Blog lockdown.
Never fear,
Still here.
Work busy
Projects looming,
Jitsu booming.
Reading continues
Going strong;
Not long.
Thursday 26 September 2013
Friday 6 September 2013
The Sanest Man In The Asylum
Today, I met Alan Moore at his signing in Waterstone's store on Piccadilly - conveniently located just round the corner from work. I happened to notice the event by chance yesterday, and thought I'd just drop by since it was so convenient. He was only be signing Avatar titles - so no Watchmen, sadly.
The event was to promote his new paperback, Fashion Beast, actually a collection of the ten issues of his comic book collaboration with Malcom McLaren. I had a flick through and started reading Fashion Beast while waiting in the queue, but still have very little idea what to expect from it, or even, really, what it's actually about. It apparently came about from a failed film idea he had sometime in the 1980s.
What was more of a draw for me was to get his to sign Neonomicon, his modern comic in the style of HP Lovecraft. Moore took deliberate care not only to include the under- and over-tones of Lovecraft's racism, but also to bake in the 'unspeakable acts' of sex about which Lovecraft was so squeamishly elliptical. I've read Neonomicon a couple of times in the past, but only owned it in digital form, so I bought a copy for the signing (and was delighted to find that it also contained The Courtyard, the precursor to Neonomicon).
For someone who is held to be (in my mind also) such a 'captain crazypants', Alan Moore comes across as surprisingly...normal and down to earth. I'm not sure what I really expected from a two minute interaction, at any rate, but that was my impression. He was wearing a very fetching purple suit with wooden cane to match.
On Neonomicon: this is a comic (Moore apparently prefers this term over 'graphic novel', but his books are nothing if not graphic) which I highly recommend, but definitely isn't for everyone. It's a great story with some fantastic artwork, and a great chunk of modern Lovecraft. It's also visceral, brutal and has the potential to disturb. Did I mention it was pretty graphic? Oh, okay, just wanted to be sure (it comes with some pretty hefty trigger warnings).
It was only while I was flipping through Alan's bibliography earlier today that I remembered just how many amazing things he'd written, V For Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Killing Joke, and, of course, Watchmen. So, of course, I asked him to sign my laptop.
He joins the fine company of Neil Gaiman. I hope that there will be others, but, though the frequency of acquisition so far attests otherwise, there aren't many people I'd actually want on there!
As for Fashion Beast...well, I'll report back in time.
 |
| Unfortunately, didn't get any of me with Alan |
The event was to promote his new paperback, Fashion Beast, actually a collection of the ten issues of his comic book collaboration with Malcom McLaren. I had a flick through and started reading Fashion Beast while waiting in the queue, but still have very little idea what to expect from it, or even, really, what it's actually about. It apparently came about from a failed film idea he had sometime in the 1980s.
What was more of a draw for me was to get his to sign Neonomicon, his modern comic in the style of HP Lovecraft. Moore took deliberate care not only to include the under- and over-tones of Lovecraft's racism, but also to bake in the 'unspeakable acts' of sex about which Lovecraft was so squeamishly elliptical. I've read Neonomicon a couple of times in the past, but only owned it in digital form, so I bought a copy for the signing (and was delighted to find that it also contained The Courtyard, the precursor to Neonomicon).
For someone who is held to be (in my mind also) such a 'captain crazypants', Alan Moore comes across as surprisingly...normal and down to earth. I'm not sure what I really expected from a two minute interaction, at any rate, but that was my impression. He was wearing a very fetching purple suit with wooden cane to match.
On Neonomicon: this is a comic (Moore apparently prefers this term over 'graphic novel', but his books are nothing if not graphic) which I highly recommend, but definitely isn't for everyone. It's a great story with some fantastic artwork, and a great chunk of modern Lovecraft. It's also visceral, brutal and has the potential to disturb. Did I mention it was pretty graphic? Oh, okay, just wanted to be sure (it comes with some pretty hefty trigger warnings).
It was only while I was flipping through Alan's bibliography earlier today that I remembered just how many amazing things he'd written, V For Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Killing Joke, and, of course, Watchmen. So, of course, I asked him to sign my laptop.
He joins the fine company of Neil Gaiman. I hope that there will be others, but, though the frequency of acquisition so far attests otherwise, there aren't many people I'd actually want on there!
As for Fashion Beast...well, I'll report back in time.
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