Flipping through the dross on the Telly the other night I caught the tail-end of some programme that had a short about Alan Moore.
As mildly interesting as this was...you know, actually I didn't find it interesting, it was clearly that this was the only rarity on Comics as a subject matter that I had seen on Television for quite some time, that held my attention.
It did make me wonder how nice it would have been had it been about -another- Alan!
I wonder if I could convince the local Broadcaster to commission a short on our industry to peel back the process and highlight the potential extinction of comics...you know, build up the great artform that it is and then show that it's very likely to dissappear down the DSM-drain as everyone feeds off their own carcass.
Telly!
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Darren Taylor
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If anyone wants to see the piece on Alan Moore, I believe it's available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo. Culture Show or some such thing.
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Alan Davis
- Creator
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I don’t think you’d have too much trouble getting a commission, Darren.
I have turned down five offers of being involved in TV or DVD programmes in as many months but rather than the media elevating comics to the position of a worthy art form, this ‘attention’ is the schedule fillers searching for novelty to fill air-time cheaply. And the weirder and more freakish the better.
I was forced to appear on the ‘TUBE’ programme almost as a condition of getting work at 2000AD when I first became professional. It turned out to be an interesting and enjoyable experience and we were treated far more fairly than we would today. The next time my art appeared on TV, a year or so later, it was in a ‘Newsnight’ report on pornography in comics. The story actually focused on the so called ‘mature’ (Vertigo) titles that were debuting at the time but the main image used to illustrate the depraved decline was the cover from Detective 570, the one with Catwoman attacking Batman on the back of the Joker’s car. Maybe I’ve been desensitised after so many years of reading comics but what’s pornographic about a masked woman in thigh length leather boots whipping a guy with a bat fetish? Nowadays the reporter would most likely make an issue out of the fact the Joker wasn’t paying attention to the road ahead and neither driver or passengers were wearing seatbelts—but I digress.
In a nutshell, I like drawing comics and I’m happy for my work to speak for itself.
Alan
I have turned down five offers of being involved in TV or DVD programmes in as many months but rather than the media elevating comics to the position of a worthy art form, this ‘attention’ is the schedule fillers searching for novelty to fill air-time cheaply. And the weirder and more freakish the better.
I was forced to appear on the ‘TUBE’ programme almost as a condition of getting work at 2000AD when I first became professional. It turned out to be an interesting and enjoyable experience and we were treated far more fairly than we would today. The next time my art appeared on TV, a year or so later, it was in a ‘Newsnight’ report on pornography in comics. The story actually focused on the so called ‘mature’ (Vertigo) titles that were debuting at the time but the main image used to illustrate the depraved decline was the cover from Detective 570, the one with Catwoman attacking Batman on the back of the Joker’s car. Maybe I’ve been desensitised after so many years of reading comics but what’s pornographic about a masked woman in thigh length leather boots whipping a guy with a bat fetish? Nowadays the reporter would most likely make an issue out of the fact the Joker wasn’t paying attention to the road ahead and neither driver or passengers were wearing seatbelts—but I digress.
In a nutshell, I like drawing comics and I’m happy for my work to speak for itself.
Alan