As a die-hard Alan Moore fan, I’ve taken to picking up many books that Moore recommends. Below is a rather silly quiz that may appeal to Moore completists like me. All the quotes below are from Alan Moore – primarily from cover blurbs, but also including a few similar blurb-like statements in introductions, reviews, interviews, etc.

See how many questions you can answer correctly. There’s nothing more than bragging rights at stake, so looking stuff up on the internet is considered cheating, strongly discouraged, and it really won’t help too much for obscure stuff I’ve included.

Some notes:

First, apologies that I didn’t go to the trouble of tracking down actual quiz software here – can anyone recommend a WordPress quiz plug-in that you trust? I’ve used the standard WordPress poll feature. Use the comments to share how many answers you got correct.

Choices are listed alphabetically by first listed creator.

I’ve omitted titles, genders, and names that would give away the answer. For series, I haven’t included volume number in the question.

I’ve included many somewhat obscure books, but I didn’t actually make anything up. All of the titles mentioned below actually exist. Moore has lots of great collaborators and comics industry friends who’ve done lots of great work.

Some of these blurbs are very short (and some feel a bit dated), hence difficult to make sense of outside of the context where they appear.

Updated: My Alan Moore fan friends are saying this is too difficult… so I tweaked it slightly (adding a bit more specifics of what Moore wrote on two items) to make it a couple percent easier. As I hinted at above, it’s probably helpful to think of these in the context of Moore writing them at the time the work first came out.

Enjoy!

1. “One of the most remarkable and inventive pieces of science-fantasy ever to emerge from the comics medium” – Alan Moore

A – Nexus – by Mike Baron and Steve Rude

B – American Flagg – by Howard Chaykin

C – Ronin – by Frank Miller

D – Six-Gun Gorilla – by Si Spurrier and Jeff Stokely

E – Saga – by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples

F – Brat Pack – by Rick Veitch

2. “An ambitious and masterfully executed Victorian fever-dream.” – Alan Moore

A – Louis Riel – by Chester Brown

B – The Black Diamond Detective Agency – by Eddie Campbell

C – Springheeled Jack – by David Hitchcock

D – The Amazing Screw-On Head – by Mike Mignola

E – Sherlock Holmes: the Vanishing Man – by Leah Moore, John Reppion, and Julius Ohta

F – Alice in Sunderland – by Bryan Talbot

3. “A pitch-perfect narrative from two of my favourite creators.” – Alan Moore

A – Desolation Jones – by Warren Ellis and J.H. Williams III

B – Preacher – by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon

C – “Romita – Space Knight” – by Neil Gaiman and Hilary Barta

D – Sandman Overture – by Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams III

E – Resident Alien – by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse

F – Saga – by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples

4. “…an ingenious intertexual narrative that interweaves the charming whimsical, and above all, the English Version of Beatrix Potter with a vision of England as it has become; the soft juxtaposed with the savage; Peter Rabbit lost in Cardboard City. Thoroughly excellent.” – Alan Moore

A – My Favorite Thing Is Monsters – by Emil Ferris

B – Violent Cases – by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean

C – Mr. Punch – by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean

D – Serial Killer – by Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill

E – Wimbledon Green – by Seth

F – The Tale of One Bad Rat – by Bryan Talbot

5. “An electrifying account of black ops, black dogs, and weaponized folklore that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Best in show.” – Alan Moore

A – The Harlem Hellfighters – by Max Brooks and Caanan White

B – War Stories – by Garth Ennis and various artists

C – The Lion of Rora – by Christos Gage, Ruth Fletcher Gage, and Jackie Lewis

D – Crossed+100: Mimic – by Christos Gage and Emiliano Urdinola

D – American Gods – comics adaptation by Neil Gaiman, P. Craig Russell, and Scott Hampton

E – Cry Havoc – by Si Spurrier and Ryan Kelly

6. “To those of you who care about comics, about fantasy, or about the art of writing itself, welcome to a marvelous and heartless wonderland.” – Alan Moore

