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Alan Moore is a noted writer of comic books who began writing fiction in the late 90s. He first came to widespread attention through his work at DC Comics, where he wrote a celebrated run on Swamp Thing, and where he then created the groundbreaking limited series Watchmen with artist Dave Gibbons. Since his heyday in the 80s he's bounced around quite a bit, penning a number of comic book titles for a number of different publishers.
My personal (?) relationship with Moore goes back to that run on Swamp Thing in the early 80s. I liked that character prior to Moore taking on writing duties, but it was Moore's innovations on that title that made me a genuine fan. From Swamp Thing it was an easy leap to Watchmen, another series I loved, but after that seminal work I largely lost track of Moore, only reading a handful of the comics he wrote for Image later on.
This said, I have made jokes at his expense. A few years ago I came across a quote by Moore, something to the effect of people becoming the thing they dread. As part of this quote Moore explained that he'd become a wizard, and for years now I've been warning people of the perils of going to bed and waking up as a wizard, encouraging them to guard against such transformations. This joke only ever lands with one friend who's also familiar with the same quote, but I still insist on repeating it from time to time, as if its repetition will make the reference any less obscure. "I went to pay for my latte at Starbucks," I'll say, "And damned if I didn't become a wizard once the change hit the counter."
Alan Moore, to put it another way, takes himself incredibly seriously, and he probably thinks that you and I should too. While briefly researching this short story collection, for example, I ran across an interview with him in which he explains the literary devices he uses in the writing of his stories - in case, you know, the rest of us are too slow on the uptake. In the interview he seems nice enough about it, but yeah, he is in this respect far from unsassuming.
Anyway, on to the stories.
1. Hypothetical Lizard
This story starts off promising but goes nowhere fast. I really liked the bit about the "whore of sorcerers" and the procedure employed in the creation of such a being, but the overall narrative is an extremely pedestrian tale of sexual jealousy which fails to utilize an excellent opening.
2. Not Even Legend
One of the better stories here. A group investigating the paranormal meets and runs afoul of all the spirits which normally exist outside of their investigations. It's a little like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button meets a detective story. It works well.
3. Location, Location, Location
A pointlessly sexual story involving a real estate transaction and the end of the world. I'm really not sure where Moore was trying to go with this one, and I don't think he's entirely sure either.
4. Cold Reading
A psychic gets on the wrong side of the supernatural. It's a solid story that would have worked well as a horror comic. Anything more than that would have involved a deeper dive into the characters.
5. The Improbably Complex High-Energy State
One of the most pretentious things I've ever read, and keep in mind that I've struggled through books like Gravity's Rainbow and Finnegan's Wake. This story is best described as a kind of fantasia (or phantasmagoria) involving entities existing in a quantum substrate. It tries to be amusing, occasionally succeeds, but I found reading it to be a real chore.
6. Illuminations
An older man pays a heavy price for nostalgia. This is far and away the best story in this collection, and I assume it leans heavily on the author's memories of younger years. The ending isn't altogether unexpected, but the various plot elements click together nicely in the end.
7. What We Can Know About Thunderman
This novella is the centerpiece of this short story collection, and serves as Moore's grand statement on the (American) comic book industry. By turns pointless and confusing, this sprawling... thing really puts the "T" in "turgid."
In case, as Moore is likely to suspect, you're too slow to catch the symbolism, "Thunderman" is a stand-in for Superman, "American" is a stand-in for DC, and "Massive" is a stand-in for Marvel. Having endured Moore's dismissing vignettes of various figures within the comic book industry, I can understand why more current creators are often so cryptic in their descriptions of interactions with him. He's probably not a pleasant individual to deal with.
8. American Light: An Appreciation
What's more pretentious than a Beat poem which places various Egyptian deities in the context of San Franciscan history? Its author supplying footnotes to this same Beat poem for the edification of his less literate readership! Hey, at least it's short!
9. And, at the Last, Just to be Done with Silence
Don't ask me, I don't know. Maybe it's about the devil?
Whatever it's about, it's the last story in this collection, and I felt like I'd just completed a marathon after finishing it. Getting through Illuminations wasn't easy, and I have no desire to repeat the experience through any of Moore's other books. Alan Moore has certainly written some excellent comic books, but I doubt the rest of his fiction is worth locating.
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