Peering with sullen eyes, stuffed beneath a mop of stringy grey hair and perched just above an excessive beard, misplaced from the chin of an ancient wizard, Alan Moore is a god to comic book fans and his legacy grows with his latest foray into literature, “Jerusalem.”

Moore or less

Moore can give the Dos Equis man a run for his money as Most Interesting Man. Moore is a Disciple of Glycon the roman snake god, an occultist, anarchist, and official ceremonial magician. He was once in a committed polygamous relationship with his wife and another woman, until his wife and the other woman ran off together with their children, leaving Moore looking like Ross Gellar.

Moore is praised among comics fans as the beloved creator of “Watchmen,” which revolutionized the comic book industry in the 80’s and propelled an adult oriented comic book market. It also inspired Comic Sans, the most despised font of all time, but that isn’t his fault.

Born in 1953 and raised in Northampton, UK to a blue collar family, Moore was often nose-deep in books. He loved the British comics but was enthralled with American superheroes. He was expelled from school at age 17 for being an inept drug dealer and often spends interviews excusing his failures away with his thick lower class British accent, and deep grumbly voice.

Moore eventually found his calling as a writer and was published in local magazines and newspapers at first but quickly found a job writing British comics. From there, his meteoric rise was fast and he became the most celebrated comic book author of all time.

The Moore you know

In addition to “Watchmen” Moore also created “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” “From Hell,” and introduced John Constantine from “Swamp Thing” who later became the main character in “Hellblazer.” Moore also created “V for Vendetta” which reflected his anarchistic, anti-establishment ideology and inspired a generation of hackers and activists.

V, the main character from the graphic novel, donned the now infamous Guy Fawkes mask. Ironically, the mask is owned by Warner Brothers and produced exclusively by Rubie’s Costumes. At it’s height, the Guy Fawkes mask was among the top selling items on Amazon selling roughly 100,000 or more masks per year at about seven dollars each — take that, corporate America!

Moore’s most controversial work, Lost Girls, is a loosely adapted, pornographic comic book version of three fairy tale characters: Wendy from “Peter Pan,” Dorothy from “Wizard of Oz,” and Alice from “Alice and Wonderland.” The graphic novel explores their sexual growth as they deal with sex, incest, rape, and molestation.

Moore money, Moore problems

The wizardly Moore despises Hollywood for their treatment of his work. His adapted works include “Watchmen,” “From Hell,” “Constantine,” “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” “V for Vendetta,” and recently adapted into animated format was Moore’s controversial “Batman: The Killing Joke.” Early in his career he sold off movie rights to his comics to make a few quick bucks but now regrets it. He condemns every adaptation of his work but has never seen one for himself.

Appearing on BBC’s “HARDtalk,” when asked how he can judge his films without having seen them, Moore quipped, “I do prefer to criticize things on a position of ignorance.”

Like with Hollywood, Moore feels slighted by the comic book industry and admits he will always love the medium but no longer has an interest in the corporations in charge. After losing the licensing rights to several characters, a common complaint among writers in the comic book industry, Moore announced he is retired from comic book writing.

His first move as a comic book veteran was to release a massive epic “Jerusalem.” The novel is a whopping 1,280 pages long and explores his hometown of Northampton. The narrative delves into the characters, the derelicts, prostitutes, and drunken zebras that make up the town, blending fiction and reality, although he assures readers the drunken zebra is very real. The writing is long winded and highly detailed but has been met with much praise from fans and critics. Prose illustrates each sentence as Moore is known to carefully select each word with exhaustive intention.

With his departure from the comic book industry, a huge gap is waiting to be filled by the next great mind, meanwhile, Moore will continue to persevere as a respected novelist … until they adapt his work or steal his characters.