Alan Moore

In the early 1990s, his wife Phyllis left him and in the year 2007, he married comic artist, Melinda Gebbie.

Alan Moore was born in Northamptonshire, England to working class parents Ernest Moore, who worked at a brewery, and Sylvia Doreen, a painter by profession. He was raised in the poverty stricken area of Northampton.

He attained his preliminary education from Spring Lane Primary School and it is said that he was a voracious reader since he was five years old. He spent most of his time reading British comic strips.

He later attended the Northampton Grammar School, where he first got acquainted with middle class people. He did not like the school very much and lost interest in academics.

In the 1960s, he started publishing his writings - both poetry and essays. Eventually, he established his own fanzine, ‘Embryo’. A fanzine was a non-official production of a cultural phenomenon by its fans for people with similar interest.

Subsequently, he became acquainted with the group ‘The Arts Lab’ and began to publish a significant chunk of his writing with the group. He also went on to do a lot of odd jobs to support himself.

He quit his office job and decided that he wanted to pursue a career in illustrating and writing. Some of his works were previously published in local papers, magazines and fanzines.

His first paid publications included drawings that were published in the music magazine titled, ‘NME’. Following this, he began to write a detective series under the title, ‘Roscoe Moscow’, for the music magazine, ‘Sounds’ under the pseudonym Curt Vile.

In 1979, his comic strip titled, ‘Maxwell the Magic Cat’ was published in the ‘Northants Post’ under the pen name, ‘Jill de Ray’. He continued writing for the series until 1986. He later wrote for Britain’s most well-known magazine, ‘2000AD’.

From 1980 until the year 1984, he worked as a freelance writer and wrote for publications such as, ‘Warrior’, ‘Marvel U.K’ and ‘2000AD’. Over 50 of his stories were published in ‘Future Shocks’ and ‘Time Twisters’ of ‘2000AD’.

In 1983, ‘DC Comics’ reinvented and modified their ‘Swamp Thing’ series. Martin Pasko, who then contributed to the publication, was dismissed and the job was transferred to Moore. Meanwhile, he contributed for ‘Marvelman’ and ‘V for Vendetta’ in the Warrior magazine as well.

His graphic novel, ‘Watchmen’ is regarded as one of his ground-breaking works and also one of the best comic books to have ever been written. The novel was a massive commercial success and also received critical acclaim.

His ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ was made into a film in the year 2003. Volume I also received the Bram Stoker Award for ‘Best Illustrated Narrative’. ‘Time Magazine’ listed the second volume of his comic as the ‘9th Best Comic of 2003’.