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A League All His Own:
"Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman"
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Review by Stan Coleman
Television has been doing it for years
- the tribute - to an actor or director, going behind the scenes for a movie or
milestone event. That is all very commonplace these days and times. But a
tribute book to a comic book creator is indeed uncharted territory. “Alan Moore:
Portrait Of An Extraordinary Gentleman,” much like its subject, seems to have no
problem blazing a trail for others to follow.
The book is comprised of especially created comic strips, illustrations, essays,
anecdotes, cartoons, and personal tributes and stories from some of the biggest
names in the industry. To name but a few would do injustice to them all, so I
will name the two people responsible for this all coming about in the first
place.
The brainchild of Smoky Man (creator of ultrazine.org) and
co-edited with Gary Spencer Millige (Strangehaven), Portrait Of An Extraordinary
Gentleman is essentially a 50th-birthday present for Alan Moore. A tribute to
him by over 145 writers, artists, directors, and friends has been collected into
a hefty 352-page “gift” book for every Moore fan to enjoy.
And there is much here to enjoy - page after page of pictures, original
illustrations, stories and more. Here are a few personal favorites, which make
the book worth its cover price alone.
The Gary Spencer Millige 12-page “Alan Moore: An Extraordinary
Gentleman” biographic comic strip is brilliant and should be mandatory reading
for all Moore fans. It works on so many levels. To the uninitiated it will give
them a great overview of the man and his work; to those of us who have been
around since Moore was giving “anatomy lessons,” we get to laugh at all the
visual references drawn directly from Moore comic books. And no matter how much
you think you know about Moore, by the end of the strip you will you have
learned a thing or two, and then can go back to being content that now you know
it all.
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Leah and Amber Moore’s story “Moore’s Eclectic Emporium” shows that writing
talent was not a fluke branch in the Moore family tree. (I wonder if it’s too
late to see if he would adopt me.) This was definitely one of the book’s
highlights for me. It’s a fictional story of two old spinster sisters who are
“purveyors of quality merchandise, novelties, home furnishings and occult
paraphernalia”. It details their life after the retirement of “His Holiness the
Archduke of Spook” and the musty shop the sell their wares from. Very funny and
certainly entertaining, “Moore’s Eclectic Emporium” is excellent.
The Stephen Bissette text piece “Mr. Moore and Me” was undoubtedly
a high point of the book. He does an excellent job at putting you at ground zero
for what would become their legendary Swamp Thing run. I literally felt like a
fly on the wall eavesdropping at the goings on. But the story is ultimately a
tale of sadness, of loss and of misunderstandings. When talking about his and
Alan’s relationship near the end of the piece, you feel his pain in every
sentence. This is probably the most heartfelt entry in the entire book and
should not be missed by fans of either of these great creators.
Also scattered through out the book are full-page illustrations,
some color and some in black and white, of Alan Moore characters. To see a new
color Dave Gibbons Watchmen team shot is priceless, or Adam Hughes’s fantastic
LoEG pin-up, definitely not stuff that comes along every day. I was also greatly
impressed with artist’s work I wasn’t familiar with. Claudio Villa, a famous
Italian artist, does the best Tom Strong I have ever seen - it’s perfect.
Rorschach standing by the water tower by Ken Meyer Jr. was another favorite of
mine, and I could go on and on. Suffice it to say no matter whom your favorite
Alan Moore character is, he more than likely appears in this book at least once.
I have only touched on a small amount of the material you will
actually find between the covers of this tribute, and you owe it to yourself to
explore the rest of it. Books this good are few and far in-between.
Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that 100% of the
publisher’s net profits and all creators’ royalties from this book are being
donated to charities in aid of Alzheimer’s disease. So not only do you get a
great book but you are also helping a very worthwhile charity, another great
reason it should be sitting on every Alan Moore fan’s bookshelf.
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As we got ready to post this review I received the following
information from Smoky Man:
Starting from the 22nd of this month, and ending the 29th of July, an online
charity auction with some of the "Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary
Gentleman" original art pages will start on eBay Italia at the URL:
http://members.ebay.it/aboutme/aimacagliari/.
The auction will have the support and coverage of major European
Internet company Tiscali (www.tiscali.it)
which will also manage a virtual exhibition. All the profits from the auction
will be donated, as for the AMPoEG book, to Alzheimer’s organizations ADI -
Alzheimer's Disease International www.alz.co.uk
and AIMA - the Italian Association for Alzheimer's disease
www.italz.it/refs/aima/aimad.htm.
We’ll also offer on eBay a special copy of the AmPoEg signed by:
Alan Moore, Al Davison, Antony Johnston, Antonio Solinas, Bryan Talbot, Chris
Staros, Dave Gibbons, David Lloyd, Ducan Fegredo, Gary Spencer Millidge,
Giuseppe Camuncoli, Igort, Jeff Smith, Jim Lee, Joel Meadows, José Villarrubia,
Leah Moore, Mark Buckingam, Matteo Casali, Metaphrog, Michele Medda, Mike
Collins, Omar Martini, Otto Gabos, Rich Johnston, Rob Williams, Sean Phillips,
smoky man, Trevor Hairsine.
I wish them the best of luck with the auctions, and I hope they
generate a lot of money for their charities. I know there are a couple of pieces
I will be looking for.
Auction Update
Hi,
I am sorry to inform you that due to unpredictable and sudden
technical reasons in the production of the webpage’s, the "Alan Moore: Portrait"
on line charity auction, originally set for 22-29 July (see previous
announcement), has been cancelled and re-scheduled for a date to be determined
(it will tentatively take place in September, more info soon).
Please feel free to contact me for any extra info you could need.
smoky man –Ultrazine.org
As soon as I have a new schedule I will post it on the main page.
Just look at it this way, now you have more time to save up money for the piece
you want (but the Tom Strong is mine if it goes up LOL).
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