Alan Moore Cuts All Ties to DC Comics

Rich Johnston, after taking a couple of months off for the birth of his daughter, returns to Lying in the Gutters with quite the scoop. Writer Alan Moore is cutting all his ties to DC Comics. He'll finish up his current commitments, and then have nothing more to do with the company. Rich has all the details in an interview with the mage, and he also reminisces about the history of this troubled relationship between Moore and DC, as well as the obstacles that have seemed to take it down before. Moore is always an interesting interview subject, so see what he's got to say.

I'm not sure if we have any readers in England, but if we do, they might be interested in another Alan Moore scoop that Rich has tucked away in his column. Patti Smith is curating this year's Meltdown Festival in London, and she's asked Uncle Alan to join a raft of performers such as Portishead, Barry Adamson, and Tom Verlaine in an tribute to William F. Burroughs. That evening takes place June 16, but the festival itself runs from June 11 to June 26 and will feature Billy Bragg, Television, Richard Hell (any possibility of a reunion between him and Verlaine?), Kevin Shields, Yoko Ono, and Antony & the Johnsons, among many others. On the 25th, Patti herself will be performing Horses for that album's 30th anniversary.

For years, Lying in the Gutters and its antecedents have been among the most fun and most informative comics-related columns available. Although Rich always claimed he was not really a journalist, he was one of the few comics commentators to go after rumors and ferret out stories rather than sit and wait for the publishers' press releases. This time, he's making a go at straight-up investigative journalism, presenting only accurately sourced, completely confirmed fact-based stories (or as close to that as straight-up investigative journalism actually comes these days). No more speculations, rumors, or innuendo, at least not for six weeks. Once he's got that many columns under his belt, Rich has promised to give his readers a vote on whether to continue in the new journalistic vein or go back to publicizing the rumor mill. We'll see how this develops. Since Lying in the Gutters went on hiatus shortly before I started blogging in this space, it wasn't included in the links section, but now that Rich is back, I'm adding it. Go take a look.