Customer Reviews

Alan Moore's Writing For Comics Volume 1

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This is a collection of essays Alan Moore wrote in 1985 about writing comic books (with a follow-up essay from 2003 at the end). Actually, it's more about being a creative storyteller, not so much about comics. As you read the text, you realize that the nuts and bolts of panels, pages, and word balloons mean very little in comparison to honesty, inventiveness, intent, and understanding of your own talent. Alan Moore makes this clear as he writes, advising the aspiring writer to consider what he's doing long before he gets to the point of wondering how he can stack ten panels into a page.

Moore uses his own experience as a guide. Although he had not yet written (or completed) some of his greatest comics, by 1985 he had been working in British comics for years. He was also working on Swamp Thing and Miracle Man at the time. He uses Swamp Thing examples more than any other, which is good. That was the first great period of Moore's work, when he turned comic book writers into superstars along with illustrators. He describes one of his more daring stories of the 1980s --- a Swamp Thing issue in which menstruation is tied to a werewolf story --- from the ground up. First he had the social idea, then he came up with a framework for it, then he wrote the pages and panels.

Reading this short volume is a real inspiration for anyone who wants to tell stories. The advice here can liberate a writer from distractions and lead him (or her) toward the creative decisions that matter most. The final chapter adds a wonderful twist. Moore recommends that you avoid a personal style and focus instead of personal growth as an artist. Success should lead to experimenting, not a rut in which you tell the same lucrative story over and over. Alan Moore lives his life this way, so his advice has some well-earned authority behind it.

Alan Moore provides some wonderful insight into the creative process. He recommends several outside texts such as The Act of Creation which is a great read in of itself. While no one can tell you exactly how to be creative, Moore does offer insights into what makes him tick as a writer. He gives you suggestions and insights as to how to express yourself and where to look for inspiration in your own life. Moore does not want people to be Alan Moore clones, he wants to encourage a new generation of writers to write what they know and dream about. To write for themselves first, that way a person avoids being a poseur or a wannabe. Moore is truly one of the top writers in the history of comic books. Others that walk the pantheons of greatness are Will Eisner, Steve Ditko, Mark Millar, Warren Ellis, Stan Lee and Neil Gaiman. Read this book, then look inside yourself where the stories and creativity lay. Write from the heart and the subconcious first, and the readers will recognize the sincerity and hopefully come back for more.

Alan Moore's booklet on writing comics is just as relevant for novelists, screenwriters and prose writers as it is for comic book writers. He clearly and economically doles out his chapters on style, characters, plot, rhythm and theme. These things are of paramount importance to all writers. He also brands his lessons with warnings of becoming enamoured with your own writing gimmicks, or following the flock too closely. He's got a lot of great advice regarding content that rings true for writers of all media.

This book is particularly relevant to screenwriters (like me) who seem to lose sight of the fact that the target is not to produce a 120 page manuscript, but to make a movie. Likewise, Moore makes it very clear that writing for a comic book is a visual endeavour, and the writing should reflect that. What is the nature of the panel and the information it's trying to convey? Will it flow in a fashion that will lead the audience to the next surprise around the corner, or will it bog them down with details and meandering that will flatten the text? Moore even addresses movies in certain sections, validating the kinship between movies and comic books. One is the distillation of the moment into a single picture, while the other adds the dimension of time- but either way, both are focused on what needs to be seen.

Granted, writers of other media should try to read this knowing it was developed for comic book writers. Though it isn't loaded with arcane comic lingo and concepts, there is a lot of reference to comic books, especially Moore's own work.

I'd had little to no exposure reading his comics, but his foray into teaching is excellent. An inspiring read.

For those familiar with the field, Alan Moore is one of the acknowledged greats in comic book writing, creating - among other things - The Watchmen, arguably the best superhero graphic novel ever. At least three of his works have been adapted into moderately successful movies: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell and most recently, V for Vendetta. But just as many of the best baseball players have made lousy managers, we cannot assume that a good writer can provide good instruction. In the case of Moore, however, the news is good.

Alan Moore's Writing For Comics is a short collection of essays that he originally wrote in the mid-1980s. As a book, there isn't much there, only 47 pages. On the other hand, I've read some 150 page books that were stretched out through large margins and spacing to be nearly twice that length; at least you get your money's worth from each of Moore's pages.

This was actually the second book I read on comic book recently. Peter David's take on writing (Writing for Comics with Peter David) is good too, and though Moore and David cover some of the same ground, Moore's version is slightly more intellectual, as would be expected if the two writers were compared (this is no knock on David, just an acknowledgement of two different styles). And in both cases, many of the lessons from this book aren't just for comics but can be expanded into other fiction as well. Plot, setting, characterization: these are the basics of all fiction.

