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The Complete 2000AD by Alan Moore

CREATIVE TEAM: Alan Moore (writer)


Ian Gibson, Dave Gibbons, Alan Davies, Brendan McCarthy, Dave Harwood, Jose Casanovas, Eric Bradbury, Bryan Talbot, Steve Dillon, John Richardson, John Higgins, John Cooper, Garry Leach, Jesus Redondo, Joe Eckers, Mike White, Robin Smith, Boluda, Paul Neary, Alan Langford, Brett Ewins, Ron Tiner, Jim Eldridge (artists)


Tom Frame, Jack Potter, S. Craddock, Tony Jacob, Peter Knight, Dave Gibbons, John Aldritch, Steve Potter, Bill Nuttall, Tim Skomski, Paul Bensberg (letterers)


RELEASE DATE: April 8

PAPERBACK, 256 pages

PRICE: $66.99 Hardcover with Slipcase, $53.99 Hardcover



Available in print from: 2000 AD webshop, book stores, Amazon, and comic book stores via Lunar


REVIEW


In many ways a review of this book is probably superfluous beyond just confirming that it is indeed what it claims to be, which is a prodigious collection of Alan Moore’s early 2000AD shortform comics, a relatively obscure, but clearly formative period of his immortal oeuvre.

As such, I am delighted to verify that this titanic tome does exactly what it says on the tin!


... a relatively obscure, but clearly formative period of his immortal oeuvre. As such, I am delighted to verify that this titanic tome does exactly what it says on the tin!

For me this was a thrilling foray into a previously unexplored era of Moore’s comic writing, a time when he was still developing his virtuoso storytelling craft, and absolutely bursting with innovative ideas that would go on to transform the comics medium. The rapid succession of stories is especially fun, as we constantly change characters, premises, and genres, like channel surfing through an infinite ideaspace, with each stop a unique weird little jewel, a zen koan that smacks you upside the head, before quickly dissolving into the next adventure. You’d have to binge watch the full run of Twilight Zone episodes from the Universe Next Door at 5X speed to get an even vaguely comparable experience!


Recurring themes include aliens, robots, time travel, hapless holidaymakers, and the mystery of why you can’t find a ballpoint pen when you really need one. Though an undercurrent that runs throughout the book, which I found especially interesting, is the concept of genius. Around this time (early 1980’s) I expect Moore was being tagged with this label with increasing frequency, and was probably processing how he felt about it. The genius protagonists of these adventures generally fall victim to their own heightened Dunning-Kruger effects, suggesting Moore’s opinion on the matter of higher intelligence, or at least showing that he’s already savvy enough to understand the perils of believing your own press.


Though an undercurrent that runs throughout the book, which I found especially interesting, is the concept of genius. Around this time (early 1980’s) I expect Moore was being tagged with this label with increasing frequency, and was probably processing how he felt about it

A neat little meta level of enjoyment I found was the fuzzy line between Moore’s love of crafting pastiches of antiquated genre periodicals, and the plain fact that this is 40+ year old fiction from a genre periodical. Sometimes I think Moore is doing a bit, but other times I think it is just genuinely the thing itself, and oftentimes I find it quite indeterminate! 


Though, obviously, Alan Moore is the big draw here, the small army of featured artists actually do so much of the heavy lifting, and account for a great deal of the fun. There is no shortage of great talent amongst the assembled bullpen tasked with bringing Moore’s scripts to life, and one of the best parts of the reading experience is turning the page and discovering a new-to-you collaboration between Moore and some of the best artists of all time. The sheer volume of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons pages in this book is worth the price of admission all on its own. To see those names in a credit box in a story you’ve never read before is such a sublime treat, and it delivers in such glorious fashion too. And then you get Garry Leach and Alan Davis too! Similarly, to see collaborations between Moore and Steve Dillon, Bryan Talbot, and Brendan McCarthy is unfathomably cool!


The black and white art throughout the entire book is quite remarkable. Cleary drawn FOR black and white rather than just IN black and white, a slight but notable distinction. Even with artists constantly rotating through the book, with sometimes more and sometimes less familiar names, there does seem to be something of a house style that ties everything together with consistent quality, and I never found myself disappointed to switch from one of my all time favs to someone brand new. I swear, these guys draw like every inch of paper and nanosecond of attention is a resource of unfathomable value. There is nary a panel in this book that is not absolutely jam packed with elucidation! Ponderous negative space? No, thank you! Instead let’s have a dozen background characters all doing their own bit of business!


The black and white art throughout the entire book is quite remarkable. Cleary drawn FOR black and white rather than just IN black and white, a slight but notable distinction.

The writing is that way too, which I think is partially an Alan Moore thing, and partially a time period thing. Every page has a noticeably higher concentration of panels, characters, words, and ideas than most contemporary fare. It actually kind of took me forever to read the whole thing because there is just so much there! (Remember that run of Warren Ellis Moon Knight books that you could read in about 45 seconds each? Not in this economy!)


The sheer level of craft and graft on display here is a masterclass all its own on the art of comics making and storytelling. Harbingers of great things to come, sure, but even better as wonderful novelties all on their own.


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