After years and years of inspiring and entertaining millions of comic book readers, Alan Moore is officially stepping away from comic books. Well, okay, he’s not retiring immediately, but he’s announced that after he wraps up a few more projects, he’ll be done with the medium that made him famous. Moore is the genius behind some of the most well-loved graphic novels like V for Vendetta, The Killing Joke, and Watchmen (those are just three out of a rich, amazing backlist that you must check out if you have never read Moore’s books), and his work has left an indelible mark on the comic book industry. Seeing such a huge figure in the industry step away is always sad, even if it isn’t totally unexpected.
Moore has been talking about retiring from comic books for quite some time now. As i09 reports, Moore has been ready for quite a while to step back to let the next generation of creators come forward. However, though he’s ready to move on, Moore does have a few projects left to complete. As he explained to The Guardian, he feels like he has about, “250 pages of comics left” in him. So what will Moore’s final works be? The first order of business will be finishing Cinema Purgatorio, a book he’s working on with Kevin O’Neil, wrapping up some HP Lovecraft comics he’s doing with Avatar Press, and the final book of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. After that, the master will be stepping away from his craft.
So once Moore wraps up his remaining projects, will we ever see him in the comic book world again? Well, maybe here and there. Moore did say that he’d potentially do smaller comic book projects from time to time, but he is ready to step back from the industry. While it’s sad to see Moore retire, he explained in his interview with The Guardian that it’s ultimately better for comics. Moore explained, “I think if I were to continue to work in comics, inevitably the ideas would suffer, inevitably you’d start to see me retread old ground and I think both you and I probably deserve something better than that.” We’re sad to see you go, Mr. Moore, but thanks for all the amazing work that you’ve left us with.
What are are some of your favorite Alan Moore books? Let’s talk about it in the comments!
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