Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, IDW | Tagged: Alan Moore, Ben Wickey, John Coulthart, Kevin O'Neill, melinda gebbie, Moon And Serpent Bumper Book Of Magic, rick veitch, steve moore, steve parkhouse

Alan Moore's Moon And Serpent Bumper Book Of Magic Is At The Printers

Alan Moore and Steve Moore's Moon And Serpent Bumper Book Of Magic Is At The Printers, from IDW/Top Shelf and Knockabout

Published Fri, 24 May 2024 08:58:10 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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Article Summary

Alan Moore's final comic book, Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic, goes to print.
Twenty years in the making, the work pays tribute to the late Steve Moore and Kevin O'Neill.
The book is a part-comic, part-grimoire medley with interactive cut-out pieces.
Set for October release, it coincides with Moore's third novel in the Long London series.

Top Shelf Comix/IDW Entertainment and Knockabout Comics have confirmed that the long-awaited Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic by Alan Moore, Steve Moore, Kevin O'Neill, John Coulthart, Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch, Melinda Gebbie, and Ben Wickey is at the printers. It has been twenty years in the making, and sadly, we lost both Steve Moore and Kevin O'Neill in that time. Part comic book, part grimoire, it is part and parcel of the spoken word performance art pieces that Alan Moore was creating around that time as well. As someone who saw The Birth Caul – A Shamanism Of Childhood by Alan Moore performed in Newcastle almost thirty years ago, it is a birth that has been a long time coming.

Using the language and stylings of the classic British "bumper book" annuals – basically a big book with lots of stuff in it in various media – it will also include cut-out pieces to build your own Moon And Serpent temple, a guide to acquiring your own personal god to worship, a history of magic and storytelling in comic book form and will, even after League and Cinema Purgatorio, be Alan Moore's final comic book work. Apart from the other ones still squirrelled away, yet to see the light.

The Moon And Serpent Bumper Book Of Magic will be published in October, along with Alan Moore's third novel, The Great When, part of the new Long London pentology. It is available from Top Shelf in the US and from Knockabout in the UK. Bleeding Cool will be having a read-through of an advance copy next week. No spoilers…

THE MOON AND SERPENT BUMPER BOOK OF MAGIC
Written by Alan Moore & Steve Moore
Art by Kevin O'Neill, John Coulthart, Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch,
Melinda Gebbie, and Ben Wickey
Book design by John Coulthart
ISBN 978-1-60309-550-1 | 9" x 12" hardcover | 352 pages | $49.99 (US)

Splendid news for enquiring minds, and guaranteed salvation for humanity! Messrs. Steve and Alan Moore, proprietors of the celebrated Moon & Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels (sorcery by appointment since circa 150 AD) have produced a clear and practical grimoire of the occult sciences that offers endless necromantic fun for all the family. Exquisitely illuminated by a host of adepts including Kevin O'Neill, John Coulthart, Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch, Melinda Gebbie, and Ben Wickey, this marvellous and unprecedented tome promises to provide all that the reader could conceivably need in order to commence a fulfilling new career as a diabolist.

Its contents include profusely illustrated instructional essays upon this ancient sect's theories of magic, notably the key dissertation "Adventures in Thinking," which gives reliable advice as to how entry into the world of magic may be readily achieved. Further to this, a number of "Rainy Day" activity pages present lively and entertaining things-to-do once the magical state has been attained, including such popular pastimes as divination, etheric travel and the conjuring of a colourful multitude of sprits, deities, dead people and infernal entities from the pit, all of whom are sure to become your new best friends.

Also contained within this extravagant compendium of thaumaturgic lore is a history of magic from the last ice age to the present day, told in a series of easy-to-absorb pictorial biographies of fifty great enchanters and complemented by a variety of picture stories depicting events ranging from the Palaeolithic origins of art, magic, language and consciousness to the rib-tickling comedy exploits of Moon & Serpent founder Alexander the False Prophet ("He's fun, he's fake, he's got a talking snake!").

In addition to these manifold delights, the adventurous reader will also discover a series of helpful travel guides to mind-wrenching alien dimensions that are within comfortable walking distance, as well as profiles of the many quaint local inhabitants that one might bump into at these exotic resorts. A full range of entertainments will be provided, encompassing such diverse novelties and pursuits as a lavishly decorated decadent pulp tale of occult adventure recounted in the serial form. Completing this almost-unimaginable treasure trove is a lengthy thesis revealing the ultimate meaning of both the Moon and the Serpent in a manner that makes transparent the much-obscured secret of magic, happiness, sex, creativity and the known Universe, while at the same time explaining why these lunar and ophidian symbols feature so prominently in the order's peculiar name. (Manufacturer's disclaimer: this edition does not, however, reveal why the titular cabal of magicians consider themselves to be either grand or Egyptian. Let the buyer beware.)

A colossal and audacious publishing triumph of three hundred and fifty-two pages, beautifully produced in the finest tradition of educational literature for young people, The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic will transform your lives, your reality, and any spare lead that you happen to have lying around into the purest and most radiant gold. — a 352-page, 9" x 12", full-color hardcover

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