MOORE, ALAN 421
short-lived rival to 2000 AD , Warrior , that Moore had the most freedom, creating
V for Vendetta and Marvelman (known as Miracleman in the United States). Th ese
dark, highly political stories highlighted the bleakness of Britain under the rule of
Prime Minister Th atcher, with a brooding sense of dissatisfaction and a clear dis-
trust of authority that indicated Moore’s anarchist leanings. When recruited by DC
Comics in the early 1980s, Moore was given the ailing Swamp Th ing title. Here, his
fascination with the arcane and the political was evident in his reinvention of Swamp
Th ing as gothic horror meets ecological parable. In these stories Moore introduced
John Constantine, later to get his own title, Hellblazer , a vehicle for Moore’s interest
in the occult. Th ese comics became the backbone of DC’s Vertigo line of comics for
mature readers. Moore became renowned for his elaborate scripts and his ability to
deconstruct generic clichés. Wa t c h m e n is the prime example. Intended as the last word
on the superhero genre, Moore’s complex and intricate story, with a literary handling
of narrative, pacing and time, is perfectly matched by Dave Gibbons’s artwork, and
actually rekindled interest in superheroes. Having become something of a celebrity
in comics, Moore’s success prompted the British invasion of U.S. comics, and he has
been a huge infl uence on fellow British writers Grant Morrison , Neil Gaiman , Wa r -
ren Ellis , and Mark Millar. DC bought V for Vendetta , which had been unfi nished at
the time of Warrior’s demise, and Moore completed the story. Th is was, like Watch-
men , hugely popular and critically acclaimed, as were his Superman stories, the last in
the original Superman continuity before it was revised by John Byrne. His Batman
story, Th e Killing Joke , with artwork by British artist Brian Bolland, was even more
celebrated. Building on this success Moore moved towards independent publishing,
partly a desire to move away from superheroes but also because he felt ill-used by DC
concerning the royalties from Wa t c h m e n. Moore turned his back on the mainstream
to work on projects such as A Small Killing , with Oscar Zarate, Big Numbers , with
Bill Sienkiewicz , From Hell , with Eddie Campbell , and Lost Girls , with Melinda
Gebbie. Th e last two started in the short-lived Ta b o o magazine, published by Moore’s
own company, Mad Love. When these independent ventures failed, Moore returned
to mainstream comics, despite his feeling that most publishers took advantage of cre-
ators. His decision to return was partly based on the fact that Image Comics, the new
independent publisher, published only creator-owned comics. For Image, he wrote
1963 , a six-issue parody of Marvel comics, before working on Jim Lee’s WildC.A.T.s
and Rob Liefeld’s Supreme. Moore made the best of this, eventually producing his own
ABC line of comics as part of Wildstorm, Jim Lee’s company, which was itself part of
Image. Highlights were Promethea and Th e League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. In
the meantime, From Hell and Lost Girls were completed and Moore published his fi rst
novel, Voice of the Fire. Several of Moore’s comics have been made into Hollywood
fi lms, none particularly successfully, although Wa t c h m e n was a commercial success,
and attempted to remain true to its source. Frustrated by such adaptations Moore
has insisted that his name be removed from the credits of fi lm adaptations of his
work. Perhaps more than any other single writer, Moore has shown that comics are
