Comments on: "There are the various were-cockroaches and wrigglies"

"There are the various were-cockroaches and wrigglies"

kittens for breakfast — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:16:42 -0800

Artist Stephen R. Bissette dissects the making of Saga of the Swamp Thing #20, the first American comics appearance of writer Alan Moore (um...previously), in a series of blog posts that feature much original artwork (by Bissette and others), as well as a sampling of Moore's apparently absolutely ginormous script for the issue. (Warning: Parts of Bissette's site are NSFW.) Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.

By: radiosilents

radiosilents — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:37:07 -0800

thank you! i have been a fan of his work since the Alan Moore run on ST. my uncle sent me a stack of them, and then kept sending them as they came out. i was like 12. it was AWESOME. i was regularly blown away by the quality of the artwork.

By: Donnie VandenBos

Donnie VandenBos — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:42:30 -0800

Yes, thanks for posting this, kittens for breakfast. I never knew Bissette had his own website (been checking out Rick Veitch's for awhile) and it's great to read his insights on the beginning of one of the most legendary reinventions in comic book history.

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:42:40 -0800

This is good stuff, thanks for posting it. I was buying these when they came out and those were some exciting times.

By: shoesfullofdust

shoesfullofdust — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:55:12 -0800

Lovely. Last week, I read book one of The Saga of the Swamp Thing. Over the weekend, I went through Gibbons' Watching the Watchmen a second time. Now this. How do I get these men out of my life?

By: homunculus

homunculus — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:26:15 -0800

Oh cool. Thanks, kittens.

By: Scoo

Scoo — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:21:58 -0800

Wow, I'm dizzy! This is GREAT.

By: Artw

Artw — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:22:22 -0800

Due to the proliferation of Alan Moore scripts out there wannabe comicbookwriter lesson 1 is almost always this: You are not Alan Moore. Alan Moore is a genius. Do not attempt to imitate him. You should not be spending half a page describing a panel. You should not be piling layout directive after layout directive onto the artist. Cut it all way back. Then, later, as you figure out when it is actually needed you can start putting it back in. I should have some kind of Why You Are Not Alan Moore FAQ to link to on Google comics writing groups and the like, and save myself a bunch of typing.

By: Donnie VandenBos

Donnie VandenBos — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:32:40 -0800

01. Am I Alan Moore? You are not Alan Moore. You are probably Jerry Prosser. 02. Who? Exactly.

By: Artw

Artw — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:13:03 -0800

Nothing wrong with being a Prosser. Prosser does solid work.

By: Ron Thanagar

Ron Thanagar — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:37:16 -0800

WOW. Thanks for this! Coincidentally, last week I began re-reading my stack of TABOOs. Veddy cool.

By: Donnie VandenBos

Donnie VandenBos — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:02:57 -0800

Nothing wrong with being a Prosser. Prosser does solid work. Oh man, no. Remember the end of Animal Man? Or Skin Graft?

By: Artw

Artw — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:09:39 -0800

Heh. Ditched those at issues 1 and 0 respectively, but his Dark ahorse stuff was solid.

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:54:16 -0800

this is awesome. thanks so much.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:31:30 -0800

Something that's worth mentioning in this context, I think, is that Alan Moore hasn't spoken to Bissette for over a decade. (scroll down for a mention of it) I don't have a link to Bissette's original post of it--he's also written about it in a collection of tributes to Moore on the occasion of his 50th birthday--but essentially Bissette did an interview with The Comics Journal about, IIRC, some publishing venture that he and Moore were involved in with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman, and he sent a first draft of the interview to Moore to see if their recollection of the events jibed... and Moore called him back and said that, from then on, all further communication, if any, between them would be done via lawyers. Bissette still isn't sure why Moore is giving him the silent treatment.