Works
like Halo Jones broke many of the
stereotypes previously attached to female characters within comic book land.
With the help of artist Ian Gibson, the two collaborated to create a lead
female that was void of the big bust, big gun, or distressed victim character (Jahanzee). They instead created a woman that seemingly
belonged to the world she lived in and was made of her time, surroundings, and
choices (Knight). Halo Jones would only be the beginning of Moore’s vivid (and still
going) career. He would go on to
poignantly point out the flaws of government, create story lines that fed
themselves on continuation, and changed the world of comics. Moore has been credited as starting what can
be referred to as a revolution within comics and graphic novels in the 1980s (Knight). Although he waited until 1996 to release his
first novel, Voice of the Fire, the
novel is the epitome of imagination and exploration. Moore continually enterprises on his own
spiritual inspiration of magic and more often than not some element can be
found within his writings (O Mealoid). Following the
same style as Halo Jones; the
majority of his characters reflect a composition of their world, and their
choices. They are rarely contrived and
almost always a representation of their situation.
Jehanzee. "The Objectification of Women in Comic Books." Fantasy. Lightspeed, Aug. 2008. Web. 28 April 2013
Knight, James. “Alan Moore.” Vice. Vice Media, May 2010. Web. 29 April 2013.
Lamont, Tom. “Alan Moore: why I turned my back on Hollywood.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, December 2012. Web. 28 April 2013.
Moore, Alan, writer. The Complete
Ballad of Halo Jones. Art by Ian
Gibson. United Kingdom: Titan Books Ltd,
2003. Print.
O Mealoid, Padraig. "Interview: Alan Moore on
Providence, Jerusalem, League and more - Part 1." The Beat. Comicsbeat. 16 Apr. 2013. Web.
After
putting down “Voice of the Fire” I went into Moore, Moore, and Moore zone. Everything I read for several months was
Moore, and he did not disappoint. I
ripped through his “Watchmen”, “V for Vendetta”, “Halo Jones”, and other
graphics in lightning speed wanting to make sure I started from his early
career and became progressive. Recently
I began investigating his somewhat unusual and, at times, unnerving underground
newsletter “Dodgem Logic”. The newspaper
is dedicated to an array of styles from government discussions to comic
discussion, but the original basis of the collection was Northampton’s
impoverished areas that should never have been ignored (Moore). I even ventured into Lost Girls, a work created with his now wife, Melinda Gebbie. I say ventured because the piece itself is
pretty unusual—who would have thought Alice (from Alice in Wonderland), Dorothy (from The Wizard of Oz) and Wendy (from Peter Pan) would all be thrown into a graphic novel that when
described as sexually explicit does not really prepare a reader for just how
explicit the content may get (Moore). Alan Moore
takes on the government with scorn in his work V for Vendetta and sees the film subsequently as an ironic disgrace
to what the graphic novel was meant to represent (Lamont). When it comes to Hollywood, Moore is just not
impressed. He has turned down most of
the money that he should have made from Watchmen,
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and V for Vendetta and has ventured into
the indie world of low budget films. He
has continued his writing in recent years with his soon to be released Jerusalem that is rumored to be longer
than the bible itself (O Mealoid). Never shying away
from his own path he recently released new comics following his League comics under the title Nemo.
