Alan Moore

Jenda

Hi all,

I'm attending a book launch for Lance Parkin's new biography of Alan Moore (which looks very good) in London the week after next.

The man himself'll be in attendance and will be giving a 90 minute Q&A session at the event.

Has anyone got any good questions to ask, and I'll pick my favourite to ask him? I'm fifth row so a good chance of getting called on I'd say!

Would rather not ask about superhero comics and come between the dragon and his wrath so anything off the beaten path would be appreciated

Thanks!

Neil McCauleys Cooler Brother

Ask him this: If he postulates that Jack the Ripper gave birth to the 20th century (as in From Hell), who (or what) does he think gave birth to the 21st century...

(You might also ask him what films he admires; I'd like to get some perspective on his whole "film-adaptations-of-comics-are-bad stance - a stance I largely agree with.)

Jenda

Neil McCauleys Cooler Brother wrote: »

Ask him this: If he postulates that Jack the Ripper gave birth to the 20th century (as in From Hell), who (or what) does he think gave birth to the 21st century...

(You might also ask him what films he admires; I'd like to get some perspective on his whole "film-adaptations-of-comics-are-bad stance - a stance I largely agree with.)

I really like both of these questions, thank you very much!

Bob Z

did he see the watchmen film? and if so did he like it? it was faithful to the comic

Morag

He never watches the films of any of his comics, he has no interest in doing so and says so on the record in any interview he ever gives.

Bob Z

Morag wrote: »

He never watches the films of any of his comics, he has no interest in doing so and says so on the record in any interview he ever gives.

yes but thats because most of them were bad or unlike the books but the watchmen was faithful.

Morag

The Watchmen movie was appalling imo.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/dec/15/alan-moore-why-i-rejected-hollywood-interview

Nervous Wreck

Faithful to the script and visuals, sure. But the movie of Watchmen completely missed the tone of the book. Awful film.

Bob Z

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

Faithful to the script and visuals, sure. But the movie of Watchmen completely missed the tone of the book. Awful film.

i found the film to be ok. but as i knew the story from the book so i wasnt fussed but how did you think the tone was different?

Nervous Wreck

Bob Z wrote: »

i found the film to be ok. but as i knew the story from the book so i wasnt fussed but how did you think the tone was different?

I don't even know, tbh. It just didn't feel right. The book has such a foreboding feeling the whole way through, it really feels gritty and hopeless. The gloss and slo-mo in the film just made it all feel like pantomime to me.

Fysh

To me the film of Watchmen was desperately trying to copy the visuals but failing to understand what was going on beyond that - my go-to example of this is that in the comic, when Dreiberg is calling over to Hollis Mason's house, there's a panel showing the sign outside the Mason's garage, with the text "Obsolete models a specialty!" - which in the book is a clever comment on both Dreiberg having replaced Mason as Nite Owl and the repercussions of Dr. Manhattan's provision of clean energy to the U.S. This shot is recreated in the film, despite the fact that it doesn't really work any more - the changes in the storyline have eliminated the need for "obsolete models a specialty" on Mason's advertising, and thus made any clever subtext to the sign meaningless.

I'm not convinced a good Watchmen adaptation was ever feasible, but Zack Snyder was certainly the wrong director to try and make it.

spektorfive

I agree about tone. I know it's stupid but I never in my head thought 99 red balloons should be in film version of Watchmen.

Dozen Wicked Words

My home town hero. Hope the Q and A went/goes well OP.


He is Northamptons finest.

Jenda

Great event, he screened two of his short movies (which are excellent) and had a really interesting, entertaining Q&A. Didn't actually get to ask a question in the end but did get to meet the man afterwards and have him sign Fashion Beast and the new biography about him by Lance Parkin (which the event was there to launch, and which is really excellent).

He's a very gracious, warm man in real life, but taller than I expected!! He was wearing a purple velvet suit with the standard snake-head cane as an accessory

Here's me getting my book signed, sorry the image is so big!

Dozen Wicked Words

Jenda wrote: »

Great event, he screened two of his short movies (which are excellent) and had a really interesting, entertaining Q&A. Didn't actually get to ask a question in the end but did get to meet the man afterwards and have him sign Fashion Beast and the new biography about him by Lance Parkin (which the event was there to launch, and which is really excellent).

He's a very gracious, warm man in real life, but taller than I expected!! He was wearing a purple velvet suit with the standard snake-head cane as an accessory

Here's me getting my book signed, sorry the image is so big!

Sounds like it was a brilliant time.
He's done a lot for local homeless and housing charities, still proud of our grotty old town which is rare ( I still love it too, despite there being very little to love about the town), hes the closest you could get to a Northampton Nationalist! Did he show Jimmy's End? A great name for anyone from Northampton, its name based on area of town called St. James but we all call it Jimmy's End. Alan's accent is about a broad a Northampton accent as you could find. As I said before, a legend, under appreciated in his home town IMHO.

Burky126

So this interview happened right after the event.

http://slovobooks.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/last-alan-moore-interview/

Also,it's quite lengthy.