Alan Moore. Magnum Opus

"At the age of thirteen, David imagined a paradise for himself, a place where comics have gained recognition and popularity, and at the same time dozens of high-budget films with his favorite unknown characters in costumes are released. Now that he's in his paradise at fifty, it seems pretty depressing. Concepts and ideas designed for children forty years ago: and this is the best that the twenty-first century has to offer?"

  Standing in the pouring rain, he deliberately exposes his leather coat to the sharp blows of drops of dirty water that fell from heaven, like Lucifer, exiled for his disobedience.

His thick beard, as if plucked from Santa Claus' chin and dyed a darker shade, hangs like a heavy weight from his face. If you look closely at it, you can see something in the halls of secret knowledge: either the bitterness of existence, or the absurdity of life. 

Sucking in the heavy, thick gray smoke of a B/W cheap (or maybe expensive?) filter cigarettes, he exhales the colored colors of the comic book, stained with blood, cheerful depression and the smell of passionate flesh. 

He's a real rebel. He is a sorcerer and a writer. 

The man who slammed the bold and beautifully ugly stamp "18+" into the colorful cover of the comics.

* * *

"No compromises. Even in front of the face Armageddon"

You know that phrase. And you know who it belongs to. Charismatic mentally ill antihero Rorschach from the Guardians comic book. He, like John Constantine, Guy Fawkes from "V Means Vendetta," as well as such mastodon comics as "From Hell," "Batman: A Killing Joke," "Swamp Thing," and "The League of Distinguished Gentlemen," came from the pen and brush of Master Alan Moore.

  But I'm not going to talk about his biography or the comics he created today. This information is quite easily searched on the Internet, and in general it is very common.

  But what is less often talked about on the Internet (especially Runet) is his novel "Jerusalem" (inspired by the poem of the same name by writer William Blake), published in 2016. Yes, my dear padawans, this is not some kind of comic book with pictures for the evening, this is a huge book with more than 1,000 pages. This, of course, eliminates the question of why "Jerusalem" is not often and not much talked about. But believe me, we can talk here. clearly there is something to talk about...

* * *

Briefly about how this brainchild was born.

It won't be a secret that "Jerusalem" has been written for a dozen years. Moore's intentions were clearly serious. And what is he talking about? Well... about everything.

Have you read the "Dark King's Tower, where he mixed a bunch of genres? So Alan did about the same thing, only not so graphically, not so fantastically and crazily, and much, much more subtly, and also put it all in one volume.
If there are no critical spoilers, then on this flight you will find: the Middle Ages and mythology; the 17th and 20th centuries with historical figures, the pre-war period, which raises questions of humanity, faith and honor; the theme of time, cyclicity and the future; morality and vulgarity; and even the afterlife. 

The main character of the work is the author's native Borough and its surroundings in the city of Northampton. And already in it, different characters act out their role in their own setting and according to their own script. In the center of attention is the ancient Vernall family, who are destroying the processions of the Tolanals. In short: Mind for mind, balls for rollers.

* * *

It's a mark on my soul. That's what really struck me.

  "Jerusalem" - this is a real Talmud. The whole English epic about Northampton and Borough, which caused me some kind of contradictory, but definitely the strongest, and for the most part positive, impressions.

The occultist's manuscript is divided into three books.

The first book, BORO, is beautiful, and it's hard to get away from it. Each chapter is a separate story in a different time period, on behalf of different characters, and raising a different topic. A library of faces and their points of view. 

The second book, "The SOUL," changed its perspective. If "BORO" was the introduction/exposition, while "SOUL" is a single adventure, the second act of the film. It took much longer to read, as the first chapters were not very interesting to me, but with each subsequent part this book became better. And in the end, she even teared up. 

The third book, THE VERNALL INQUIRY, is the most controversial. Of all the chapters in the last book, only three and a half chapters were really impressive enough for me. Six and a half were just average, and one was, in my opinion, completely superfluous (or delayed).

* * *

  On the one hand, "Jerusalem" left a lot of questions, surprised not all of its chapters and elements, stole a lot of time and showed all its intellectual overload.

  On the other hand, this is a full-fledged global story, which is written from "A" to "Z" by a real maestro who knew what he was doing. A plot thought out to the smallest detail with its original, interesting and eccentric characters and intricacies in the narrative; a huge number of quotes written by me; an incredible variety of leitmotifs and topics raised; a really talented style of the writer's text; perfectly working elements (which, although not all of them I liked) of the plot designer; a historically and nationally significant work for both Alan Moore's native Borough (on which the city of Northampton was built), and for the whole of England. I would even say that the rest of the world has something to learn.

  My free time played a cruel joke on me, which, due to work and other books, I didn't have much of. Subsequently, it took me more than six months to read Jerusalem (or, to be more precise, 7 months and 11 days), as a result of which, by the end of the book, I was simply tired.

But this is solely my fault, since you can read this creation in a month, or even faster.

Nevertheless , "Jerusalem" by Alan Moore is a great dopamine masterpiece, a sweet, delicious, soft cupcake. A cupcake with small raisins, which I didn't like. This book will *bet your brain. And you will forget the safe word on your own.

Prostitutes. The ghosts. Mammoth. Charlie Chaplin. Demon. Paintings.

* * *

"It doesn't matter if it's the second reading or the hundredth: it will seem unprecedented to you, and willy-nilly you will enjoy it. You don't even want the book to end. But when it comes to an end, when the coffin backboard inevitably slams shut, you will instantly forget that you have already been through the plot, and will be reborn again – perhaps attracted by the spectacular and heroic picture of yourself on the dust jacket. They say it's a sign of a good book if you can reread it and find something new every time."