Speaking of Mr. Moore

Rereading his Saga of the Swamp Thing I discovered these nice little words in his introduction:

"The very first thing that anyone reading a modern horror comic should understand is that there are great econimic advantages in being able to prop up an ailing, poor-selling comic book with an appearance by a successful star. Consequently, all the comic book stories produced by any given publisher are likely to take place in the same imaginary universe. This includes the brightly colored costume adventurers populating their super-hero titles, the shambling monstrosities that dominate their horror titles, and the grizzled cowpoke who's wandered in from a western title through a convenient time warp. For those more familiar with conventional literature, try to imagine Dr. Frankenstein kidnapping one of the protagonists of Little Women for his medical experiments, only to find himself subject to the scrutiny of a team-up between Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. I'm sure that both the charms and the overwhelming absurdities of this approach will become immediately apparent, and so it is in comic books: Swamp Thing exists in the same universe as Superman, the same world as Batman and Wonder Woman and all the other denizens of the cosmos delineated within the pages of DC Comics various publications.

As I said above, this approach has both its charms and absurdities. the absurdities are obvious: to work properly, horror needs a delicate and carefull sustained atmosphere-one capable of being utterly ruined by the sudden entrance of a man in green tights and an orange cloak, especially if as a chracter, he's fond of ouns. The charms are much harder to find, but once revealed, can actually be rewarding. The continuity-expert's nightmare of a thousand different super-powered characters coexisting in the same continuum can, with the application of a sensitive and sympathetic eye, become a rich and fertile mythic background with fascinating archetypal characters hanging around, waiting to be picked like grapes on the vine. Yes, of course, the whole idea is utterly inane, but to let its predictable inanities blind you to its truly fabulous and breathtaking aspects is to do oneself and the genre an injustice"

Quite the words of wisdom there Alan. In a comic book community where fanboys bicker about things fitting where they think they should fit, and how they think they should fit, statements like this may be considered a form of mutiny. I won't dissect the words, I'll only say that they should be read more than once to be fully grasped.

I do want to say that I found this: "For those more familiar with conventional literature, try to imagine Dr. Frankenstein kidnapping one of the protagonists of Little Women for his medical experiments, only to find himself subject to the scrutiny of a team-up between Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot." to be quite interesting, seeing as how Moore went on to write The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. One could wonder which came first...

-L