F (DC characters)

This is a list of characters owned or published primarily by DC Comics. Note that most, but not all, of these characters exist within the DC Universe; some listed are part of the Wildstorm Universe, others of Alan Moore's America's Best Comics line, and others are characters from stand-alone stories or Elseworlds. In the eighties, DC published comics under the name of Who's Who in the DC Universe to catalogue the characters they had then. DC had also published a Showcase series and a DC Cosmic Cards line to keep track with their characters. America's Best, Homage, Wildstorm, Helix Press, DC/Elseworlds, Impact, DC/Milestone Press, Paradox Press, Piranha Press, and DC/Vertigo Press Comics are all trademark publications of the DC comics group.
- List of characters:
- List of teams and organizations
- List of alien races
- List of former Quality, Fawcett and Charlton characters that haven't appeared in DC comics
- See also

List of characters

0-9

- 711

G

- G'nort
- Gabriel
- Robert Gadling
- Laurel Gand
- GangBang
- Gangbuster
- Gambler
- Gamorola (Amalgam Comics)
- Garrick, Jay (see Flash)
- Gargoyle
- Garguax
- Garn Daanuth
- Gates
- Guy Gardner
- Gear
- Gearhead
- Gehenna
- Geist
- Gemini
- General
- General Glory
- General Immortus
- General Zolog
- Gentleman Ghost
- Geo-Force
- Geomancer
- Georgia
- Germ-Man (Elseworlds)
- GH=DRO
- Ghast
- The Ghost
- Giganta
- Gillotina
- Gimmix
- Girder
- Girl Archer
- Giz
- Gizmo (alias Mikron O'Jeneus)
- Glimpse
- Glorious Godfrey (alias G. Gordon Godfrey)
- Glory Shredder
- Gnaarrk
- Goblin Lord (Elseworlds)
- Godiva
- Godthing (Amalgam Comics)
- Gog
- Gold (alias Mike Magnus)
- Gold Kidney-Lady (Amalgam Comics)
- Golden Eagle I & II
- Golden Gladiator
- Golden Glider
- Golden Guardian (fictional shared setting where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are well-known fictional superheroes from this universe. The concept of a shared universe in comics involves writers and editors, together with artists, who together create a series of titles where events in one book would have repercussions in another title and serialized stories would show characters grow and change. Headline characters in one title would make cameo or guest appearances in other books. This idea was strongly developed in the Marvel Universe in the early 1960s, and seen also in other publishers in recent years, but it was pioneered by the DC Universe and in particular by writer Gardner Fox. The leading heroes of the DC Universe were originally (in the 1940s) known as the Justice Society of America and their exploits were published in All-Star Comics. In the 1960s, this concept was revamped in the book named the Justice League of America. The DC Universe typically has its comic books set in fictional cities, such as the twin cities of Gotham City (based upon New York City) and Metropolis (based in part upon Toronto, though like Gotham, it also serves as a New York City analog in the comics). These cities were effectively fictional archetypes of cities, with Gotham City embodying the negative aspects of life in a large city, and Metropolis reflecting more of the positive aspects. The presence of superhumans affected the cities, but the general history of the fictional United States was similar to the real one. Over the years as the number of titles published increased and the volume of past stories accumulated it became increasingly difficult to maintain internal consistency. In order to continue publishing stories of its most popular characters, maintaining the status quo became necessary. Retcons were used as a way to explain apparent inconsistencies in stories written.
Multiple versions of the same characters
Over the course of its publishing history, DC has introduced different versions of characters, sometimes presenting them as if the earlier version had never existed. For example, they introduced new versions of the Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman in the late 1950s, with similar powers but different names and personal histories. Similarly, they had characters such as Batman whose early adventures set in the 1940s could not easily be reconciled with stories featuring a still-youthful man in the 1970s. To explain this, they introduced the idea of the Multiverse. In addition to allowing the conflicting stories to "co-exist", it allowed the differing versions of characters to meet, and even team up to combat cross-universe threats. The writers gave designations such as "Earth-One", "Earth-Two", and so forth, to certain universes, designations which at times were even used by the characters themselves. Editors at DC came to consider the varied continuity of multiple Earths too difficult to keep track of, and feared that it was an obstacle to accessibility for new readers. To address this, they published the cross-universe miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985, which merged universes and characters, reducing the Multiverse to a single DC Universe with a single history. However, this arrangement removed the mechanism DC had been using to deal with the passage of time in the real world without having the characters age in the comics. Crisis also had failed to establish a coherent future history for the DC Universe, with conflicting versions of the future. Zero Hour in 1994 gave them an opportunity to revise timelines and rewrite the DC Universe history. Meanwhile, DC had published occasional stories called "Elseworlds", which often presented alternate versions of their characters. For example, one told the story of Bruce Wayne as a Green Lantern, another presented Kal-El as if he'd lived in the time of the American Civil War. In 1998, The Kingdom, reintroduced a variant of the old Multiverse concept called Hypertime which essentially allows for alternate versions of characters and worlds again. The entire process was parodied in Alan Moore's meta-comic, Supreme: Story of the Year.
Concepts
