Alan Moore Has Retired From Writing Comic Books As Planned

Alan Moore, the creator of such legendary comics as From Hell, V for Vendetta, and Watchmen has officially retired from the comic book industry with the release of the final issue of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume IV: The Tempest. Moore is an English comic book writer who first made a name for himself with 2000AD and Marvel UK, before moving on to DC Comics, where he found international success with The Saga of the Swamp Thing.

Moore would go on to write some of DC’s most popular comic books of all time, including The Killing Joke. The work that Moore is best known for is Watchmen, which is a dark and gritty examination of the costumed superhero, and would go on to define the tone of comics for the decade to follow. Moore would later have a falling out with DC over royalties relating to Watchmen, and he would work with publishers like American’s Best Comics and Image, where he would write series such as Promethea, Supreme, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. 

In 2016, Moore revealed to The Guardian that he intended to retire from writing comic books with the release of the final series of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The final issue of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume IV: The Tempest was released today, and it marks the end of a 20-year run for the series and the beginning of Moore’s retirement from the comic book industry.

There have been several movie adaptations of Moore’s work, and he’s had an infamously vitriolic response to almost all of them, especially The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film, which was even mocked in the pages of the comic. DC has continued to use the Watchmen characters by integrating them into the universe of their comics, in the form of the Doomsday Clock crossover, as well as bringing Promethea and Tom Strong into the DC universe. HBO is also making a live-action adaptation of Watchmen that seem to be deviating a great deal from the source material.

Moore’s retirement from the comic book industry doesn’t mean that he’s giving up on all of his creative endeavors, as he’s stated that he wishes to continue working on films and writing novels. There’s also a chance that Moore’s retirement won’t last long. Stan Lee was still working on comic books up until he passed away in 2018 at the age of 95. Alan Moore is only 65, so it’s possible that the world hasn’t seen the last of one of the greatest comic book writers of all time.

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Source: The Guardian