhood traumas always made better heroes (or antiheroes) than being born on a distant planet or getting bit by a janky spider, in my opinion 😋
I've never been a big fan of caped superheroes, to be honest. But, yeah, the holier than thou goodie twoshoes protagonist is dull AF. Even Luke Skywalker had to battle his ying and yang.
I used to say that NG was probably the best comic book writer ever because he had done a such a critically acclaimed series however, because of his scandal more has moved into the top spot simply because Moore is just a great writer
Favorite: Watchmen. I'm boring.
Alan Moore: Agree to an extent on overrated.
1. Ushered in the self-aware and self-critical comic genre which was fun for a while but has become increasingly insufferable as time has gone on.
2. Despises his own fan base / medium seemingly, and suggests people should grow up while believing invisible women that both he and some other guy can see. There's an irony to that discussion.
3. Takes his own work far too seriously for someone that holds the opinions in point 2.
4. I feel the things that allowed him to make great comics and perform 1 are stored within 2 and 3. Part of his writing style is specifically that he believes he knows something you don't, or wants to tear down reality / fictional norms.
For the most part, I feel he's overrated in the same way that Joss Whedon is overrated. He is the voice that ushered in all the good and the bad of a new era. Whedon with witty dialogue and characters that blend into one another because they all need to have one liners; Moore with his overly serious self-awareness about his medium.
In both cases we get some nice things like Chris Nolan's Batman. In both cases, I would very much like to see what we would have if we could give it back.
Interesting comparison with Whedon, but I get what you mean. Thanks for commenting.
Early Swamp Thing is his peak for me.
His repeated use of sexual assaults as a plot point becomes troubling as his career progresses, as well as his increasingly dense prose
One feature of reading Watchmen in single issues was the publication delays as the series went on. In the gaps we read all the back matter looking for clues and filling out the world they live in. But in graphic novel format the articles can be skipped.
Cool, I never read the issues but that sounds fun. I agree on the rapey years. It got to the point where EVERY story of his had to have some kind of SA in it. Halo would not approve.
Or Crazy Chrissie, either.
Sexual assaults?
That’s just art reflecting life.
Halo Jones is my favourite Moore story as well. I think it's some beautiful, ground breaking and original writing, and the art, especially book three, is sublime. And I'd rather V for Vendetta over Watchmen any day (and I was there getting it monthly when it came out). I've never read all the text pieces in Watchmen, and I don't think that's ruined the story for me. Nice to read your take on him.
I think V's a favourite for a lot of people. I agree on Halo book iii. That prologue episode where she's sitting in the window with a sniper rifle is incredible writing.
Absolutely. Powerful writing.
Must agree about too many words sometimes, love a good wordless scene/page. Having a local comic shop with the cornucopia of 80s American comics available on a regular basis I missed out on his work in 2000AD and Warrior (and others too - but catching up now with collection after collection). Never thought of myself as a ‘collector’ more a reader who keeps what they’ve read 😂My first Moore would have been Swamp Thing so that & From Hell are favourites, great marriages of story & art (comics!?) and I could just look at Kev O’Neill’s work on League all day without reading it.
From Hell is a great, but deeply unsettling read. Not sure what the film was doing.
Yes - how to make a bland film about Jack The Ripper!?! At least Eddie Campbell should have had a decent payday from it.
Thanks for your thoughts, Simon. I think that's a pretty good assessment. Yes, his prose in comics is definitely too self-serious, but also too purple for my liking.
I don't know from 'overrated', but I have often found that Alan Moore is a creator whose works I respect more than I actually enjoy. There's no doubting or denying the influence of his work, but I tend to like his books that are either his 'lightest' (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 1) or, somewhat amusingly, those which he dismisses or disavows (The Killing Joke). His seminal works -- Watchmen especially -- are impressive on a formal level but tend to leave me a bit cold.