The basic concept of the DC Universe is that it is supposed to be just like the real world, but with superheroes (and supervillains) existing on it. However, there are other differences. Many fictional countries, like Quraq and Zandia, exist in it. The United States also contains many fictional major cities, like Metropolis or Gotham City. In addition, many events that changed the whole political stage of the World have taken place in recent years, from Lex Luthor being elected as President of the United States, to entire cities (and even some countries) being destroyed. The majority of the superhumans on Earth owe their powers to the "metagene": A genetic feature of unknown origin, that causes some people to develop super powers when exposed to dangerous substances and forces. Others owe their powers to magic, genetic manipulation or bionics. Still others owe their powers to not being human at all (see races, below). There are also many heroes and villains who possess no powers at all but make do with advanced technology or training in special skills, such as martial arts. The tradition of using costumed identities to fight crimes (or commit them) started mainly during the 1930's, with heroes like The Sandman. By 1940, the first Superhero team, The Justice Society of America, was formed. During World War II, all of America's heroes were banded together as the All-Star Squadron to protect the United States from the Axis powers. However, due to a magical spell cast by Hitler (using the Spear of Destiny and the Holy Grail) the most powerful heroes where unable to enter Axis-held territories, leaving the war to be fought mainly by normal humans such as Sgt. Rock. After the war, under pressure from the paranoid Committee on Un-American Activities the JSA disbanded. While many types of heroes were active afterwards, it wasn't until Superman's public debut that a new generation of costumed heroes became active. Soon after, The Justice League was formed, and they've remained Earth's main superhero team; most DC heroes (such as the Teen Titans) have either belonged to the League at some point, or have connections to it. Superheroes are generally accepted by the general public, with some (such as Superman and The Flash) actually having museums dedicated to them. The governments of the world have long realized that they must deal with the "metahumans" in some way. Years ago an organization called "The Dome" was formed to help superheroes who needed to fight crime across international borders; the superhero group called the Global Guardians were their main agents. However the Dome eventually lost its United Nations backing to the Justice League. The American government has had a more untrusting approach, however. Back during World War II they started "Project M" to create experimental soldiers to fight in the war, such as the Creature Commandos. Most of these experiments remain a secret to the public. Currently, the government deals with metahumans and similar beings through its Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO). Covertly, they use an organization of costumed (but non-superhuman) agents known as "Checkmate". The government also formed Task Force X (known as the "Suicide Squad") for "black ops" mostly using supervillains blackmailed into helping them. Supervillains sometimes also form their own groups, but these tend to be short-lived due to the fact that most villains simply do not trust each other. Most such teams are formed by a charismatic (or fearsome) criminal mastermind for specific purposes; an example is the Secret Society of Super Villains of which there have been several versions. Most villain teams are usually small (formed of individuals who know each other personally) or have some other reason to stay together (mercenary groups like the H.I.V.E., fanatical cults such as Kobra, etc.) Other features of the DC Universe include: Advanced Technology: Devices more advanced than those we currently have are available- but they're usually very expensive, and usually only rich or powerful individuals and organizations (or the scientific geniuses who create them) have access to them. S.T.A.R. Labs is an independent research outfit that often develops these devices, while Lexcorp is the main company selling them. It must also be noted that the government also runs the secret Project Cadmus (located in the mountains near Metropolis) to develop clones and genetic manipulation without the public's knowledge. Hidden Races: There are a few intelligent races living on Earth that the public at large did not know about until recent times. Among these are the last survivors of Atlantis, who changed themselves into water-breathing forms, including the human-like Poseidonians and the mermaid-like Tritonians. There is also a tribe of highly intelligent, telepathic gorillas living in an invisible city hidden in Africa; this is the home of Gorilla Grodd. Aliens: There are many intelligent extraterrestrial races as well. Curiously, a large number of them are humanoid, even human-like, in form; some can even interbreed with Earth humans! Some of these races have natural superpowers, but they're usually the same for all individuals of the same race, unlike Earth's metahumans. This unusual situation has never been explained well. However, there are also plenty of nonhuman races as well. Order is kept around the galaxy by the Guardians of the Universe and their agents, the Green Lantern Corps. Rival peacekeeping organizations include the Darkstars (created by the Guardians' rivals, the Controllers) and the interplanetary mercenary organization L.E.G.I.O.N.. Criminal organizations include the Manhunters, the Spider Guild and the Dark Circle. One oddity is the Vegan Star system. Due to an arrangement with the Psions, the Guardians did not intervene in that system, allowing a cruel empire called "The Citadel" to govern there, until it was overthrown by the Omega Men. Supernatural Creatures: Magic is real in the DC Universe, and there are several types of supernatural creatures, such as:
