Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Alan Moore, anarchy

Alan Moore Is Considering Launching A Podcast About Anarchism

Published Sat, 15 Oct 2022 12:57:08 -0500

Talking to Matt Bell for the Wisconsin Book Festival earlier today, Alan Moore talked about the history of the short story, his approach to the stories within Illuminations, his pride in writing the novel Jerusalem and the impact it had on those who read it. And, yes, when asked, the impact of the superhero movie on society, as encouraging simplistic made-for-children approach to morality in public life, and citing Birth Of A Nation as the first superhero movie. Talking about the novel-within-Illuminations, What We Can Know About Thunderman took Alan Moore online, at least by proxy, printing off Reddit threads for research. Will you find one of your comments recontextualised and recreated by Alan for such purposes?

But being asked if he would return to his spoken word performance pieces of art such as Highbury Working or The Moon And Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre Of Marvels, and how much he enjoyed doing them, he teased the possibility of returning to spoken word performances in a different fashion, starting a podcast looking at the history of anarchism.

Alan Moore has described himself as an anarchist on occasion, as well as a socialist libertarian. Most memorably, V For Vendetta set up the two points of view of fascism against anarchy, as if these were the only two internally defendable choices available to us, and co-created in V, an anarchic symbol that has lasted the decades. V looks to even appear, bizarrely, in the new season of Pennyworth.

He has previously stated "As an anarchist, I believe that power should be given to the people, to the people whose lives this is actually affecting. It's no longer good enough to have a group of people who are controlling our destinies. The only reason they have the power is because they control the currency. They have no moral authority and, indeed, they show the opposite of moral authority" and famously came off the anarchist position to promote a vote for Jeremy Corbyn at the last General Election. Boris Johnson won in a landslide. Of course, we all know what happened – and is still happening – then.

Alan Moore also talked about reading to his grandsons four times a week, and his admiration for great children's writers, and talks about a wish to write those kinds of books, but doesn't know if he'll have the time – as he wants to write everything. But thinks it is best to leave children's literature in the hands of those who understand it more than he does. He says the middle section of Jerusalem probably comes the closest to that.

Illuminations: Stories Hardcover – October 11, 2022

From New York Times bestselling author Alan Moore―one of the most influential writers in the history of comics―"a wonderful collection, brilliant and often moving" (Neil Gaiman) which takes us to the fantastical underside of reality. In his first-ever short story collection, which spans forty years of work, Alan Moore presents a series of wildly different and equally unforgettable characters who discover–and in some cases even make and unmake–the various uncharted parts of existence. In "A Hypothetical Lizard," two concubines in a brothel of fantastical specialists fall in love with tragic ramifications. In "Not Even Legend," a paranormal study group is infiltrated by one of the otherworldly beings they seek to investigate. In "Illuminations," a nostalgic older man decides to visit a seaside resort from his youth and finds the past all too close at hand. And in the monumental novella "What We Can Know About Thunderman," which charts the surreal and Kafkaesque history of the comics industry's major players over the last seventy-five years, Moore reveals the dark, beating heart of the superhero business. From ghosts and otherworldly creatures to theoretical Boltzmann brains fashioning the universe at the big bang, Illuminations is exactly that–a series of bright, startling tales from a contemporary legend that reveal the full power of imagination and magic.

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