A month of Moore #25: ...It's Edwin.

 

- Abelard Snazz: Genius Is Pain. Art by Mike White.

The 'jog for your lives!' line from an earlier Abelard Snazz adventure might be my favourite piece of dialogue Moore has ever written, but the final brutal punchline in the epic of Snazz is just so fucking perfect.

A month of Moore #24: The library is now closing.

- Jack B Quick: I, Robert. Art by Kevin Nowlan.

The robots don't do anything except regurgitate the same sound-bytes over and over again, it's the dumbasses pushing the wheelbarrows who bring the fascism.

A month of Moore #23: What do you take me for?

- Captain Britain. Art by Alan Davis

The ridiculousness of superheroes is always best served by acknowledging it, and leaning into it. It's always a little cringe when superhero comics get all self-conscious and ashamed of how silly they truly  are. Embrace the absurd, it's the only way they ever really work.

A month of Moore #22:You should see me dance the polka.

- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen volume 2. Art by Kevin O'Neil. I still miss you so much, Kev.

Mr Hyde is the worst of us, a slave to his ravenous impulses, and can still dance to his death to help save the world. Plus he gets to eat a couple of the little bastards before they blast him into eternity. 

A month of Moore #21: The necessary action.

- Swamp Thing #60. Art by John Totleben.

Massive space aliens getting it off with Swampy in a fusion of cosmic horniness, unfathomable technology and vast geography is just so fucking hot.

A month of Moore #20: Machen somehow finds an exit.

- Snakes and Ladders. Adapted by Eddie Campbell.

Even in the worst moments of despair, and when crushing grief is rolling over you in waves, there is a way out of the wretched dark, if you can look up and see it.

A month of Moore #19: We met ourselves coming back.

- Chronocops. Art by Dave Gibbons.

If time is a solid construct of interdimensional stuff, and all things are happening at once forever, then of course you constantly have to hide the potted plant to avoid confusion.

A month of Moore #18: So intricate, so insane?

- Promethea. Art by JH Williams III.

Throughout his comics career, Moore always had the good fortune to work with artists who were capable of drawing any madness we could shovel at them, and this may have reached its ultimate iteration with the remarkable work of JH Williams on Promethea, where he literally drew everything and anything.

A month of Moore #17: This is where things start to get interesting!

- 1963 #6. Art by Rick Veitch.

Despite what Don Simpson thinks, nobody really was desperate to see how 1963 actually turned out. But there was still a pleasant shock of the new when fucking Shaft showed up on the last page. All that ironic retro bollocks was fun, and bringing in the new kids on the block to clash with those old vibes was actually fairly inspired.

A month of Moore #16: A cup of eternity.

- Big Numbers #2. Art by Bill Sienkiewicz.

You can do anything with words and pictures, but only Alan and Bill could find unspeakable beauty in a teacup, with the endless wonder of the truly ordinary, right there on the kitchen table.

A moment of Morrison #1: I'm ready to play with the grown-ups.

- The Invisibles #1. Art by Frank Quitely

Some people are very much into the idea that Moore and Morrison are engaged in a vast magickal war for the soul of pop culture, and I know Affable Al has gone on record saying that no reader of Gnarly Grant could truly be a fan of his, but I just think they're both neat.

A month of Moore #15: Thirty-five minutes ago...

- Watchmen. Art by Dave Gibbons.

It's utterly futile, and they're both doomed, but the way Bernard instinctively tries to shield the kid from  the bright light of death that envelops them both, it gives a tiny spark of hope in the face of an uncaring apocalypse.

A month of Moore #14: Anybody could have done it.

- The Ballad of Halo Jones Book 2. Art by Ian Gibson

You don't have to find this kind of thing incredibly inspiring, but I bloody well do.

A month of Moore #13: Kakahukkahuk!

- Brought to Light: Shadowplay - The Secret Team. Art by Bill Sienkiewicz.

America, fuck yeah!

A month of Moore #12: Now everyone is throwing shapes.

- Star Wars: Tiltotny Throws A Shape. Art By John Stokes

The other day, my four-year-old daughter was grooving to her favourite tunes, and said ' Look at the shapes I'm throwing!', and that's how I know we're really all living in a Moore comic.

A month of Moore #11: Here's to a strong future!

- Tom Strong. Art by Chris Sprouse

Irony is so fucking over-rated, man.

A month of Moore #10: I never saw her again.

- The Reversible Man. Art by Mike White.

Such a simple premise, given incredible depth through the tiniest change of perspective. Maybe my favourite Moore short story of them all.