KRISTIAN WILLIAMS
The Illuminist – Philosophical Explorations in the Work of Alan Moore
(eMERGENCY heARTS)
I first became aware of Alan Moore, not through the stories he wrote for comics such as 2000AD (of which I had a subscription from its first issue right through to the mid ‘90s), or even the strips he used to draw for Sounds music paper under the name Curt Vile, but from his connection with those I knew in the Northampton music scene (I used to hang out there a fair bit in the 80’s and it wasn’t far from my native Coventry), to which he was an occasional contributor with local musicians such as David J, who he performed with in pre-Bauhaus band The Sinister Ducks, releasing a few musical offerings on Northampton’s Glass Records label and, as a self-declared Occult Magician, also regularly dabbled in occult workings (see the OL interview with David J for more details!). I can’t say that I knew him, but I certainly came across him in the kitchen at parties in Northampton, such as those thrown by Bauhaus’s Daniel Ash, and he always struck me as an impressive, Hagrid-like figure, with his unkempt hair and beard, yet was quiet and reflective. Needless to say, he is far better known for his work for 2000AD and DC Comics, especially Swamp Thing, the Watchmen series, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the iconic V for Vendetta, as well as reinventing Batman as The Dark Knight, rather than leaving him to languish as a past-his-best camp fancy dress joke. He even killed off Superman. That was something Lex Luther and a legion of super baddies had all failed to do, despite their best efforts! Believe me, you all know Alan Moore’s work and will have seen at least a couple of Hollywood films based on his stories.
Alan Moore is unusual, though, in that he offers, through his work in fantasy fiction, a completely different take on the world (be honest, does anyone really understand what Watchmen was all about?) and as such, that philosophy stretches the boundaries of what we expect from a comic book writer and their creations. These were not spandex wearing parodies, but were tortured souls, darkly brooding and hiding doubts, fear, anger, and vengeance, each with a host of terrible secrets. Comics were no longer for kids. It is safe to say that through the lines he wrote, Alan Moore helped to turn mere comic books into ‘Graphic Novels’, with all the depth of storytelling that entailed. That, in turn, meant that the characters, stories, and striking artwork they contained, exhibited an emotional depth and challenged our outlook on life in a way that no ordinary novel could. Remember how V for Vendetta’s masked Guy Fawkes imagery and anti-establishment themes was taken up by real life anarchist groups including, famously, the hacker group Anonymous? Allegedly, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange even wore a Guy Fawkes mask himself at an Occupy Wall Street demonstration. That is far more than life imitating art, that is Art coming alive in a way most situationists could only dream of!
Given all this, it is hardly surprising that there have been attempts to analyse the philosophy of this quietly spoken denizen of Northampton. I would need a far more comprehensive knowledge of Alan Moore’s work to even attempt to critique what Kristian Williams has done in ‘The Illuminist’. Let down by a truly horrid and distinctly un-graphic pale blue cover you feel is almost designed to ensure that you pass this by on the shelf in any bookshop, this is, nonetheless, a fascinating deep dive into key moments in the impressive canon of work Moore has produced so far. You get snippets from the aforementioned Watchmen and V for Vendetta, along with John Constantine, From Hell and other works analysed. What separates good from evil? How do we find meaning in life? Should humanity be saved? are the constant threads running through the discussion in each of the essays and dissections presented in ‘The Illuminist’ and are the existential questions that drives many of the characters and storylines Moore creates. Much of the book is a collection of essays written over a number of years rather than a book that Williams sat down to write at a single point in time. As such it is, at times, a little disjointed. Williams himself describes them as ‘philosophical explorations’ which wander and search for meaning in Alan Moore’s work. The idea for the book was formed in 2017 in a fraught year for his native Portland, Oregon, beset by suicides and random stabbings. Then there was the Pandemic and all the surreality, conspiracy theories, and state control that entailed. Trump was in charge in the US of course, urging its citizens to inject themselves with bleach as a cure. It must have felt for Williams much like being in one of Moore’s stories himself, and made the perfect backdrop.
Individual scenes from The Watchmen, Superman, and others are examined for meaning. Premises and storylines are dissected, debated, and challenged eg Constantine is compared with The Fool from the classic Tarot, Swamp Thing begins a journey of self-discovery to uncover his true nature, Moore imagines a world without Superman, and ordinary lives are tracked alongside omnipotent superheroes (Gods, really) to bring home the impact of what an attack by impenetrable dark forces from unknown dimensions would really mean to you and I. There is far too much in here to go into fully, or even partly, but the essays in ‘The Illuminist’ will certainly get you thinking about the concepts and meanings behind the characters, metaphors, and archetypes Moore seemingly effortlessly creates.
So, is humanity really worth saving? Or should our top-dog crown be ripped from us by a force greater than, or within, ourselves? I doubt any of us really know the answer to that, but I have a feeling that, based in the evidence presented in ‘The Illuminist’, Alan Moore is edging closer to it than most of us are, and because of that may very well be a genius.
Essential Information:
Main image Alan Moore by Matt Biddulph
The Illuminist is published by Scott Crow’s Anarchist publishing house and label, eMERGENCYheARTS, and can be ordered via their website, here
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