Book Review: Illuminations by Alan Moore

If you're a long-time reader, you might remember that a few years ago I reviewed Moore's novel Jerusalem and, despite a few great moments (like the terrorist going through the afterworld at the precise moment his bomb started to blow him apart, and the ghosts sitting on the town hall steps that was captured through a 50s sitcom script), the overall results were not great. Moore is steadfast in his belief that stories that work through one medium cannot work in any others (which is why his name never appears in the credits of movies based on his comics), and he seemed to go out of his way to create a story that made no visual sense; for those of us who like to visualize what is happening in a story, this was a major drawback.

So why pick up a collection of his short stories? Two reasons. First, this would not be the first time I've found a noted author whose novels seem to me a bit too much, but who excel at short stories - David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest may be the novel I hate the most (note: I'm not saying it's bad - I'm saying I hate it), but his short story collections are among the best I've ever read. It's not impossible to imagine Alan Moore having a similar arc. Secondly, as comics fans know, it's ALAN FREAKIN' MOORE. He's more than earned the benefit of the doubt in comics - he created John Constantine, he wrote Swamp Thing, Captain Britain, Batman: The Killing Joke, Superman: What Ever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, V for Vendetta, and Miracleman among others, and that doesn't even count writing two of what are considered the three best comics ever made (Watchmen and From Hell, with Frank Miller writing The Dark Knight Returns). With that resume, Moore has more than earned a second chance as a writer of prose.

And it is indeed a worthwhile chance - while Illuminations is no great work, it is indeed creative, and holds a special treat for those of us who follow the comics business.

While the collection is good overall - seven out of ten hot dogs from my perspective (may drop to six hot dogs if you don't care about comics) - the quality does vary story to story. Here's some thoughts on some of the top-of-mind pieces:

• "A Hypothetical Lizard" starts out amazing - it takes place in a world where sorcerers exist, with elements of the middle ages, Victorian London, and current times all woven together, and follows a girl who is dropped off at a brothel at a young age in order to become a consort to magicians - not only will she need to learn the "ways of love", but in order to survive the out-of-control wizardry, her ability to remember must be plucked out of her. What a fascinating concept! Unfortunately, then the actual story begins, and it has nothing to do with the girl (now a woman) herself, but with her observing two other lovers (and it's a bit weird to have the story from the POV of someone who wouldn't be able to remember enough to make a story). I would love for Moore to revisit this world again and actually craft a story around the woman who can't remember.

• "Location Location Location" is a very fun romp through the biblical end times, with angels and demons fighting in the skies, and all of humanity wiped out...except for one realtor who due to contractual obligations has to show vaping, thinning-haired Jesus ("Call me Jay!") a house in the suburbs. This was as smart as it was funny!

• "Cold Reading" is a pretty spooky supernatural story - it's kind of self-evident but the writing is chilling

• "Illuminations", on the other hand, was a ghost story that was harder to follow and not as interesting; it's strange that it was picked to be the eponymous story for the book, especially considering the next selection....

• If you picked up this book because you're familiar with who Alan Moore is, the novella "What We Can Know About Thunderman" is what is going to interest you the most, if not the primary reason you read the book. "Thunderman" is one part pure fiction and one part roman a clef about the comics industry - the big question is, how big are those parts? Satanic Sam, for instance, is obviously Stan Lee - but did he really create the X-Men because the government directed him to make people feel better about potential mutations from radiation (or was that even a rumour in the comic book industry)? Was there really a DC editor-in-chief who had a monstrous collection of porn magazines (and was it Jim DeMatteis, which is what the story seems to suggest)? Was DC comics really started to have large enough stacks of paper to hide illegal liquor transports? Was there really a home-schooled milquetoast virgin who was hoodwinked into becoming the head of a pornographic comics company who committed a cocaine-fueled suicide? Part of the fun was trying to figure out which characters were which writers/editors, and which incidents actually happened. I definitely figured out which character was Kevin O'Niell (easy one - the character is named Kevin too!), but in looking at Moore's notes I see that Archie Goodwin was also in there, but I didn't recognize his character. Also, I'm pretty sure Moore wrote himself into the story as Wopley, despite the fact that he was never the editor-in-chief of DC (although I guess technically he was EOC of the small imprint they gave him) - one of the most interesting parts of the book was young Wopley (Moore?) explaining what made DC (named American Comics in the book) comics the premiere comics in the medium - really helps explain a lot about Moore's work. Final thought: I feel like the end of one character's arc (the sound that sounded like someone coughing) was a callback to the very end of Batman: The Killing Joke. Overall, I don't know how this story would read to someone who is not a fan of comics, but for those who follow the industry it was fascinating!

• As niche as "Thunderman" might be, the next piece, "American Light: An Appreciation" should be a quite warmly received general read. The fake review/index catalogs the last great poem (and first for decades) of a fake beat poet. Moore then writes the very long poem - and since it is styled as a review, provides footnotes to provide insight on it. This is a LONG poem - as would be expected from a beat poet - that combines a walk around San Francisco and actual beat happenings with Egyptian mythology. This was an extraordinarily detailed piece that is well worth a read by anyone!

• "And, At the Last, Just to Be Done With Silence" closes it out, and...I have no idea why this trifle was picked as the anchor

So as you can see, the story quality really varies. If you're looking for a good read and like short stories, definitely something to consider. If you're a comic book fan, get this NOW!