- Gods: The first beings calling themselves ‘gods’ first appeared billions of years ago on another planet, but they destroyed themselves in a terrible war. This unleashed the “Godwave”, a wave of cosmic energy from The Source. This gave birth to other gods across the universe, including Earth’s. From the planet’s remains were formed the worlds of Apokolips and New Genesis, inhabited by beings that call themselves “New Gods”. It must be noted that this universe was created by an omnipotent being known as “The Presence” which is believed to be the creator-being described by many religions, including Christianity. Also, beings calling themselves ‘angels’, such as Zauriel, have appeared, thought they seem little different from the mythological gods.
- The Lords of Order and Chaos: These two groups of magical beings have been fighting against each other since the beginning of time, and they often empower others (with "Order Magic" or "Chaos Magic") in exchange for their acting as their agents. Many magical heroes and villains have been manipulated by them.
- Elementals: The Earth itself has a living spirit called "Maya" who, for millennia, has been creating champions, one for each of the mystical elements, to protect itself, using human beings as their hosts. Swamp Thing, Firestorm (comics), Naiad and Red Tornado were some of them.
- Homo Magi: a subspecies of humanity with the natural ability to use magic, this race almost disappeared after too much crossbreeding with normal humans (it's from them that people in the DC universe inherited the ability to use magic.) The last pureblooded ones decided to retire to a magical invisible city centuries ago, and are now known as "The Hidden Ones". Time Travel: It is possible to travel in time in this universe by several means, including moving faster than the speed of light. The Legion of Superheroes from 1,000 years into the future in particular have access to time-travel technology. Originally, it was impossible to change the past, or to exist in two places at the same time (a time traveler appearing in a period on which he or she already existed would become an ineffectual, invisible phantom while there). However that was all changed after the Anti-Monitor tried to change history at the beginning of time during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Also, a number of alternate realities- known as Hypertime- now exist. A group calling itself the Linear Men formed to prevent anyone from changing history. In addition, an enormously powerful being called the Time Trapper, an enemy of the Legion, has been known to mess with the time stream, even creating "pocket universes". Other Dimensions: The DC universe is composed of a number of different dimensional planes, most notably parallel earths (see DC Multiverse) but the latter were eliminated (in effect, they never existed) when reality was altered by the Anti-Monitor. Other types of dimensions still exist, however, including an antimatter universe.
DCU crossovers and major events
In chronological publication order:
- The Great Darkness Saga - The Legion of Super-Heroes battles Darkseid and Mordru (note: This takes place aproximately 1000 years in the future)
- Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985) - The Anti-Monitor tries to destroy the DC Multiverse but succeeds only in merging it into a single Universe; numerous characters die
- Legends (1986) - Darkseid unleashes Glorious Godfrey to turn the people of Earth against its superheroes
- Millennium (1988) - An Oan and a Zamaron grant powers to new heroes, while the Manhunters infiltrate many heroes' lives
- Cosmic Odyssey - Darkseid strives to gain the Anti-Life Equation
- Invasion (1988/89) - The Dominators lead an alliance of alien races to invade Earth
- Armageddon 2001 (1991) - DC's superheroes go up against Monarch, future ruler of the World
- War of the Gods - The gods fight DC's heroes (and each other) due to Circe's plotting
- Panic in the Sky - Earth's superheroes fight Brainiac and his Warworld
- The Darkness Within - Eclipso possesses many heroes and escapes his prison
- Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen - Doomsday kills Superman, then four different "Supermen" try to take his place
- Knightfall (1993/94) - Bruce Wayne is crippled by Bane and replaced as Batman by Azrael
- Trinity - The Green Lantern Corps, The L.E.G.I.O.N., and The Darkstars go up against the beings called "The Trinity"
- Bloodlines (comics) (1994) - The DC superheroes go up against alien parasites; new superheroes are created from some of their victims
- Zero Hour (1994) - Extant and Parallax attempt to recreate the Multiverse; a new timeline emerges
- Underworld Unleashed - The demon Neron manages to "buy" the souls of many heroes and villains
- DC vs. Marvel - The Marvel and DC superheroes meet and fight at the wish of two Cosmic Beings (Note: may not truly be in-continuity)
- Final Night (1995) - A Sun-eater threatens life on Earth by devouring the Sun
- Genesis (1997) - Darkseid battles Earth's heroes when the Genesis Wave strikes; many superbeings have their powers altered or negated
- Millennium Giants - Three Celestial-like giants threaten Earth
- DC One Million (1998) - A possible future of the DCU (supposedly representing issue #1,000,000 of various series); a future Justice League trades place with the current one, unintentionally creating Solaris
- No Man's Land - Batman fights to retain control in a quake-ravaged, anarchic Gotham City
- Day of Judgment - Demonic forces threaten the Earth; Hal Jordan becomes the Spectre
- Our Worlds at War - Imperiex threatens the universe
- JLA/Avengers (2004) - Krona seeks to destroy the universe, and a game by The Grandmaster is put in place
- Identity Crisis (2004) - The loved ones of several heroes are attacked by a mysterious foe
- Infinite Crisis (2005) - an upcoming storyline about which little is yet known
DCU objects and places

