For my latest Nexus Graphica column, I revised and updated the "To Hell With Alan Moore" article, my 2006 history of the films based on the works of Alan Moore that originally appeared in Moving Pictures.
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| Alan Moore (along with Sin City creator Frank Miller) injected relevancy into mainstream comics in the 80s. Previously, comic books lagged some five to six years behind current trends. Moore’s skills moved mainstream superhero comics ahead of popular culture and established new trends, the punk to the old guard’s rock ‘n’ roll. His success paved the way for artists such as Moore protégé Neil Gaiman and Mike Mignola (Hellboy creator), as well as the re-tooling of superheroes that lead to this century’s spate of successful films such as the Spider-Man franchise, the X-Men series, Iron Man, and even The Incredibles. |
Not only did I revise large chunks of the original text and correct a factual error, but I expanded the piece to include my thoughts on the V For Vendetta movie and included some observations about the forthcoming Watchmen film.
| Quote: |
| A movie based on Moore’s arguably most nihilistic work, V for Vendetta (1990), premiered in March 2006 starring Natalie Portman. Originally published serially during the height of the Thatcher/Reagan era, V relates the anonymous struggles of an anarchist terrorist in a post-apocalyptic fascist Britain. The movie, from first-time director James McTeigue and a screenplay by the Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix), retained much of the original story’s anarchy and political references. The finest big screen Moore adaptation to date managed a respectable $132 million in total worldwide box office. Yet again, Moore asked for his name to be removed from the credits. |
