12th April 2010 / Alan Moore / Wolverine
WOLVERINE: Over the weekend, you may have heard the sad news that Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman’s X-MEN: MISFITS manga has been cancelled. Alas, I can confirm that the same fate awaits WOLVERINE: PRODIGAL SON.
It’s a great shame. I was very pleased with the second volume, and Wilson’s work for it was even better than for the first. And I really hoped we could take it still further; although the initial story came to a close in Volume 2, I wrote it in such a way that it left open the possibility of many more adventures for young Logan.
Unfortunately, the simple truth is that not enough people bought them. Despite WOLVERINE being praised by readers and selected for two library YA lists, despite MISFITS making it onto the New York Times bestseller list, and not least despite all the efforts of Del Rey themselves and our editors there, there just weren’t enough readers to justify the costs. This is, sadly, more common than you might think in comics.
THE BEAST: Also confirmed over the weekend was the graphic novel adaptation of FASHION BEAST, Alan Moore’s famous “lost” screenplay which he wrote in conjunction with Malcolm McLaren who planned to produce it as a film.
This isn’t a recent project. FASHION BEAST has been in production as a comic since 2003! But anyone who’s read the screenplay knows that it’s an incredibly complex and detailed work, and my script reflects that. So it’s taken us a long time to find an artist who could deal with the sheer amount of work it requires. Fortunately, Facundo is up to the task, and has already produced some fantastic pages.
Obviously, we were hoping to produce it soon, and get Malcolm on board for publicity; he was enthusiastic about the project, and there’s no question he would have enjoyed bringing his own inimitable style of rabble rousing to comics. With his sad death last week, all we can do now is try to honour his memory. RIP.
17th March 2009 / Alan Moore / Interviews / On Sale
Wide distribution of LIGHT OF THY COUNTENANCE commences tomorrow, apparently. What that means is that every store that’s ordered copies should have it, and/or can re-order it with confidence.
To coincide with this, I was interviewed by Hypergeek about the book, and my adaptation process (which is very hard to define, as it’s mostly about whether or not something “feels right”). The interview’s now live, and you can click here to read it.
In other news, everyone’s gearing up for the launch of WOLVERINE: PRODIGAL SON, Volume 1 on April 7th. Expect to see a few interviews, PR pieces, etc. about that popping up over the next few weeks.
8th March 2009 / Alan Moore / On Sale
Speaking of my Alan Moore adaptations, I’m also told that LIGHT OF THY COUNTENANCE is now finally available in stores.
(Distribution has been spotty, which is probably why I wasn’t even sure it was out, but there are definitely copies out there.)
8th March 2009 / Alan Moore / Musings
I’ve been working away for a few days, but returned to find that the New York Times has finally started to produce a bestseller list for graphic novels.
This in itself is a very good thing, but I was even more pleased to see that the new colour edition of THE COURTYARD is at #7 on the softcover list. Nice!
11th November 2008 / Alan Moore / Pre-order
Here’s one I wasn’t sure would ever see the light of day (no pun intended): LIGHT OF THY COUNTENANCE will be published by Avatar Press in January, according to Avatar Creative Director Mark Seifert in a thread on Whitechapel, Warren Ellis’ message board.
LIGHT is an adaptation of Alan Moore’s damning poem/essay on television, a piece which is both enlightening and disturbing, and is fully painted by Felipe Massafera. If you don’t recognise the name, Felipe also painted the cover to the HYPOTHETICAL LIZARD collection that came out last year. There’s a Flickr gallery of some interior LIGHT pages, plus a larger version of the cover, here.
I actually finished the script for this book more than five years ago (!) but finding someone capable of illustrating it has been tough—it’s a very demanding script that requires a fanatical attention to detail, enormous amounts of visual research, and a somewhat surrealist imagination. I’m glad to see it’s finally on the way.
3rd August 2007 / Alan Moore / Anthologies / Appearances / On Sale / Texas Strangers / Wasteland
I’m back from San Diego, which was by all accounts another record-breaking year; Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all sold out, attendance was up overall, and almost everyone I spoke to was selling more books than ever before. Good times.
Ben and I shifted loads of copies of the DEAD SPACE teaser and posters. Having someone like Ben on a book like this is invaluable – the line at both our signing times seemed neverending. Everyone wanted a sketch from the man, and it gave us the opportunity to get plenty of people interested in the book.
Oni sold more copies of WASTELAND than anyone expected – I don’t know the exact figure, but Randal Jarrell told me it was more than double what they planned for. Chris and I were pretty busy, even on the couple of times our signings were at off-peak hours, and I want to thank everyone who came by to see us. I especially want to praise everyone who recommended the book to someone else; a lot of people bought a copy of Book 1 at the show because a friend had raved about it to them, and that’s the sort of thing that makes all the San Diego stress worthwhile.
We also shifted a few TEXAS STRANGERS issues and ashcans, mainly to people who’d never seen the book before, which was great. (A few people asked if the book was only a miniseries, because they haven’t seen any solicitations past #4. The answer is no, but we paused solicitations when it became clear that #2 was going to be late, which of course pushes all the other issues back, too. We’ll be back in PREVIEWS soon, promise.)
POSTCARDS and 24SEVEN were both received well, and the POSTCARDS signing in particular was chaotic fun, with up to seven creators at a time all trying to sketch and sign while squeezed into a space designed for three at the Comic Relief booth. Space notwithstanding, the CR staff were great, and it was all a kind of mad laugh with books flying back and forth as people tried to decipher signatures and work out if someone had already signed their copy or not.
