Alan Moore, author of Watchmen and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, turned 60 years old today.In addition to those works, Moore is known for having written V for Vendetta, From Hell, Swamp Thing, Hellblazer and for having created Wildstorm’s “America’s Best Comics” line, including Tom Strong, Promethea and Top 10.Moore has won numerous Jack Kirby Awards during his career, including for Best Single Issue for Swamp Thing Annual No. 2 in 1985 with John Totleben and Steve Bissette, for Best Continuing Series for Swamp Thing in 1985, 1986 and 1987 with Totleben and Bissette, Best Writer for Swamp Thing in 1985 and 1986 and for Watchmen in 1987, and with Dave Gibbons for Best Finite Series and Best Writer/Artist (Single or Team) for Watchmen in 1987.Moore has won multiple Eagle Awards; in 1986, Moore not only won “favourite writer in both the U.S. and U.K. categories”, but for favourite comic book, supporting character, and new title in the U.S. and character, continuing story and “character worthy of own title” in the U.K.He received the Harvey Award for Best Writer for 1988 (for Watchmen), for 1995 and 1996 (for From Hell), for 1999 (for the year’s collective body of work), for 2000 (for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen),and for 2001 and 2003 (for Promethea).He has received the Eisner Award for Best Writer nine times since 1988, and was named by the British National Comics Award as the Best Comics Writer Ever.Known as one of the great trailblazers of ’80s comics, he has become equally well known later in life for being an eccentric and outspoken voice in the comics industry. While his work is among the most popular with Hollywood (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendetta, Watchmen and From Hell have all been adapted directly, as well as a Constantine film that draws heavily from Moore’s run on the book), bad experiences with the movie industry and contract disagreements with his former publishers have made Moore recoil from the projects, opting to sign his share of the rights and royalties away to his collaborators.Beginning in 2014, Marvel Comics will serialize reprints of his old Marvelman stories from the U.K. under the title Miracleman. The books have been solicited as written by “The Original Writer,” rather than by Moore himself. This will presumably save them at least a fraction of the bad press that DC caught when Before Watchmen happened–a project Moore campaigned against and for which he mocked the publisher in the mainstream press.