Cities

- Argo City, home of Supergirl
- Armagetto, capital of Apokolips
- Blüdhaven, current homebase of Nightwing
- Blue Valley, birthplace of the third Flash and home of Stargirl
- Central City, former home of the Flash
- Coast City, home of Hal Jordan
- Fawcett City, home of Captain Marvel
- Gateway City, former home of Wonder Woman
- Gotham City, home of Batman
- Hub City, home of The Question
- Ivy Town, original home of the second Atom
- Kandor, city inside a bottle
- Keystone City, home of The Flash
- Kryptonopolis, capital of the planet Krypton
- Metropolis, home of Superman
- Midway City, former home of Hawkman
- New York
- Opal City, home of Starman
- St. Roch
- Star City, home of Green Arrow
- Sub Diego, submerged part of San Diego
- San Francisco
- Science City, Russia, home of the Titan Redstar
Planets

- Apokolips, home of Darkseid
- Bizarro World, home of Bizarro and also called HTRAE
- Colu, home of Brainiac and Brainiac 5
- Czarnia, former home of Lobo, now destroyed
- Earth II, home of the Crime Syndicate
- H'lven, home of Ch'p and B'dg of the Green Lantern Corps.
- Korugar, home of Sinestro and Katma Tui.
- Krypton, former home of Superman, now destroyed
- Maltus, original home of the Guadians of the Universe (may now be the same as Oa)
- Mars, former home of White and Green Martians
- Mogo, A sentient planet who is also a member of the Green Lantern Corps
- Moon, former home of Eclipso
- New Genesis home of Highfather, Izaya
- Oa (see Maltus)
- Okaara, home of the Warlords of Okaara, located in the Vegan System
- Rann, home of Adam Strange
- Saturn, home of Jemm
- Tamaran, home of Starfire, located in the Vegan system
- Thanagar, home of Hawkman
- Vegan System, solar system home to many races including the Omega Men
Realms

- 5th Dimension, home of Mxyzptlk
- The Anti-Matter Universe of Qward
- Azarath, home of Raven
- Destiny's Garden
- The Dreaming
- Faerie
- Gemworld
- Heaven
- Hell
- Heroville
- Phantom Zone, limbo realm used to imprison Kryptonian criminals
- a Pocket universe created by the Time Trapper
- The Silver City
- Skartaris, a magical dimension "within" the Earth
Other locations

