Alan Moore's Hypothetical Lizard

Truly horrifying. (It's meant to be.)

Alan Moore is one of the only writers I've ever read who never seems to be trying too hard to convince you he's good. He really IS that good. His symmetry is perfect. His symbols are perfect. (Not so opaque as to be incomprehensible, but not trite.) His stories are intricate, but there's nothing there that doesn't belong, that doesn't serve a purpose and make a point. When he names an emotion, it's not the emotion he's trying to get you to feel, it's the emotion you just felt.

The art is excellent. I would have loved for it to be in color, but aside from that I wouldn't change a thing. For once the art is beautiful while still being in service to the story... I'm quite convinced that the artists show more actually read the story and were committed to interpreting it exactly as it should be. Every detail of posture and expression is perfect.

Completely blew me away. show less

This graphic novel is both beautiful and extremely creepy, a meditation on love and revenge and horror. It's illustrated in grey tone which seem to suit the silent and enclosed nature of the story. It's set entirely in one place - The House Without Clocks, a mysteriously specialised brothel in a strange world with magic, wizards, oriental aesthetics and medieval style. The protagonist Som-Som has the "honor" of being the wizards' whore. I first misread that as horror, which fits much better...

I didn't enjoy it as much as some of Moore's other work. I found the plot twist far too predictable. Also, it's told from the perspective of Som-Som, who is mostly a passive observer. She is also a very unsympathetic, indeed deliberately show more incomprehensible, character. Probably the resulting distancing is intentional, but it does make empathy impossible. The world building is amazing, though, as you would expect from Moore. show less

Short graphic novel in B&W with the original novella printed in the back. Reminded me of Schrodinger's Cat philosophical dilemma, with added questionable ethics of a mother selling her child into prostitution.

As an interlude, it was okay to read. As a little vignette it's farly interesting. But it should not be sold alone (they actually give it to you twice - more on this in a moment) as it is way too short and inconsequential. It is an interesting short story at best.

It IS a complete graphic story. Moore originally wrote this as a standard text-only story. In this volume it has been turned into a graphic novel. What you have is the complete story in graphics, which is too short for even a graphic novel, so it is follwed by the complete original text, so actually you get the same story twice.

I've read Moore (V, Promethea, Swamp Thing, League of EG, Watchemn), and i would ahve been disappointed if this had been longer.

In my opinion, for fans show more only, and even then, get it from the library show less

While the prose here is often beautiful, and the imagery hinted at is tantalizing, I must admit that in the end, I just plain didn't get the story. Maybe I'm just a dummy.