Here in no particular order are my top 5 Alan Moore comics!

Comics today probably would not exist without Moore’s groundbreaking hit Watchmen.  This comic single handily set off the whole idea of deconstruction for comic characters and sadly the 90s anti-heroes.  Watchmen is a benchmark comic with other similar works being held up to it.  Not only was it popular with comic fans, it broke into the mainstream and is considered by Time magazine as one of the greatest novels of all time.  Watchmen is dark, gritty, and a great read for any comic fan.  If you haven’t read it yet, get on that.

 

Next we have what could best be described as porn for English Majors. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is what happens when fanfiction gets published.  In this case, it’s Victorian literature and cultural fanfiction.  Basically taking the heavy hitters of British literature, Allan Quartermaine, Nina Harker, Captain Nemo, and Dr. Jekyll to name a few, and sticking them on a team to defend England against other literary threats.  Trust me, it’s good.  League takes a very interesting view of the characters that we all know and love.  It’s like the Watchmen of literature, deconstructing it and showing what these characters would be like in a more realistic setting.  Moore essentially uses League as a deconstruction of pop culture from the late 19^th century to the modern day.  It’s a great series for literary and pop culture fans.

Continuing with that Victorian England feel, let’s move onto a lesser known work, From Hell.  From Hell is Moore’s fictitious portrayal of the Jack the Ripper murders.  In it, he combines just about every major theory on who the killer was, from a royal physician, to a soft spoken man about town.  It is extremely intricate with multiple storylines running simultaneously.  The book requires a bit of history background and the collected editions’ endnotes go on for quite a while.  The artwork is beautiful and disturbingly gory.  It’s a great book for fans of violence, intrigue and history.  But seriously, if you’re squeamish, I wouldn’t recommend reading this while eating.

Next we have a very English graphic novel, V for Vendetta.  No, it’s not like the movie.  Well, it is a little bit.  Basically the novel is about a fascist England and one man’s attempt to bring the system down.  V in this story is not the charismatic freedom fighter and revolutionary.  He’s portrayed pretty bluntly as a terrorist whose only goals are anarchy and revenge on the party that tortured him.  He has no real super powers besides his cunning and understanding of the human mind.  I wouldn’t say that it’s better than the movie, but it’s comparable.  It just has a different theme and message.  If you liked the movie, you’ll like the comic.

 

Finally we move into something a little more mainstream.   For those not in the know, Moore used to write for DC back in the day.  One of his greatest works from them was The Killing Joke.  This is one of the greatest Batman stories of all time.  It tells Moore’s take on the Joker’s origins while also telling the story of one of the Joker’s rampages.  This is where the Joker shoots and paralyzes Barbara Gordon, the then and now current Batgirl.  It also served as an inspiration for the smash hit film, The Dark Knight.  It’s a great dark novel and really explores Batman’s most recognizable foes.  If you love Batman, this is a must read.

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