- Atlantis
- Amertek
- Arkham Asylum
- Batcave
- Blackgate Prison
- Crime Alley
- Daily Planet
- Dinosaur Island
- Dr. Fate's Sanctum
- Flash Museum
- Fortress of Solitude
- Gorilla City
- Iron Heights
- JLA Satellite
- Justice League Watchtower
- Justice Society Headquarters
- Legion Academy
- Markovia
- Paradise Island
- Project Cadmus
- Titans Tower
- Smallville
- Superbia
- Wayne Manor
- Waynetech
Objects and elements

- Amulet of Anubis
- Apokolips Technology
- Batmobile
- Black Diamond, crystal connected to Eclipso
- Boomtube, means of transport used by the New Gods
- Golden Lasso, Magic Lasso or Lasso of Hestia
- Green Lantern Power battery, provides energy for his ring
- HERO Dial, temporarily transforms people into superheroes
- Kryptonite
- Mother Box, connects the New Gods to The Source
- Nth Metal
- Power ring
- Prometheum
- Sapphire Gem
- Silver Cuffs
- Spear of Destiny
- Speed Force
- Timestream
- Venom, dangerous superstrength drug
- Velocity 9, dangerous superspeed drug
- Warworld
See also

- DC Comics
- History of the DC Universe
- List of DC Comics characters
- Multiverse (DC Comics)
Further reading

- Crisis on Infinite Earths graphic novel -- ISBN 1-56389-750-4
- Kingdom Come graphic novel -- ISBN 1-56389-330-4
- Zero Hour: Crisis In Time graphic novel -- ISBN 1-56389-992-2
External links

- [http://www.dccomics.com/ DC Comics]
- [http://www.mykey3000.com/cosmicteams/ DC Cosmic Teams]
- [http://dcu.smartmemes.com/ The Unauthorized Chronology of the DC Universe]
- [http://www.dcuguide.com/ The Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe]
- [http://www.io.com/~woodward/chroma/crisis.html The Annotated Crisis] Category:DC Comics Category:Fictional universes

Alan Moore

Alan Moore (born November 18, 1953, in Northampton, England) is a British writer most famous for his work in comics. He is the co-creator of some of the most acclaimed comic books in history, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Overview

Moore is renowned for bringing more mature, literary sensibilities to a medium often dismissed as juvenile and trivial. As well as including adult themes and challenging subjects, he also experiments with the form of comics, employing effects unique to the medium, and creating different ways to combine text and image. Many of his peers and critics consider him to be the finest writer working in the comics industry today. He brings a wide range of influences to his work, including Michael Moorcock and other authors of the New Wave of science fiction, horror writers like Clive Barker, more mainstream literary authors such as William S. Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon and Iain Sinclair, and film-editing techniques from the work of directors like Nicolas Roeg. Comics artist Bryan Talbot, whose The Adventures of Luther Arkwright anticipated the adult comics movement, is also undoubtedly a major influence. Moore is also a practising magician, having become a gnostic in the mid-1990s, and part of a performance art group, the Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels. Two of their pieces, The Birth Caul and Snakes and Ladders, have been adapted for comics by Eddie Campbell. He has written a novel, Voice of the Fire, a set of short stories about linked events in his home-town of Northampton through the centuries, from the Bronze Age to the present day. He has written one screenplay, the unmade Fashion Beast, a recreation of Beauty and the Beast commissioned by Malcolm McLaren. Two of his comics, From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, have been made into Hollywood movies, and the film Constantine was based upon the character John Constantine, which Moore created during his Swamp Thing run, but Moore has been disappointed by the adaptations and refused to accept any money for any future film adaptations of his work, donating it instead to the artists with whom he created the respective characters. Nonetheless, a film of V for Vendetta is in development, written by the Wachowski brothers and starring Natalie Portman. Again, Moore requested that his name not be associated with the film after seeing the script and calling it 'imbecilic'. After a press release falsely reported that Moore supported the film, Moore cut all of his ties with DC Comics, removing the last project he had with the company, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, from their lineup. A tribute and in depth biography of Alan Moore in his Fiftieth Year entitled Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman is currently available. All proceeds of this publication will go to charity.