A – A Distant Soil – by Colleen Doran

B – The Boys – by Garth Ennis, Russ Braun, Johen McCrea, Darick Robertson, et al

C – Crossed – by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows

D – Uber by Kieron Gillen, Caanan White, et al

E – Tales of Telguuth – by Steve Moore, et al

F – The Tale of One Bad Rat – by Bryan Talbot

7. “A funny, energetic and bitingly relevant piece of work” – Alan Moore

A – Nat Turner – by Kyle Baker

B – Bitch Planet – by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro

C – The Boys – by Garth Ennis and various artists

D – Creeps + Underdogs – by Danny Nichols

E – Rain – by Mary and Bryan Talbot

F – Safe Area Goražde – by Joe Sacco

8. “[Creator/s have/has] managed to create something radiant which should hopefully illuminate things for the rest of the comic book field… …a new level of comic book story telling. A new world with new pleasures and new pains.” – Alan Moore

A – Fun Home – by Alison Bechdel

B – Sandman – by Neil Gaiman

C – Love and Rockets – by Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario Hernandez

D – Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – by Frank Miller, et al

E – Maus – by Art Spiegleman

F – Blankets – by Craig Thompson

9. “The collection in your hands distills all that is best about the comic book into a dark, intoxicating ruby wine… [Title] is a passport to a corner of funnybook heaven you may never want to leave.” – Alan Moore

A – Thrill-Power Overload: 2000 AD – The First Forty Years – by David Bishop

B – A Distant Soil – by Colleen Doran

C – Love and Rockets – by Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario Hernandez

D – Hellboy – by Mike Mignola, et al

E – Cages – by Dave McKean

F – Coda – by Si Spurrier and Matias Bergara

10. “Breathtaking stuff …also a wonderful compelling narrative. …elements of English culture… stirred into an hallucinatory broth, as perfect a black comedy of Eigthies/Nineties culture as Mike Moorcock’s marvelous Jerry Cornelius books were in relation to the culture of the Sixties and Seventies.” – Alan Moore

A – Miracleman – by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham

B – Muktuk Wolfsbreath Hard-Boiled Shaman – by Terry LaBan and Steve Parkhouse

C – Winsor McCay: The Complete Little Nemo 1905–1909 – by Winsor McCay, edited by by Alexander Braun

D – Elric – by Michael Moorcock, comics adaptation by Julien Blondel, Jean-Luc Cano, Julien Telo, Robin Recht, and Dider Poli

E – Slow Chocolate Autopsy: Incidents from the Notorious Career of Norton, Prisoner of London – by Iain Sinclair and Dave McKean

F – Heart of Empire by Bryan Talbot

11. “One of the very greatest works by that unique and irreplaceable American voice, the truly splendorous [creator name].” – Alan Moore

A – DC: The New Frontier – by Darwyn Cooke

B – The Complete Question: The Steve Ditko 1960s Mysterious Character – by Steve Ditko

C – The Spirit – by Will Eisner

D – Kirby: King of Comics – by Mark Evanier and Neil Gaiman

E – Winsor McCay: The Complete Little Nemo 1905–1909 – edited by by Alexander Braun

F – Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland – by Harvey Pekar and Joseph Remnant

12. “This is a memorable work, sober and penetrating while eminently readable at all times” – Alan Moore

A – Gone to Amerikay – by Derek McCulloch and Colleen Doran

B – The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft – by Leslie S. Klinger

C – A Canticle for Liebowitz – by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

D – Jerry Cornelius – by Michael Moorcock

E – The Last London: True Fictions from an Unreal City – by Iain Sinclair

F – Robin Hood: The Spirit of the Forest – by Steve Wilson

13. “This being a [creator name] joint, though, there’s clearly a lot more going on than can be seen from the not-so-simple mechanics of the plot. […] The stories here are a high-octane of American pulp crime, of Dr. Frederick Wertham’s worst nightmares: …” – Alan Moore

A – Lobster Johnson – by Mike Mignola, et al

B – Sin City – by Frank Miller

C – Blab! #4 “Comments on Crumb’ – essay by Alan Moore

D – Brickman – by Lew Stringer

E – Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset – by Rick Veitch, et al

