The Best of Moore

When I listed my Favourite Comic Stories of All Time awhile back, I mentioned that I consciously excluded the work of Alan Moore from consideration when building that list. Any such list, done straight up, would be dominated by the best work of the best comic writer of all time, after all. And I think it was a more interesting assembly of stories than would've come about without the exclusion; it was certainly more interesting for me to build!

However, the question remains: how would I rank Moore's stories? I won't attempt to collate the two rankings, but I can at least put his best stuff in some sort of order, in case anyone's looking for suggestions of great material to check out.

And no, I couldn't cut it down to just 10!

11) Batman: The Killing Joke one-shot. With gorgeous art by Brian Bolland, this self-contained story provided an unnerving origin story for the Joker a mere 40 some-odd years after his introduction. It also took the character of Barbara Gordon, up to that point a featherweight in her role as Batgirl, and turned her world upside down thanks to the Joker's pure insanity. Although it's doubtful Moore had it in mind when he wrote The Killing Joke, Barbara's taken on considerably higher status in the DC Universe since this tale. Moore only put her in the wheelchair; other writers created her new persona of Oracle from the seeds he planted. This sad little drama was a turning point in many ways.

10) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Volume I. This introductory tale of the League brought comic readers the premise of taking public domain characters like Professor Nemo, the Invisible Man, Mr Hyde and Allan Quartermain, and throwing them together in the context of a period tale! The writing was superb, the artwork by Kevin O'Neill perfectly suited the material, and even the advertisements were hilarious!

9) Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? in Superman # 423 & Action # 583. For reasons entirely too convoluted to go into here, DC wanted a "final Superman story" to wrap up the pre-Crisis stories before re-launching a new (and less endearing) version of the character. Wisely, they called on Alan and he knocked the ball out of the park. Most of the gems in this tale are best appreciated by those with long comic memories, but interestingly the final line from the tale has become something of a catchphrase: "This is an Imaginary Story... Aren't they all?"

8) From Hell. Jack the Ripper. Several hundred pages. A plausible identity for Jack provided. Painstaking research and annotations. This is a story that has to be read to be appreciated.

7) American Gothic in Swamp Thing #s 37 to 50. Many consider this to be the seminal Swamp Thing story. Certainly it's format is brilliant: Swampy is sent willy-nilly across the length and breadth of the U.S., encountering bizarre local happenings at each turn, all as part of a bigger canvas involving death cults and the end of the world. This also features the introduction and first appearance of one John Constantine (of Hellblazer fame), looking very Sting-like, who spares no expense in ridiculing our title character while leading him by the moss-covered nose. At least a couple Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes seemed to have drawn some inspiration from this storyline, as far as I can tell. Oh, and did I mention that issue # 37 also features a Letter to the Editor from your Humble Blogger? Well, it does! I choose to believe it's that letter, rather than the first appearance of Constantine, that's responsible for the high price it fetches on eBay. But I could be wrong!

6) For the Man Who Has Everything in Superman Annual # 11. If you're a fan of the Justice League cartoon that was on a few years ago, you may've actually seen a watered-down version of this story. Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman arrive at the Fortress of Solitude, bearing birthday presents for the Man of Steel, only to discover that he's already received - and opened - one: a deadly space orchid that latches onto the nearest host - him - and fills his head with visions of a happier life, all the while feeding on his life force. In Superman's case, this means he's in a stupor in which he believes Krypton never exploded! Standing motionless, he's wrapped up in a fantasy in which he was able to grow up on Krypton, surrounded by his mother and father, and never became the sole survivor of a doomed planet. Obviously the arriving heroes have to save the day, but their efforts are countered by the alien conqueror Mongul, who provided the questionable gift. This double-length, single-issue story has just about everything in it, including one of the best portrayals of the ill-fated second Robin (Jason Todd).

5) The Anatomy Lesson / Woodrue's Green World in Swamp Thing # 21 to 24. This storyline redefined Swamp Thing and provided a blueprint for how a really good writer could take a so-so character and make them so much more, without necessarily trampling all over what had come before. It also showcased a JLA in the final issue that was head and shoulders above any version that was appearing in their own title at that time. Moore would've had a field day writing the JLA title, had that miracle ever occurred.

4) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume II. Have I mentioned before that War of the Worlds is one of my favourite novels? How about that I love the concept behind the League of Extraordinary Gents? Or that Alan Moore is the best comic writer of all time? Well, then, imagine my delight at reading six issues by Moore in which the League is placed within the War of the Worlds storyline (now public domain) and asked to please save the world? Pure gold, from start to finish!

3) A Dream of Flying in Miracleman # 1 to 7. The first Miracleman arc, which re-introduces him and his pair of sidekicks, was so unlike anything we'd read up to then as to almost make one's head explode! As with Swamp Thing, Moore wanted to breathe new life into some characters who, up to that point, were silly at best, and completely derivative at worst. In fact, derivative doesn't do this situation justice: Captain Marvel ("Shazam!") was derivative of Superman; Miracleman (or Marvelman, as he was known in his native UK) was a cheap rip-off of Captain Marvel! What's a copy of a copy called? But when Moore was done with him, he was one of the most original, intriguing, and in some ways, scary super beings known to comics! And of course the fact that I take my online alias from his magic word should have prepared one and all for his high placement here.

2) V For Vendetta. While the film adaptation of this was reasonably good - unlike the utter piece of crap known as the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the well-intentioned but seriously misguided From Hell movies - it's still nothing compared to the original material. David Lloyd's artwork, best appreciated in black and white format ironically, is some of the best I've ever seen (and the fact that I have more original artwork pages by him than anyone else should tell you I'm not kidding around). The characters of V and Evey are so well-defined over the course of this story that your heart gets ripped out exactly at the moments that author Moore intends it to be! Over the years, I flipflop on whether this is Moore's best or second-best. At the moment I'm giving the top spot to that other one, but they're really close. VFV is very nearly perfect, all 200+ pages of it!

1) Watchmen. No surprise, I'm sure. This and VFV are the Citizen Kane and Casablanca of comics, for me. I've read this series more times than any comic that's come out since I reached puberty, I suspect. Re-reading something a dozen times was common back in my childhood, but unheard of since. Watchmen is the exception, as I'm already up around seven or eight readings, and I'm sure I'll hit a dozen if I live another 30 years. Like Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon album, I find new things within every time I venture back again. For me, it's become the comic story, in the same way, I suppose, that Irene Adler was referred to by Sherlock Holmes, as "the woman."