Career

Early work

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.]] Moore began his career in the late 1970s as a cartoonist, drawing underground-style strips for music magazines like Sounds and the NME under the pseudonym Curt Vile, sometimes in collaboration with his friend Steve Moore (no relation), and a regular strip, Maxwell the Magic Cat, under the pseudonym Jill de Ray, for the Northants Post newspaper. Deciding he could not make a living as an artist, he concentrated on writing, providing scripts for Marvel UK, 2000 AD and Warrior. At Marvel he wrote short strips for Doctor Who Magazine and Star Wars Weekly before beginning a celebrated run on Captain Britain with artist Alan Davis, running in a variety of Marvel UK publications. At 2000 AD he started by writing one-off Future Shocks and Time Twisters, moving on to series such as Skizz (E.T. as written by Alan Bleasdale, with Jim Baikie), D.R. and Quinch (a sci-fi take on National Lampoon's characters O.C. and Stiggs, with Davis) and The Ballad of Halo Jones (the first series in the comic to be based around a female character, with Ian Gibson). The last two proved amongst the most popular strips to appear in 2000 AD but Moore became increasingly concerned at his lack of creator's rights, and in 1986 stopped writing for 2000 AD, leaving the Halo Jones story incomplete. Of his work during this period, it is the work he produced for Warrior that attracted greater critical acclaim; Marvelman (later retitled Miracleman for legal reasons), a radical re-imagining of a forgotten 1950s superhero drawn by Garry Leach and Alan Davis; V for Vendetta, a dystopian pulp adventure about a flamboyant anarchist terrorist who dresses as Guy Fawkes and fights a future fascist government, illustrated in stark chiaroscuro by David Lloyd; and The Bojeffries Saga, a comedy about a working-class English family of vampires and werewolves, drawn by Steve Parkhouse. Warrior closed before these stories were completed, but other comic companies were quick to pick up and complete the stories.

The American mainstream

Steve Parkhouse]] Moore's British work brought him to the attention of DC Comics editor Len Wein, who hired him in 1983 to write Swamp Thing, then a fairly formulaic monster comic, and also the poorest selling of DC's titles. Moore, along with artists Stephen R. Bissette, Rick Veitch and John Totleben, deconstructed and rebuilt the character from the ground up, writing a series of formally experimental stories that addressed environmental and social issues alongside the horror and fantasy. Once it was clear that Moore had revitalised Swamp Thing and that he brought great critical acclaim, he was given more to write by DC.These included backup Green Arrow stories in Detective Comics, a two part story in Vigilante plus various Batman and Superman stories. The most acclaimed of this work was the final two part Superman story (Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?) before John Byrne's revamp in 1986 and of course, The Killing Joke with artist Brian Bolland. It was with the limited series Watchmen, begun in 1986 and collected as a graphic novel in 1987, that he cemented his reputation. Imagining what the world would be like if superheroes had really existed since the 40s, Moore and artist Dave Gibbons created a twisted Cold War mystery in which the heroes, who either work for the U.S. government or are outlawed, are variously neurotic, amoral, sexually dysfunctional, borderline fascist and merely human, and the shadow of nuclear war threatens the world. Watchmen is formally ambitious, densely written, intricately constructed, non-linear and told from multiple points of view, and is a rare example of a graphic novel that in its scope and depth can be genuinely considered a novel in comics form.novel]] Alongside roughly contemporaneous work such as Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, Art Spiegelman's Maus and Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez's Love and Rockets, Watchmen was part of a late 1980s trend towards comics with more adult sensibilities. Moore briefly became a media celebrity, and the resulting attention led to him withdrawing from fandom and no longer attending comics conventions (at one UKCAC in London he is said to have been followed into the toilet by eager autograph hunters). Marvelman was reprinted and continued for the American market as Miracleman, published by independent publisher Eclipse Comics. The change of name was prompted by Marvel Comics' complaints of possible trademark infringement. Despite copyright disputes with artists and allegations of non-payment against the publisher, Moore, with artists Chuck Austen, Rick Veitch and John Totleben, finished the story he wanted to tell and handed the character to writer Neil Gaiman and artist Mark Buckingham to continue. The legal ownership of the character continues to be rather murky. Moore and Lloyd took V for Vendetta to DC, where it was reprinted and completed in full colour and released as a graphic novel. However Moore fell out with DC over a proposed age-rating system similar to those used for films, and he stopped working for them after completing V for Vendetta in 1989.

