After graduating from a literature degree where I'd done the minimal reading required to blag exams, I suddenly became a voracious reader. I reviewed a couple of books a week, among other things, to earn a modest unemployment income (so modest it didn't cover my low-budget lifestyle), and since I had nothing else going on, I read some more books in my free time. It's not that impressive, most of them were graphic novels.
Here is that, largely based on this.
Jul–Dec 2007
Alan Moore and David Lloyd, V for Vendetta
****
I don't know if I made an unconscious decision to delay falling down the mature comics rabbit hole until the moment my literature degree finished, but that's what happened. I'd read praise of Alan Moore for years from people I admired, and probably chose this one to start because it was the earliest certified classic. It didn't make the glowing impression that the likes of Watchmen, Swamp Thing and From Hell did subsequently. It even mildly annoyed me at times. But I kept going.
Read 2007, re-read 2014
*****
I think it was around the time the comic-within-the-comic showed up that I realised how remarkable this was and became irrevocably radicalised. Even as someone who hadn't read traditional superhero comics growing up, I got it. As much as any of us can hope to get Alan Moore. I'd just finished studying literature forever, covering the supposed titans, but no one had even mentioned his name.
Read 2007
*
Sex has an important role in many of Alan Moore's works, when he's allowed to get away with it. This was his first dallying with upfront (and other positions) pornography. It doesn't have much to offer if you're not turned on by drawings of underage girls having it away.
Read 2007***
Capturing the end of the comedian's bohemian phase, after he decided to leave the establishment behind but before he got his hair cut and went all political, this demi-autobiographical first novel is an experimental affair that can clearly be traced to the frustrated, world-weary romantic of his on-stage persona, even if none of the characters points to a dog turd on the pavement and explains "you see that? That's you, that is."
Read 2007–08
****
I picked up this collection shortly after arriving in Edinburgh to remind myself what I was getting into. A strong collection ranging from the grim to the fantastical, reading it on public transport seemed to have the miraculous effect of bringing the characters to life around me.
Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg, The Sandman, Volume One: Preludes and Nocturnes
Read 2007, re-read 2009, 2018****
If this seven-part miniseries with a relaxing outro was all there'd been of Sandman, it wouldn't be remembered as one of the greatest comics in history, but there would be much lamentation about its premature cancellation just when it was really getting going. If you're reading as a literary snob rather than a comics fan, like most of us have been doing since the 90s, the DC crossovers in these early issues can seem a bit weird, but it's just Gaiman exploring another mythology.
Read 2007, re-read 2009, 2018*****
My favourite Sandman arc and up there with my favourite graphic novels (don't even need the word 'graphic' in there), the Dream King steps back until he's needed and lets the metamyth unravel itself.
Every issue's a classic, with legendary entries like 'The Collectors' and 'Men of Good Fortune' back to back. Gaiman still hasn't shaken off the Alan Moore influence, the series would start going downhill when he finally did.
Every issue's a classic, with legendary entries like 'The Collectors' and 'Men of Good Fortune' back to back. Gaiman still hasn't shaken off the Alan Moore influence, the series would start going downhill when he finally did.
Read 2007, re-read 2007, 2009, 2018
*****
This slim volume of stand-alone tales, usually with a lower price reflecting its lower page count, is a good place to start your nocturnal voyage. This is where I came in. If you find it a bit heavygoing and need to keep looking things up, reading the series from the start won't help with that. It's all in the contract.
Faves: 'Calliope,' 'A Dream of a Thousand Cats.'
Worsties: I'm not big on Shakespeare.
Faves: 'Calliope,' 'A Dream of a Thousand Cats.'
Worsties: I'm not big on Shakespeare.
****
This meandering mythology parade is supposedly the popular favourite, but I always find it a bit of a lull. I prefer it when the main character takes more of a backseat, since he's probably the most annoying character in it. The dithering plot could be summarised in a short paragraph, but it's more about the people and/or other we meet along the way and the infernal ambience of one of the best literary Hells. The art might be at its best here, I'll give you that.
Neil Gaiman, Shawn McManus, Colleen Doran and Bryan Talbot, The Sandman, Volume Five: A Game of You
*****
The last of the perfect Sandman arcs, before the series started to buckle under its increasing heft and momentum. I only found out recently that this socially-conscious horror-fantasy, with its strong cast and memorable imagery, is bizarrely considered to be the low point of the series generally, at least by fans at the time. You rad 90s idiots, go and play on your Mega Drives.
Read 2007, re-read 2009, 2018
****
The bloated sibling to Dream Country, quantity excuses inconsistent quality in the least coherent Sandman volume. Sweeping up all the odds and ends between the central arcs and providing non-essential yet valuable context for the remainder of your journey, some of the best and worst of the series can be found here.
Faves: 'Three Septembers and a January,' 'The Parliament of Rooks,' 'Ramadan.'
Worsties: 'August,' 'Soft Places.'
