Alan Moore's Writing For Comics Volume 1 | 
 enlarge | Authors: Alan Moore, Jacen Burrows
Publisher: Avatar Press
Category: Book
List Price: $5.95
Buy New: $2.35
You Save: $3.60 (61%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 15713
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 48
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 10 x 6.5 x 0.2
ISBN: 1592910122
Dewey Decimal Number: 741
EAN: 9781592910120
ASIN: 1592910122
Publication Date: June 24, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The master of comic book writing shares his thoughts on how to deliver a top-notch script! The main essay was originally written in 1985 and appeared in an obscure British fanzine, right as Moore was reshaping the landscape of modern comics, and has been tragically lost ever since. Now Avatar brings it back in print, collected for the first time as one graphic novel, and heavily illustrated by Jacen Burrows. Moore also provides a brand new essay on how his thoughts on writing have changed in the two decades since he first wrote it.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Reads like a webcomic blog December 17, 2008
A brief pamphlet (hilariously described as a "graphic novel" on the back cover -- I think they meant to call it a "trade paperback") reprinting a 1985 essay, followed by an afterword from 2003 in which the author says that everything he wrote earlier was rubbish.
Moore was young when he wrote the original essay, and he has the young creator's fascination with his own processes and successes, as well as the timidity of someone who's not entirely sure whether he's getting by on talent or luck, and whether it will all be swept away soon enough. He also demonstrates the cynicism of someone who knows he's cobbled together some hackwork on occasion to meet a deadline or collect a paycheck: "Cor, I have to write a Superman story right away, and I'd like it to be vaguely interesting, but mainly it's got to fill 40 pages, a third of which must be fight scenes." Moore takes us through this exact task of his, one step at a time, from the first germ of a workable Superman idea through the plotting of each chunk of the final story, and how he solved certain problems of pacing and plotting along the way.
Parts of this book almost read like a blog, specifically the blog of someone making a webcomic and dashing off some paragraphs about how they wrote this week's strip. So in that way, it's no more or less fascinating, and no more or less artful, than listening to this week's Penny Arcade podcast detailing how Jerry and Mike put together today's strip from scratch -- something I also enjoy on occasion. It turns out Alan Moore is just another writer, just another guy -- and maybe that's the most useful thing that can be gleaned from Writing for Comics.
 Understanding What A Plot Is and What It's Not December 9, 2008
I've always known about PLOT for stories but never understood how to develop an effective one myself. Alan Moore uncovers what a plot is and isn't. Go to pages 28-33 of this book to understand for yourself how to structure your plot for any "central idea" you have.
Worth It: Half Way Done. August 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Worth it. I am a striving comic creator who works and won't have time to read as much as I did this last summer. If you're a striving comic creator this is great book about the medium not because it teaches you how to write, but because it invokes you to create. The things I already knew that Moore talks about helps reinforce good points of story telling while interjecting Moore's insights to writing.
Warning: You might have to look up some Moore References. As usual, Moore's has a few obscure references you might not have heard or read about. I know who "Eddie Campbell" is to comics but since the essay is older "Campbell" is treated as an unknown source in Moore's Essay. Still I feel since I'm rereading the "Watchmen" this is a "must have" because it gives a behind the scenes look to Alan Moore's thinking process as he wrote the "Watchmen". A pleasant fear I have is that if the movie is a success this book will be sold out. I've order another copy of this book because I'm destroying mine between the mass transit to my work and home.
Key Words: Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell Comics, Watch Men, Watchmen
 There are better books on the subject August 8, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I would recommend the Peter David book or the Denny O'Neil DC Comics Guide To Writing before this one. It is priced right however. Not bad, but there are better options out there.
comic writing April 5, 2008
0 out of 10 found this review helpful
I have only glanced through this book, haven't had a chance to actually read it, but that is what it looks like , there are no drawings as much as it is to be used for hints to write
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