Twilight of the Superheroes

There is a "lost work" from this period, a miniseries proposal called Twilight of the Superheroes which Moore submitted to DC at some point in 1987. A superheroic pun on Richard Wagner's opera act, the "Twilight of the Gods" (Götterdämmerung), this story was to be set two decades in the future of the DC Universe and would feature an epic final conflict between good and evil, as well as between the older and younger generations of superheroes. Twilight was conceived as a standalone miniseries which could optionally also be tied into ongoing titles, much like the then-recent Crisis on Infinite Earths; however it would also undo one element of the prior series by restoring writers' access to the various multiple earths which had been eliminated during Crisis. Cleverly, Moore did this in such a way as to leave the single timeline of the post-Crisis continuity intact. The story would feature a world ruled over by superheroic houses, in which the two most powerful, the House of Steel (presided over by Superman and Wonder Woman) and the House of Thunder (consisting of the Marvel family) are about to join forces through a political marriage between the children of the two families. Such a marriage would make the combined houses an unstoppable force and a potential danger to freedom, and as such certain characters set about a complex plot to prevent the marriage and free humanity from the power of the superheroes. By the climax of the story, elements from all across the universe and from up and down the timestream would be brought in. Unusually, the series would highlight many obscure and forgotten DC characters by putting them in important roles, and the lead character would be John Constantine, whose interaction with the superheroes of the DC Universe had up until then (and indeed since) been rather minor. With Moore's departure from DC, the series never got beyond the proposal stage, although copies of Moore's very lengthy notes have appeared on the internet and in print. DC have been quite thorough in tracking down and suppressing these copies as the story, though unpublished, is still considered the property of the company. Elements of Twilight can be seen in the concept of hypertime and particularly in DC's similar-themed series Kingdom Come, leading cynics to remark that the suppression of copies of the Twilight proposal may be an attempt by DC to hide the fact that they are strip-mining unused Moore concepts. Both Mark Waid and Alex Ross, the creators of Kingdom Come, have admitted that they had read the Twilight proposal before starting work on their series, but claim that any similarities are both minor and unintended.

The independent period

A variety of projects followed, including Brought to Light, a history of CIA covert operations with illustrator Bill Sienkiewicz for Eclipse Comics, and an anthology, AARGH (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia) campaigning against anti-homosexual legislation, which Moore published himself through his newly-formed publishing company, Mad Love. After prompting by cartoonist and self-publishing advocate Dave Sim, Moore then used Mad Love to publish his next project, Big Numbers, a proposed 12-issue series set in contemporary Britain and based on chaos theory and the mathematical ideas of Benoît Mandelbrot. Bill Sienkiewicz illustrated in an intense, painted style but the workload became too much for him after only two issues. His assistant Al Columbia took over and painted a third, which never saw print, and the series was abandoned. Mad Love was financially wiped out. Moore contributed two serials to the horror anthology Taboo, edited by Stephen R Bissette. From Hell examined the Jack the Ripper murders as a microcosm of the 1880s, and the 1880s as the root of the 20th Century. Illustrated in an appropriately sooty pen and ink style by Eddie Campbell, From Hell took nearly ten years to complete, outlasting Taboo and going through two more publishers before being collected as a graphic novel by Eddie Campbell Comics. Lost Girls, with artist Melinda Gebbie, is an erotic series decoding the sexual meanings in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Peter Pan and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. A collected edition is due in early 2006. He also wrote a graphic novel for Victor Gollancz Ltd, A Small Killing, illustrated by Oscar Zarate, about a once idealistic advertising executive haunted by his boyhood self.

Return to the mainstream

After several years out of the mainstream Moore worked his way back into superhero comics by writing several series for Image Comics and the companies that later broke away from it. He felt that his influence on comics had in many ways been detrimental. Instead of taking inspiration from the more innovative aspects of his work, creators who followed him had merely imitated the violence and grimness. As a reaction against the superhero genre's abandonment of its innocence, Moore and artists Stephen R. Bissette, Rick Veitch and John Totleben conceived 1963, a series of comics pastiching Marvel's early output. Tapping into the early issues of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Captain America, and the Avengers, Moore wrote the comics according to the styles of the time, including the period's sexism and pro-capitalist propaganda, which, though played seriously, appeared quaint to a 90s audience. There was also a large streak of self-promotion, a satire of the bombastic Marvel editorial columns and policies of Stan Lee. The series was to have concluded with an annual in which the heroes travel to the 90's era to meet the prototypical grim, ultra-violent Image Comics characters. The 60's heroes would have been shocked at their descendants, even the change in art from four colors to gray shading would have been commented upon. The annual never appeared due to disputes within Image and the creative team. Following 1963, Moore worked on Jim Lee's WildC.A.T.s and a number of Rob Liefeld's titles, including Supreme, Youngblood and