RIP Steve Ditko

Spiderman always existed in my life.  The cartoons were on the TV when I was a kid.  The dodgy live action TV series from the seventies was still on rotation.  The comic books were about.  It's hard to believe that anyone actually designed and created Spiderman.  But Steve Ditko did create Spiderman.

I think I first read some the early Ditko comics reprinted in UK hardcover Spiderman annuals and the piles of old paper Marvel UK comics that they had in the cupboards at my primary school. The drawings were primitive and nervy.  The character did not look too heroic or cool.  He looked like a misfit teenager, a proper target for bullies.

Ditko also created the weird psychedelic visuals of Dr Strange.  This was a bit at odds with what I understand about his personality.  Ditko was the anti-hippy, a devotee of Ayn Rand.  Eventually he fell out with Stan Lee and moved onto new work.

He did work for DC but he also created the remarkable Mr A, a judge, jury and executioner type who took a hard line on crime.  Alan Moore borrowed heavily from Mr A for Rorschach and even wrote a song about the character with the Emperors of Ice Cream.

I've picked up a few Mr A books over the years and I'd love to see a proper collection.  Ditko kept himself to himself and avoided fame and publicity.  He was probably ripped off by Marvel and never got the money he deserved.

He was an interesting man and we will probably never know much about him.

Jerusalem by Alan Moore

I've just finished listening to the audiobook of Jerusalem by Alan Moore and I'm a bit blown away.  I chose to listen to the audiobook because of the sheer size of the book.  The hardback is 1200 pages long and I think the word count is more than a quarter of a million.  The audiobook is 60 hours long but at least I could listen to it on the train, in the bath and while I was doing housework.  The audiobook narration also helped me get through some of the more challenging sections such as the bit about the daughter of James Joyce.

I will read bits of the book again.  I will dip in and out.  I really want someone to write a book about this book and I look forward to character guides and websites becoming available on the internet.  What a ride!

I wonder if Jerusalem is a reworking of Big Numbers, his abandoned collaboration with Bill Sienkiewicz.  That work was to be set in Northampton and the plot was intended to rotate around the building of a new shopping centre.  Even if the two works were not destined to tell similar stories I am sad that we don't have the complete Big Numbers to compare with Jerusalem.  I will need to dig out my old copies and have a look.

I was also reminded of Voice of the Fire.  This is not unreasonable as both books mythologise Northampton and are written by Alan Moore.

Moore deals with life, death, existence and time.  The book is funny and full of supernatural elements.  There are moments of horror and you worry about what fate will hold for the characters.  The narrative is also complicated by multiple viewpoints and multiple identities for some characters.  A few diagrams and annotations would add a lot to this book and I feel that multiple re-reading will pay off (although a kindle copy will probably be much more portable).

This book could be Moore's best work.  It's a different beast to Watchmen.  At times he appears to have thrown everything into the mix, possibly even the kitchen sink.  At one point the KLF even appear, burning a million pounds.

Much of the book is thinly veiled autobiography.  Alma Warren is a cypher for Moore, sharing the same year of birth, the same eye problems and much of the same style and characteristics of Moore.  Her brother Mick shares a name and a year of birth with Moore's younger sibling.  Melinda Debbie, artist and partner of Alan Moore is a character in the book.  I believe that other parallels with the reality of Alan Moore's family history in Northampton exist.

Should you read this book?  If you have the time and patience, yes.  It is rewarding.  I got a lot from it.  It resounded with me emotionally and it cheered me up a bit shortly after the death of my dad.  I wish he could have read it.  The audiobook is a good way to tackle the book.  People will pick this apart for years.  I know I will.

Alan Moore: Storyteller by Gary Spencer Millidge

Storyteller is a biographical work dealing with the life and work of Alan Moore.  Moore has helped with the book and it probably shows.  Millidge is clearly a fan and his prose is never too critical of Moore.  I'm a big fan of Alan Moore myself but in some ways a more balanced biography may have been more interesting.  With that slight qualification in mind this book is still worthwhile.  It contains a fairly comprehensive account of all of Moore's work from his underground magazine and newspaper strip beginning through his blockbuster comic book years to his later musical experiments and more alternative comics.

The book is well illustrated with archive material from Moore and the artists he has worked with.  We get original scripts, sketchbooks, plot charts and pencil artwork.  We also get a CD collecting 80 minutes worth of Moore's musical work.  It's a great package.

This book may not be the final critical biography of Moore but it is an interesting account of an interesting man.

Alan Moore on those who cite him as an influence

"....when they read the books and they just don't quite understand it. There was a franker attitude towards sex in it and perhaps a franker attitude towards violence and I didn't understand it. So this is the key - more sex, more violence, make it incomprehensible and then you'll have that Alan Moore feeling"

Alan Moore at the Magus Conference 2010 - via youtube

An academic approach to Alan Moore

I just found out about an event that took place in Northampton last month.

http://www2.northampton.ac.uk/arts/home/AlanMoore

Looks like it was fairly good. Footage on youtube. He talks about his writing, his approach to art and his attitude to the mainstream media

Malcolm McLaren - RIP

Malcolm McLaren was an important man in many ways. He helped to shape my childhood and my awareness of the early 1980s. Even though he treated the Sex Pistols badly he pushed them into the limelight. I can't really imagine lfe without the Sex Pistols and punk rock.

McLaren cast himself as Fagin and very much saw himself as the star of his own movie. He pretty much was the star of 'the great rock 'n' roll swindle'.

His own music was interesting. He nearly made a film with Alan Moore. He also managed the New York Dolls. He was married to Vivienne Westwood. His son is Joseph Corre who brought sexy knickers to millions with Agent Provocateur.

RIP Malcolm McLaren

I hope John Lydon writes an obituary