F – Sandman Mystery Theatre – by Matt Wagner, et al

14. “The patient work contained within this current volume has played an important part in the construction of this vast, imaginary global edifice that we’re constructing, and will certainly be an invaluable guide to any reader, no matter how knowledgeable they like to think themselves.” – Alan Moore

A – The Big Book of Everything – by Hunt Emerson

B – Kimota! The Miracleman Companion – by George Khoury

C – William Blake – edited by Martin Myrone and Amy Concannon

D – Heroes and Monsters/A Blazing World/Impossible Territories: The Unofficial Companion to the The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen – by Jess Nevins

E – Poisoned Chalice: The Extremely Long and Incredibly Complex Story of Marveman (and Miracleman) – by Pádraig ÓMéalóid

F – History of the DC Universe – by Marv Wolfman and George Perez

15. “In the muscular and old-school comics storytelling that the skilled touch with design and decoration never overwhelms, I feel the massively accomplished illustrative spirit and inventiveness, if with a necessarily differing execution… It has a classic look, which in the world of comics is to say that it evokes the sturdy mix of functionality and elegance enjoyed by the most striking comic books of that most striking of decades, the nervous-wrecked, electrifying and progressive 1950s.” – Alan Moore

A – Parker – by Darwyn Cooke

B – The Case of Charles Dexter Ward – by H.P. Lovecraft, comics adaptation by Ian Culbard

C – Thunderbolt Jaxon – by Dave Gibbons and John Higgins

D – Messages in a Bottle: Comic Book Stories by Bernard Krigstein – edited by Greg Sadowski

D – Elric – by Michael Moorcock, comics adaptation by Julien Blondel, Jean-Luc Cano, Julien Telo, Robin Recht, and Dider Poli

F – Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset – by Rick Veitch, et al

16. “Belongs on the bookshelf of any halfway decent criminal profiler” – Alan Moore

A – The Big Book of Everything – by Hunt Emerson

B – James Bond: Case Files – by Kieron Gillen , Jody Houser, et al.

C – From Hell: Master Edition – by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell

D – Magic Words: The Extraordinary Life of Alan Moore – by Lance Parkin

E – Shot Callerz – by Gary Phillips

F – Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset – by Rick Veitch, et al

17. “If you’re in search of a graphic story that captures in a freeze-frame a turbulent period for both funny books and the world at large, then look no further.” – Alan Moore

A – Phonogram – by Kieron Gillen and Jamie Mckelvie

B – The Wicked + The Divine – by Kieron Gillen and Jamie Mckelvie

C – March – by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

D – Faceache – by Ken Reid

E – Rain – by Mary and Bryan Talbot

F – The One – by Rick Veitch

18. “[Creator] is perhaps the most transparent, honest and relevant voice remaining in contemporary comics, and this is, to my mind, [his/her/their] most powerful and affecting work to date.” – Alan Moore

A – Paying For It – by Chester Brown

B – Alec – by Eddie Campbell

C – Bacchus – by Eddie Campbell

D – Fresca Zizis – by Melinda Gebbie

E – Peep Show – by Joe Matt

F – Blankets – by Craig Thompson

19. “[Title] has a glow and freshness that is all its own, a signature eruption of the neurons into novel, interesting patterns at the turn of each new page.” – Alan Moore

A – The Spiral Cage – by Al Davison

B – Desolation Jones – by Warren Ellis and J.H. Williams III

C – Planetary – by Warren Ellis and John Cassidy

D – Mechanics – by Jaime Hernandez

E – Winsor McCay: The Complete Little Nemo 1905–1909 – by Winsor McCay, edited by by Alexander Braun

F – Jim – by Jim Woodring

20. “This is fantastic stuff” – Alan Moore

A – Kaijumax – by Xander Cannon

B – Meat Cake – by Dame Darcy

C – Mae – by Gene Ha

D – Tom Strong and the Robots Of Doom – by Peter Hogan, Chris Sprouse, and Karl Story

E – Coda – by Si Spurrier and Matias Bergara

F – The Spire – by Si Spurrier and Jeff Stokely

To see the answers, enter the password “Kimota” here.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook

Like this: Like Loading... Related

Tags: Alan_Moore, blurb