Alan Moore Biography

Dictionary of Literary Biography on Alan Moore

Because of the quality of his prose, the fertility of his imagination, and the range and power of his subjects, narrative techniques, and themes, Alan Moore has become one of the most important writers in the British and American comics industry of the 1980s and 1990s. Before Moore made his mark on comics, writers were far less important than artists to the medium, which was widely perceived as illiterate trash for kids. Moore's work has helped establish a greater balance between writing and art in comics and has dramatically increased the audience for, and aesthetic value of, the medium.

Perhaps the most striking thing about Moore's work is its diversity: in mood (terror, wonder, humor), style (scientific language, ornate prose, spare poetry), genre (fantasy, science fiction, and erotica), and audience (adults desiring serious literature, boys thirsting for high- adrenaline adventure). Although his work is marked by a variety of themes such as environmental disaster, fantasy and reality, and self-exploration, his most important theme is anarchy, which he defined in a 1990 interview with Gary Groth as a "revolution" starting "with people making choices about their own personal liberty, their own personal responsibility." His rejection of coercive power and affirmation of anarchy lie behind his expansion of constricting genres; his reinvention of existing characters; his modification of scripts to suit the artists with whom he collaborates; his condemnation of censorship; his avoidance of celebrity and comics conventions; his creation of plots, characters, and themes; and his vision of the vital role of art.

Read the rest of this Biography with our Alan Moore Access Pass.