ALAN MOORE VS. DC COMICS

Alan On The "V For Vendetta" Movie
Alan gave some details about bits of the V For Vendetta shooting script he'd seen. "It was imbecilic; it had plot holes you couldn't have got away with in Whizzer And Chips in the nineteen sixties. Plot holes no one had noticed."
What Moore found most laughable however were the details. "They don't know what British people have for breakfast, they couldn't be bothered. 'Eggy in a basket' apparently. Now the US have 'eggs in a basket,' whish is fried bread with a fried egg in a hole in the middle. I guess they thought we must eat that as well, and thought 'eggy in a basket' was a quaint and Olde Worlde version. And they decided that the British postal service is called Fedco. They'll have thought something like, 'well, what's a British version of FedEx... how about FedCo? A friend of mine had to point out to them that the Fed, in FedEx comes from 'Federal Express.' America is a federal republic, Britain is not."
David Lloyd was reported to have commented on the script at the recent Bristol comics convention. Superherohype posted a fan report talking to Lloyd, saying "he thinks it was very good for an Action Thriller, but is very much different from the Graphic Novel. He said that the character of Evey is less of a victim in this film and that he had met with The Wachoski Brothers."
Alan's Previous Problems With DC
Alan, along with a number of creators such as Frank Miller, protested against DC's planned use of labelling comics to be age-specific, as well as the guidelines this would involve.
Co-creator Rick Veitch was dropped from "Swamp Thing" and his final issue abandoned as it featured Jesus Christ, publisher Jeanette Kahn going over editor Karen Berger's head. DC's given reason, that they don't feature real people, was instantly dismissed by many other examples.
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons signed a deal with DC that "Watchmen" would revert to them after the comic book went out of print. He didn't know it would still be in print twenty years later. The evasion of royalties on the "Watchmen" Button Set by labelling them promotional items was the cherry on that one.
"League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" #5 was pulped and reprinted on Paul Levitz's authority when the use of a real Victorian advert for a Marvel Douche was considered beyond the pale.
"Despite the Cobweb" story in "Tomorrow Stories" referring to individuals and a particular story in print in another of DC's titles, Paul Levitz' refused to allow this story to be printed. Newsarama reported that this led to Alan Moore's withdrawal from the Watchmen 15th Anniversary hardcover.
In the end it seems to come down to Alan Moore finding it hard to work with a large corporate publisher with concerns other than the success and quality of a particular comic book.
Top Shelf And Knockabout?
Top Shelf have been publishing a wide variety of comic books and graphic novels of all genres over the last decade as Chris Staros' business has grown. Their most high profile project to date was "Blankets" by Craig Thompson and they've published Alan Moore's DC-rejected "Cobweb" story, "The Mirror Of Love" and distributed Moore's poetry and original "From Hell" artwork from Eddie Campbell.
Knockabout are a small UK comics publisher, a counterpart to the US' Rip Off Press. They are best known for their UK underground work, from the likes of Hunt Emerson and Gilbert Shelton. They've also published Alan Moore's work, most memorably for the "Outrageous Tales Of The Old Testament."
Alan Makes An Appearance
Alan Moore has been invited by Patti Smith to appear at the Meltdown festival for an evening of homage to William Burroughs on the 16th June, attended by Barry Adamson, Portishead, Tom Verlaine and Jason Spaceman. Moore will either read extracts of Burroughs, or a suitable work of his own composition.
What's Next For Alan?
"Jerusalem" is the new novel by Alan Moore, his follow up to the recently reprinted "Voice Of The Fire." "Voice" told stories set in Alan Moore's home town of Northampton, over 10,000 years. He mockingly told me, "I feel it was a little too cosmopolitan. So my next novel is set in just three or four blocks in Northampton, where I grew up. It's the most important historical area anywhere anyway."
He's started drawing the cover, something he hasn't done in a long time, and he's enjoying discovering it again.
Alan is also considering a new album with Tim Perkins, but something different to his previous spoken word creations.
Alan is one hundred pages into an unnamed graphic novel for Avatar - something he committed to when faced with a tax bill and an imminent cashflow problem over an unexpected reduction in royalty payments on another project. Avatar Publisher William Christensen fronted Moore the necessary funds, Moore took an agreed holiday (his first he can recall in twenty-five years) and is now well into the project.
Although in all his new works, he is insisting that his contract become null and void if the publisher is bought by another, to avoid a repeat of the Wildstorm and DC Comics situation.
The Irony Age Of Comics
One final thought. Alan finds a last little irony, after recently reading Gerard Jones's "Men of Tomorrow." Specifically the chapter when Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster finally received their settlement payment from DC Comics at the time of the Superman movie, and got their credit on the film, as the summit of their fight for creative rights.
Alan's own fight for creative rights with DC has seen the exact opposite happen.