Faves: 'Three Septembers and a January,' 'The Parliament of Rooks,' 'Ramadan.'
Worsties: 'August,' 'Soft Places.'
Read 2007, re-read 2009, 2019
***
Going down to Earth in the humdrum waking world, Gaiman's amorphous tale assumes its final shape and begins its drawn-out death march. It continues to be a modern classic all the way, but the magic has gone.
Read 2007, re-read 2009, 2019
****
Your response to this flippant interruption from the escalating storyline might come down to whether you prefer novels or short stories. More deliberately structured and juxtaposed than the earlier assortments, this round of tall tales is the highlight of later Sandman for me, though they're as variable in quality as ever.
Faves: 'A Tale of Two Cities,' 'Hob's Leviathan.'
Worsties: 'Cluracan's Tale.'
Faves: 'A Tale of Two Cities,' 'Hob's Leviathan.'
Worsties: 'Cluracan's Tale.'
Neil Gaiman and artists, The Sandman, Volume Nine: The Kindly Ones
Read 2007, re-read 2019***
Back in the 90s, following this comic series month by month by month by how-many-months-has-it-been-now? must have been a nightmare. Even when you've got it all on tap, this is seriously long-winded, the pattern coming loose in the middle before it's finally knitted together. It's an amalgamation of all that's come before, bringing back the horror of the early years, but somehow unsatisfying. Maybe it lasted too long, all stories have to end some time.
Read 2007, re-read 2019
***
Of course the entire series was building to a pun, how did we not see it coming? The epilogue to the saga is satisfying, but then the series inexplicably carries on for a few further scattered installments that don't accomplish anything and aren't even all that good. Maybe Neil miscounted and had to satisfy his record contract with hasty B-sides.
Faves: The Wake.
Worsties: The rest.
Faves: The Wake.
Worsties: The rest.
Read 2007
***
We didn't really need more Sandman, but Neil felt like writing some and he gathered some nice artists together for these variations on seven eternal themes.
Read 2007
**
I read the first part when studying Paradise Lost, and it's pleasantly pastoral and symbolic. But after that, it really goes downhill, the misanthropic protagonist getting downright psychotic at times, even if you can look past the historical prejudices. I don't mean to sound like an overreacting parent panicking about video games, but I'm worried that these messages might rub off on more easily-influenced readers.
Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch, Swamp Thing, Vol. 1: Saga of the Swamp Thing
****
Early editions smartly skipped Moore's actual lacklustre debut so we could start strong out of the gate with one of the defining examples of how to reboot an ailing property in your image. Alternating between signature tales of occult horror with unconventional eroticism and more conventional superhero fights that insist on drafting from the obscure recesses of the DC canon, the transitional series is mainly notable at this point for being so massively influential.
Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, John Totleben and Shawn McManus, Swamp Thing, Vol. 2: Love and Death
Read 2007, re-read 2014, 2017****
Swamp Thing's journey of self-discovery and acceptance parallels the comic's own mossy growth, which is either ingenious metafiction or just how the writing process works. The final issue and annual are among the best of the series, but the middle sags as Moore falls into repetition already and arguably goes too dark. There's also 'Pog,' whatever you make of that.
Read 2007, re-read 2014, 2017
*****
Swamp Thing's death and rebirth and the arrival of enigmatic pimp John Constantine herald the golden era of the comic, swapping cackling supervillains for aquatic punk vampires, menstrual werewolves and vengeful slave zombies in a classic gothic eco horror rom com run.
Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, John Totleben and Stan Woch, Swamp Thing, Vol. 4: A Murder of Crows
****
Some of the creepiest stories I've ever read are annoyingly interrupted by DC's continuity apocalypse, which Alan Moore pulls off well, but not as well as we know he's capable of. He was probably more annoyed about it than anyone. Elsewhere, the negative consequences of Swamp Thing's existence on those around him are brilliantly explored in mature stories that were presumably boring for any kids inappropriately reading this.
Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, John Totleben and Alfredo Alcala, Swamp Thing, Vol. 5: Earth to Earth
*****
When vegetablist social workers questioned Swamp Thing's loyalties and Olympian superheroes expressed concerns over his growing power, we laughed in their conservative faces. This gripping saga awkwardly proves them right as the elemental's unleashed and reconsiders who he's been fighting, with a titillating if futile showdown with Batman along the way. The final issue is the best of the series, even if it really belongs in the next book thematically.
Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, John Totleben, Tom Yeats and Alfredo Alcala, Swamp Thing, Vol. 6: Reunion
Read 2007, re-read 2014, 2017****
Having explored what he wanted to with the character, it seems Alan Moore didn't really want to write Swamp Thing any more. Even when he's not skiving issues, he's writing some bizarre experimental sci-fi comic instead. All of these voyages are memorable, but some experiments are more successful than others, before things are neatly tidied ready for the next guy.
Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory
Read 2007*****
I've never been much of a fan of FUFIOS (fucked-up for its own sake) literature, but the haunting isolation of the island setting and that downright weird bee clock justify the excess, even if they set expectations that would hound the writer for a long time until gore fans had to accept he'd got it out of his system. I was mainly happy to have a new favourite local writer. You don't get that when growing up in the middle of nowhere.
Read 2007
****
Killing Joke alone gets full marks. The other two thirds drag the overall quality down, but upgrading to the expanded anthology won't hurt. His Superman stories are fun.
Read 2007
****
If I'd known how traditionally high fantasy this rewrite of the war in Heaven was going to get, I probably wouldn't have bothered, but it was good to spread my wings. Brust's colourful alt-theology of secular superhero angels is interesting, but his descriptions are always a few key details away from letting me know what exactly I'm looking at.
Read 2007
***
Relentless short stories with a mandatory twist ending, he does what he can within the restrictive form, but it stifles his burgeoning talent more than it encourages experimentation.
Read 2007
***
In this odd assortment of psychoanalysis, cyberpunk spy thriller, social satire and clinical essay on the nature of comedy, the most self-satisfied Python gets some things off his chest and postulates the end of the road for his profession as computers steal comedians' jobs. It's thoughtful at times, shame it couldn't be funny too.
Read 2007
****
Alan Moore's feminist future fable was an antidote to the testosterone-fuelled violence that filled most of 2000 AD's pages. It's written for kids, but he doesn't go easy on them.
Read 2007
***
An obscure and wordy French Romantic horror novel, it's also quite short, which sealed the deal. With refreshing ambiguity, the sceptical character and reader are left to decide whether the events that transpired were coincidence or something more sinister.
Read 2007
****
Understandably and deservedly one of Garth Ennis' lesser known works, I'd still heartily recommend stopping off to imbibe some of its therapeutic silliness between your comic epics. It's one of the funniest things I've ever read.
Read 2007
***
This whimsical and unexpectedly adult romp (rather, series of romps) feels like it's self-consciously reaching for the higher shelves of 'adult' classification, as if the author needed a release from all the repressed sexuality of his increasingly popular children's fiction, but he was still too much of a gentlemen to include much in the way of graphic description or recognised swear words.
Read 2007
***
This is as far as I delved into the Sandman expanded universe. It was better than expected, but to draw in those Sandman readers it apes Gaiman even more than Gaiman was aping Moore. I didn't give it further chances to prove itself, there were too many other comics to read.
Read 2007
***
Amateur campfire tales set in and around the University of St Andrews, written by one of its long-serving librarians to distract students from the war, this commemorative chapbook isn't going to trouble M. R. James' legacy, but it goes through all the familiar, comforting tropes.
Read 2007
**
Insisting that his pet project isn't a graphic novel but a 'graphic movie' reveals not only a lack of awareness for tautologies, but also an inflated ego that puts even more pressure on the story to impress. It didn't.
Read 2007
****
This hybrid of cynical social satire, gritty soap opera and urban fantasy is a demanding and disturbing read that takes more than it gives, but I still quite liked it. The specific mechanics of post-mortem life will stay with you. I hope he didn't get it right.
Read 2007
***
Told to basically just do E.T., the young Alan Moore didn't characteristically turn this mediocre brief into an unexpected modern classic, he just set it in Birmingham and had unemployed punks gripe about Thatcher.
Read 2007
****
The prolific Silver Age author updates a Greek myth to outer space with more restraint than the producers of Ulysses 31. It's a heady psychological story of isolation, free will and responsibility, but the maze is also literal, don't worry.
Read 2007
***
Sandman's breakout character gets a spin-off that was perhaps inevitable, but at least restrained. Mandatory for 90s goth girls, it didn't do much for me, but would be nice to believe.
Read 2007
***
The comedy producer's debut novel about comedy producers looks down its nose at the populist rom-com genre. It just follows the exact same structure ironically or something.
Read 2007, re-read 2014
*****
This wistfully sinister seaside tale is my favourite stand-alone work from Neil. Dave McKean's art can be overkill on the wrong projects, but the writer and artist are in perfect harmony here. That's the way to do it.
Read 2007
**
Partly a throwback sci-fi satire of American imperialism in outer space, but mainly a soap opera about a guy in love with a squid woman. The Canadian author self-publishes his books, I don't know whether that's out of necessity.
Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, From Hell
Read 2007
*****
I think this is still my favourite Alan Moore work, even if I chicken out every time I consider reading it again to check. It's one of the most disturbing books I've read, which is a tribute to his writing prowess, magic powers or both, and its landmark psychogeography chapter revealed a new way of looking at places.
Read 2007–08
****
The longest comic series I've stuck with, this infernal serial was good company until ennui set in during the lacklustre Paul Jenkins era. Time and gin (I was drinking relevantly along) mean I'd struggle to rate all the nuanced paperback collections against each other until I do a re-read, but Jamie Delano was good and Garth Ennis was great.