Moore doesn't have much to say, but what he does say, he says well. Nonetheless, even at its modest price, there are books out there that say similar things and deliver more per dollar spent. This is a good book, but I recommend going elsewhere unless you're a big Moore fan; Peter David's book is a worthwhile alternative.

I enjoyed the book mostly, until the last chapter, which he wrote 15 years later and in which he basically says "Forget everything I wrote about 15 years ago. Things have changed, and those observations don't apply anymore." After absorbing the rest of the book, it kind of dampened my enjoyment. I am now left with the thought that he should have just written a new book with his updated views, using the benefit of the years of experience since the first book. It being the first book I have read on this subject, I don't have anything else to compare it to, but I feel sure there are better books out there that don't contradict themselves.

This is a short little guide to writing comics. It was originally written in Alan Moore's early days, and then an afterword was added. Basically, in the first 3/4's of the book he goes through the( his?) creative process in a more or less step by step fashion. It is pretty interesting and has a lot of insight. I actually thought is was more helpful than either of the two Eisner books, but I may be a snotty nosed punk (I am a snotty nosed punk so...). The last section, the afterword, takes the rest of the book and stands it on its ear. I was a bit let down by it, but in twenty years I'm sure it will make perfect sense.

A brief pamphlet (hilariously described as a "graphic novel" on the back cover -- I think they meant to call it a "trade paperback") reprinting a 1985 essay, followed by an afterword from 2003 in which the author says that everything he wrote earlier was rubbish.

Moore was young when he wrote the original essay, and he has the young creator's fascination with his own processes and successes, as well as the timidity of someone who's not entirely sure whether he's getting by on talent or luck, and whether it will all be swept away soon enough. He also demonstrates the cynicism of someone who knows he's cobbled together some hackwork on occasion to meet a deadline or collect a paycheck: "Cor, I have to write a Superman story right away, and I'd like it to be vaguely interesting, but mainly it's got to fill 40 pages, a third of which must be fight scenes." Moore takes us through this exact task of his, one step at a time, from the first germ of a workable Superman idea through the plotting of each chunk of the final story, and how he solved certain problems of pacing and plotting along the way.

Parts of this book almost read like a blog, specifically the blog of someone making a webcomic and dashing off some paragraphs about how they wrote this week's strip. So in that way, it's no more or less fascinating, and no more or less artful, than listening to this week's Penny Arcade podcast detailing how Jerry and Mike put together today's strip from scratch -- something I also enjoy on occasion. It turns out Alan Moore is just another writer, just another guy -- and maybe that's the most useful thing that can be gleaned from Writing for Comics.

I've always known about PLOT for stories but never understood how to develop an effective one myself. Alan Moore uncovers what a plot is and isn't. Go to pages 28-33 of this book to understand for yourself how to structure your plot for any "central idea" you have.

Worth it. I am a striving comic creator who works and won't have time to read as much as I did this last summer. If you're a striving comic creator this is great book about the medium not because it teaches you how to write, but because it invokes you to create. The things I already knew that Moore talks about helps reinforce good points of story telling while interjecting Moore's insights to writing.


Warning: You might have to look up some Moore References. As usual, Moore's has a few obscure references you might not have heard or read about. I know who "Eddie Campbell" is to comics but since the essay is older "Campbell" is treated as an unknown source in Moore's Essay. Still I feel since I'm rereading the "Watchmen" this is a "must have" because it gives a behind the scenes look to Alan Moore's thinking process as he wrote the "Watchmen". A pleasant fear I have is that if the movie is a success this book will be sold out. I've order another copy of this book because I'm destroying mine between the mass transit to my work and home.

Key Words: Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell Comics, Watch Men, Watchmen

Alan Moore takes us behind the scenes of comic writing as he explores his creative process and the important factors all new authors should consider when starting out in the comics medium. Even though it's very short, Moore packs insightful and relevant concepts into just a few pages that made my head spin after reading them. It is obvious that he puts a lot of effort and care into his writing, and he considers every detail: from character development to panel transitions to writing for a specific market and beyond. All these topics are covered here in-depth in a surprisingly succinct and conscientious manner for someone who is notorious for producing scripts that contain hundreds of pages. I particularly enjoyed Moore's analogies about lulling the reader into a semi-cognitive state where they are completely entranced by the story, and then using the crux or the climax to shock them so violently and thoroughly in this dream state that once they snap out of it they will never forget what happened to them. When he wrote this treatise on the writing of comics Alan Moore was still relatively young, but already a master of pace and plotting as well as where to mine for the central 'idea' behind every story which is the most vital part of the creative process. He uses several issues of Swamp Thing which he was writing at the time (circa 1985 or so) to substantiate his claims, and it is here where one truly comes to appreciate his brilliance. More than anybody except maybe Will Eisner, Moore is the foremost authority on comics scriptwriting, and this book helped me to understand and appreciate the comics that I have been reading for the last 25 years so much more. A worthy read for anyone interested in the creative process behind the pages and panels of comics.