Alan Moore seems to possess an integrity that is not understood by creators and fans alike. He has consistently disavowed the translation of his work into other media and has forsaken the fame and monetary rewards that we all know go along with that. The creation of comics as a pitching tool to television and film has become such conventional logic, that Alan Moore’s denials of the fruits of that success are an affront. Renouncing that money means that it was never done for the up-sell to television or film but something else. That is why most contemporary writers don’t show Mr. Moore the respect he deserves; because what he discards as inessential is their entire reason for creating comics. To them, the money and validation not possible in comics except through film and television are the very definition of success. Why would anyone throw that all away? What motivates Alan Moore if not material success and fame? For too many, there would be no point.
I think what’s lost on most contemporary comics creators is the acceptance that they’re creating Art. Even the most stupid infantile comic strip would be made better and more powerful to audience members if it was created with some artistic guiding principles in mind. The biggest of those is having something to say. Comics writers are correct in saying how difficult it is to come up with new material to capture people’s imaginations (and wallets). That’s because they’ve hollowed out their venture into trying to come up with a remixing of a small pool of ideas into a ‘new’ form while always preserving the nostalgic thrill of their sources. It sounds incredibly difficult to try and capture the feeling of things we’ve already loved numerous times with a veneer of the new and fresh. You can see that the approach is engineered to cash in on the thrills from an already existing audience while offering them the illusion of novelty. Sell them something they’ve already bought in the guise of something different.
When you listen in on creator conversations at conventions or studios, you may notice that the craft of making this stuff almost never comes up. Instead, they tend to lean on the business side of things like editors, page rates, publishers, press etc. Most writers of comics would be very happy to have Mr. Moore’s career and would salivate at the royalties he’s tossed off. In fact, the path of making comics for film and television was largely carved out by Alan Moore so even their career path owes a debt to him. Why, if commercial success is the goal, aren’t the more cynical and craven trying to reverse engineer the gold in those stories? That I know only leads to places that they are afraid to examine. Alan Moore has not made it any secret what’s informs his writing so there’s no logical answer. The validation of proving you can do what’s already been done must be good enough.
What has Alan Moore said about his approach/philosophy to writing? In the documentary, The Mindscape of Alan Moore there are two very revealing ideas. Here is the first major point about getting in tune with the Self.
The search for the Self with a capital S is understood to be the great work, as being the gold of the alchemists, thought as being the will, the soul, the thing that we have inside us that is behind the intellect, the body, the dreams, the inner dynamo of us, if you like. Now, this is the single most important thing that we can ever attain, the knowledge of our own self and yet there are a frightening amount of people who seem to have the urge not just to ignore the self but actually seem to have the urge to obliterate themselves. This is horrific but you can almost understand the desire simply to wipe out that awareness because it’s too much of a responsibility to actually possess such a thing as a soul–such a precious thing. What if you break it? What if you lose it? Mightn’t it be better to anesthetize it, to deaden it, to destroy it to not have to live with the pain of struggling towards it and trying to keep it pure. I think that the way that people immerse themselves in alcohol, in drugs, in television, in any of the addictions that our culture throws up can be seen as a deliberate attempt to destroy any connection between themselves and the responsibility of accepting and owning a higher self and then having to maintain it.
As far as writing advice goes, this a long way from Story by Robert McKee isn’t it? He seems to be talking almost in spiritual terms of getting in touch with something deep within ourselves; something that the common culture denies and supplants with meaninglessness. Rather than providing the kinds of distractions from that higher investigation, Alan Moore is suggesting we do exactly the opposite of what our society encourages; seek the universal within yourself and recognize it in each other. If we’re to bring it back to writing this quest for the higher self is very much like the hero’s myth. The hero must leave the comforts of normal society to brave dangers in search of a greater understanding/reality. When that has been achieved by the hero through great sacrifice and struggle, he goes on to sell that idea for as much money as possible to Hollywood, right? No, the hero takes that higher understanding and brings it back to to collective to transform consciousness and society.
What the writer has learned from knowledge of the Self is transformed into art that can communicate that message to others. The writer/artist communicates to others their insights from their own journey to better understand themselves and reality. Doesn’t that sound like a working definition of Art? To take experience and share it for growth of all.
In latter times I think the artists and writers have allowed themselves to be sold down the river. They have accepted the prevailing belief that art and writing are merely forms of entertainment. They are not seen as transformative forces that can change a human being, that can change a society. They are seen as simple entertainment, things with which we can fill twenty minutes, half an hour while we’re waiting to die.
It is not the job of artists to give the audience what the audience wants. If the audience knew what they needed, then they wouldn’t be the audience, they would be the artists. It’s the job of artists to give the audience what they need.
I see the role of artist as mere entertainer to be a dead end and a product of the sort of diminishing returns inevitable when trying to pass off tired fictions as something new. I’ve illustrated enough series to see this logic at work and how it fails to pass on a meaningful spark of inspiration. It’s as though the creators of contemporary comics keep forcing their formulations for commercial success but fail to adjust them when they dry up. By looking within yourself, you understand that what stirs your soul is not that different than what stirs the souls of your audience. The art you make to help your Self’s journey can help others and that’s the REAL role of art; to contribute to the overall evolution of consciousness.
