Alan Moore writes Shadowhawk's origin

[arbre_rieur]

These pages are from the origin of the Image character Shadowhawk. I'm curious if anyone can guess who the author is just from the writing, mainly because I want to know if the answer's as obvious as I suspect it is. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a story where a writer's tics and style stick out more.

Obviously, please don't answer if you already know.

It is indeed Alan Moore. I can see why someone would think Morrison, but between the bizarre idolization of Crowley, the vague air of pedantry, the awkward insertion of obscure references or factoids to segue the conversation ("Do you know the local fellahin believe them to be demons?"), and even stuff like the final line, I'd say it more strongly points to Moore. Then again, reading the credits box before the story might have influenced my perception.

This was from the Shadowhawks of Legend one-shot, in which Jim Valentino got a bunch of other writers to flesh out his creation's backstory. Aside from Moore, among the other contributing writers were Kurt Busiek and Stan Sakai (whose contribution, perhaps unsurprisingly, was samurai-related).

For the record, pallas_athena was first to guess correctly, though others did as well. Good job, folks.


















publisher: image comics, title: shadowhawk, creator: alan moore

Comments

[proteus_lives]

I have this but damned if I remember who wrote it.

Shot in the dark, Warren Ellis?

[hearthemvoices]

I'm gonna guess Grant Morrison. o_o

[yaseen101]

I was thinking either Mark Millar, Grant Morrison or Warren Ellis.

[jeyl]

......I give up. Who is it?

[zordboy]

I want to guess, but I don't know author individual styles that well, so I'm scared to.

[randyripoff]

It's so obvious, it must be wrong, but it feels like Grant Morrison to me.

[pallas_athena]

Let's see... Crowley, Egyptology and mystical weirdness... Alan Moore is the obvious guess, even though the dialogue seems a bit too flat and the pacing a bit fast for his style. Also, there are no quotes, I-know-more-than-you-know references, or archaic euphemisms for "penis." But maybe it's early Moore?

[thandrak]

I sense... a beard of godlike power... and an imaginary snake god who is real despite that.

[thormonger]

It sounds crazy enough to be Grant Morrison's doing.

[jlroberson]

I'm going to take the first sacrificial stab and be wrong and say Alan Moore, hackin' it.

[mistersandman]

Oh, it has to be Alan Moore. The scenes with the Egyptian gods and lines like "And only the eternal stars endure?" How could it not be?

[icon_uk]

I'm going to guess the obvious and say Grant Morrison.

It might be Alan Moore, but the gods sound less like his style, and more in line with Maximan in Morrison's Zenith.

[stig]

Alan Moore. Obvious. It's all there - the Egyptian gods, intricate expounding of theory, symbolism-heavy writing - and, of course, the very good quality.

[cmdr_zoom]

Frank Miller, right?

Kidding. Seriously: I'd guess Alan Moore.

[joasakura]

No no, if it were Frank Miller it would be "WHORES! WHORES! FROGS! WHORES!"

[phosfate]

DO YOU UNDERSTAWHORESWHORESWHORESND DO YOWHORESWHORESWHORESU UNDERWHORESWHORESWHORESSTAND

[halloweenjack]

Alan Moore, Alan Moore, riding through the glen...

[mab_browne]

And now I have an ear worm.

[mad]

You have set this post to automatically screen comments. Please fix this so that comments are visible by default.

[arbre_rieur]

Oops. Was wondering why nobody was replying...

[cmdr_zoom]

And here I assumed that you did this so that no one would be "spoiled" by anyone else's guess.

[01d55]

At first I was thinking Morrison, but after a few pages it's gotta be Alan Moore.

[cainofdreaming]

I'll add my vote for Morrison, but other than that I've got this niggling feeling that I've read a similar scenario in some other comic. Not the shamanistic vision and dying part, but beings appearing in the form of Egyptian gods but telling that it's just the form the observer expects of them... Uh, anyone clairvoyant enough to pinpoint the source? It'll bother me to no end otherwise.

[graypumpkin]

I would have guessed Morrison, but Moore seems more likely as I do know he worked for Image for a while in the 90's.

[pseudo_tsuga]

Adding my vote to Moore though the language is simpler than I'd expect.

[psychopathicus_rex]

I'm thinkin' Moore. I never realized that Shadowhawk was involved in any way with the Egyptian pantheon, though; I thought he was a straightforward Batman-style urban avenger.