Promethea

Something for Alan Moore: I'm a big fan, and I have the entire series in my real library, though I initially read it as a digital comic. One of the things that I love about it is that it maps out the psychedelic world really well, and I read a few of the books that it recommended. Ultimately, though, I read Alice Bailey's A Treatise on White Magic (which was a major influence on Twin Peaks) and visited the Theosophy society because their building in Wellington is quite striking.

It's a fascinating worldview, but I find the Indian stuff more compelling than the strange fusion of East and West that Theosophy represents. The specificity is part of what makes it an exciting read: like, Aleister Crowley is a common reference point, but Spare or some of those other obscure figures are probably specific references to his milieu. Fantastic art as well! I think one of the best parts of the America's Best Comics like Top 10 and Tom Strong was that they had these vibrant art styles filled with references to old comics that I'd never read before. I think it's aged well, even though it has this millenial fervour about a new world that The Matrix and a bunch of other contemporaneous films and comics were describing which feels quite quaint in 2024. As an editor, one of my banes is 'which vs. that' - my instinct is to go which first, then that, but one of my editing gigs said that wasn't right.

Barbara's the really professional editor who has done a lot of books, so it's really on her if she thinks that she can make a book out of those early draft pages. Personally, I really love Fashion Beast. If you've seen my song cycle, you'd see why!