FOUR MOORES TO GO

In more than two decades working in comics, Alan Moore has built a reputation for pushing the medium. His must-reads -- all available in paperback -- include:

WATCHMEN (1986-87, DC Comics, $19.95) If costumed heroes truly existed, this seminal deconstruction argues, they'd be scoffed at or despised -- and not just by the bad guys. A feature adaptation is being scripted by ''X-Men'''s David Hayter.

FROM HELL (1999, Eddie Campbell Comics, $35) Moore's thick-as-a-phone-book Jack the Ripper tome isn't a whodunit but a densely detailed conspiracy study. Horrific and tragic to a degree that the film simply couldn't match.

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE (1988, DC Comics, $5.95) On a lunatic rampage that permanently alters Gotham City history, the Joker cripples Barbara ''Batgirl'' Gordon, and leaves her father, Commissioner Gordon, naked and blubbering like a baby.

V FOR VENDETTA (1988-89, DC Comics, $19.95) A near-future look at an England gone fascist. Alarmist to some, prescient to others, but dark, gripping storytelling regardless. The Wachowski brothers eyed an adaptation before taking on ''The Matrix.''

Originally posted Jul 26, 2002 Published in issue #664 Jul 26, 2002 Order article reprints
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