Another Suburban Romance (Alan Moore’s…)

    (Avatar, 2003–2004, 2011)
™ and © Alan Moore & Avatar

Never has there been a better time to be an Alan Moore fan; the wealth of stories that continues to pour from this man’s mind boggles everyone else’s. But it’s likely that those familiar with Moore’s traditional fare from WildStorm’s ABC line or even his occasional oddball contributions to Top Shelf’s lineup might miss his more unusual and graphic work for Avatar Press.

Avatar has a reputation for coaching some pretty strange stuff out of some of comics’ top writers, and this is a typical example. It actually consists of Johnston’s adaptation of three separate stories that compose, surprisingly, a stage play written by Moore. These disparate stories almost defy description; the first is a man’s nightmarish wanderings through a city full of such everyday elements as child cannibals, disease-ridden public transportation, and bombs under barstools. The second is a poetic romp through the lifestyle of a 1920s gangster. The last is Moore himself wandering through a city ripe with aspects of the more familiar hells of urban living. All are carefully rendered with Geof Darrow-like precision by Ryp.

If Moore’s work is a seven-course feast, then this is what’s left for the doggie bag. But even table scraps should be enough to help satisfy the appetite of fans who can’t get enough Alan Moore in their comic diet. Even at eight bucks.

— Jim Johnson
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#1

May, 2003
Cover Price: $7.95
2 copies available from $5.10 		Alan Moore, Antony JohnstonJuan José Ryp