Finally, I picked up a copy of the HYPOTHETICAL LIZARD collection from Avatar, which is gorgeous. Not sure if it’s hit stores yet, but if not then it can’t be far off. [EDIT: yes, it's on sale now.]
Right, back to the grindstone…
12th July 2006 / Alan Moore / Wasteland
It never rains, but it pours. Not strictly true if you live where I do, in the wet and windy wilderness of North-West England. But certainly true of my release schedule… Last week saw my first TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE book and the STORMBREAKER graphic novel go on sale, and now today sees the release of…
WASTELAND #1, of course. I received my own copy in this morning’s post, and it’s a cracking package. Lovely high-quality paper, great print quality, and the double-sized length give it all a serious heft. I couldn’t be happier with it, and just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of months, here’s what other people are saying about WASTELAND:
“Extremely stylish… Johnston’s script is screenplay-tight (Rating: four stars)” – SFX
“This book kicks seven different kinds of ass” – Ain’t It Cool News
“One of my favourite writers… You’re going to want to look for this one” – Warren Ellis
“Johnston and Mitten do the post-apocalyptic Western thing with more grace, power, and conviction than it’s ever been done before” – Mike Carey
“I’m hooked – I want the rest of the journey, and right now” – Kurt Busiek
And just to add some icing to this backslap-flavoured gateaux, Brian K. Vaughan makes it his first recommendation of this week’s comics. I think you’ll agree that’s a pretty broad and diverse readership, to say the least…
Also this week – I can hardly believe it myself – YUGGOTH CREATURES #3 goes on sale, the final part of my H P Lovecraft tribute. I know it’s been so long you’ll probably have to dig out the previous issues to re-read, but you’ll probably want to do that anyway once you’ve read #3. This is where all the threads come together, and the awful truth about Professor Ericsson – and his multiple encounters with the Cthulhu Mythos – is revealed. Ia! Ia! and all that.
31st May 2006 / Alan Moore / Alex Rider / Appearances / Interviews / Novels / Stealing Life / Wasteland
A few things to tell you about today, so let’s dive straight in:
First, issue #4 of The Hypothetical Lizard goes on sale in the US today, completing the series. LIZARD is the last of my Alan Moore adaptations you’ll see for a while – but not the last to appear, by any means. As ever, watch this space…
There are also a couple more features and interviews in the world of podcasting for you to check out:
cIndy Center (geddit?) interviewed both myself and WASTELAND artist Christopher Mitten recently for separate, consecutive shows. Both shows featured questions from fans on the cIndy Center message board, and even questions from Chris and myself to each other. Lots of fun. You can get the podcasts here through iTunes, or download them separately from the cIndy Center website: here’s mine, and here’s Chris.
There’s also a quasi-interview with me in episode #10 of Secret Identity, talking not just about WASTELAND but also roleplaying games, my favourite comics and more. This was conducted by Secret Identity sending me questions, to which I recorded my answers separately. I was a little worried about how that would play out, but it actually sounds great, and hosts Brian and Matt had some really interesting discussion off the back off my responses. Once again, you can download it through iTunes or direct from Secret Identity’s website.
Finally, a work update: I’m over halfway through both POINT BLANC and STEALING LIFE. (Both are going well, but to anyone considering writing a full-length graphic novel and prose novel at the same time, I offer the following advice: don’t. It’ll drive you insane.) I’m also preparing to write issue #7 of WASTELAND, which will be a bit of a special issue with a surprise to boot; and I’ve just accepted a place in a very interesting comics anthology due next year. I’ll be able to tell you more about both of those later.
Finally finally, I can confirm I’ll be at San Diego Comic-Con this year, mostly attending the Oni and Avatar booths and, of course, the bar. We’ll have a limited edition WASTELAND T-shirt for sale at the Oni booth, and if all goes to plan I should also have a brand new series to announce. Fun fun fun.
10th January 2006 / Alan Moore / Novels / Spooked / Stealing Life / Wasteland
Welcome to 2006! Hope everyone had a good holidays. On with the new year, then…
I’ve just been informed both YUGGOTH CREATURES #3 and THE HYPOTHETICAL LIZARD #4 are to be resolicited, and released in May 2006. Which ties in neatly with just about everything else coming out in spring/summer this year. Looks like I’ll definitely be doing San Diego Comic-Con 2006, then…
Meanwhile, my recent radio silence has as much to do with work as the holidays; I’ve finished writing the first six issues of WASTELAND, I’m about to write a new horror miniseries for Avatar, I’ve just pitched a quasi-fantasy novel called STEALING LIFE, and I’m working up BLUESHIFT and THE FUSE, two new sci-fi concepts for miniseries. Oh, and I’m slowly but surely completing SSX ON TOUR. So it’s all been a bit hectic, really.
I also promised Oni I’d write the SPOOKED sequel, LOW SPIRITS, this year. Something tells me 2006 is going to be fun.
30th November 2005 / Alan Moore / On Sale
I was starting to fear it was dead myself, but like Cthulhu awaking from Methuselan slumber, the second issue of YUGGOTH CREATURES surfaces today, shambling onto comic store shelves across the USA. (The apocalypse happens a day later in the UK – time enough for a last cup of tea, surely.)
Despite the massive delay, I’m still keen to hear what people – particularly Lovecraft aficionados – think of this issue, and how it brings elements from the first into focus. So please let me know what you thought over at the message board. [UPDATE: No longer active.]
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