Thoughts on Alan Moore, The Best Writer of Comic Books

Kicked out of school at a young age for dealing dope, on British welfare for many years, it must have appeared early to Alan Moore that he might not turn out to be much. Looking back at these moments, it's easy to see why he was so successful as a comic book writer: He had nothing to lose.

From his first short stories in the British comic 2000 AD, to recent films made on his work ("League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," "From Hell," "V for Vendetta") it appears the down-and-out Moore has made something of himself.

What started it all for Alan Moore? His beginnings are chronicled on many sites, but few cover it all. His first work was published in 2000 AD, a comic where many top writers have had their first work published, including Garth Ennis.

Soon he was given the writing gig on the comic book "Swamp Thing" for DC comics, a dead-end character in the DC comics universe if there ever was one. Moore reimagined the character, bringing his typical wide range of ideas to make the hero a top seller for many years. It was all because of the stories he wrote; his wording could be odd at times, and his characters, but he achieved in the story form only what few in the comic book medium could do.

After "Swamp Thing," Moore began to tackle even more projects. As it was hard to create brand new characters in any comic universe, Moore brought in classic characters to bring his rendition "Watchmen" to comic readers worldwide. With "Watchmen" Moore created the best comic book story ever. It was better than anything Frank Miller had done, better than any stories Will Eisner had written. Perhaps not as important as some of these writers, but Moore created a vision, a success that he could never repeat.

That isn't to say Moore stopped writing, but after writing the best comic book ever Moore had nowhere but down to go.

"V for Vendetta" was his next classic. It seems to be Moore's take on the world created by George Orwell in "1984."

Moore had repeated disagreements with many of the top publishers, so he stopped writing comics for them. Instead he began to go to smaller presses, where his comic books "Tom Strong," "Top 10," "Prometheus," and others were published.