The Life and Work of Alan Moore

If you are a fan of comic books, chances are you have heard the name of Alan Moore.  His graphic novel Watchmen (drawn by artist David Gibbons) is widely hailed as one of the greatest comic stories ever written, and is credited along with Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns for reinventing comic books in the 1980’s.

If you are an avid moviegoer, many of Moore’s works will be familiar to you, even if you do not realize it.  In recent years a number of Moore’s works have been adapted to the big screen, most recently V for Vendetta.  Prior to that movies such as Constantine, From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen have all been inspired by Moore’s comics.

Moore himself has been less than pleased with film adaptations of his work.  After The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and From Hell came out, Alan Moore declared that he no longer wished to have his name associated with films based on his writing.  No work copyrighted solely to him would be available for film adaptations.   Works in which copyright was shared (primarily with the artists), Moore would take neither credit nor payment for the work.  This arrangement was used successfully with Constantine, although there was some legal difficulty with the most recent picture, V for Vendetta.

Moore's Early Life and Work

Alan Moore was born to a working class family in Northhampton, England, on November 18, 1953.  His father, Ernest Moore was a brewery worker and his mother, Sylvia Doreen was a printer.  Moore continues to live in Northhampton to this day.

In 1971 Moore was expelled from a conservative secondary school.  Unaccepted by any other school, he suddenly found himself alone, unemployed with an incomplete education and little to no job qualifications.

Moore began working on a magazine called Embryo with some of his friends.  In 1974 he married his wife, Phyllis Moore.  The couple have two children, Amber and Leah.  Leah and her husband, John Reppion, are currently working with Moore on a comic series known as Albion.