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Terry Moore (comics)
Encyclopedia
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
author, graphic novelist and illustrator.
He created the popular series Strangers in Paradise
Strangers in Paradise
Strangers in Paradise is a long-running, mostly self-published black-and-white comic book, written and drawn by Terry Moore. The series has reached its planned conclusion, finishing off in 2007 with issue #90 of volume 3....
, and was involved in the founding of Homage Comics
Homage Comics
Homage Comics was a comic book publishing imprint, a subdivision of Wildstorm. It was created in 1995 to focus more on writer-driven titles. As part of Wildstorm, it was acquired by DC Comics in 1998...
.
Biography
Following the examples of independent comic creators such as Dave SimDave Sim
David Victor Sim is an award-winning Canadian comic book writer and artist.A pioneer of self-published comics and creators' rights, Sim is best known as the creator of Cerebus the Aardvark, a comic book published from 1977 to 2004, which chronicles its main character in a 6,000-page self-contained...
and Jeff Smith
Jeff Smith (cartoonist)
Jeff Smith is an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the self-published comic book series Bone. His current series, RASL, focuses on an art thief who hops through dimensional barriers, hiding out on various parallel worlds.-Early life and education:Jeff Smith was born in McKees...
, he decided to publish Strangers in Paradise himself through his own Houston-based "Abstract Studios" imprint, and has frequently mentioned a desire to do a syndicated cartoon strip in the authors notes at the back of the Strangers in Paradise collection books. He has also mentioned his greatest career influence is Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
Charles Schulz
Charles M. Schulz
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.-Early life and education:Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schulz grew up in Saint Paul...
. Some of Moore's strip work can additionally be found in his Paradise, Too! publications.
His work has won him recognition in the comics industry, including receiving the Eisner Award
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
for Best Serialized Story in 1996 for Strangers in Paradise #1-8, which was collected in the trade paperback "I Dream of You".
It was announced on June 15, 2007 that Moore would be taking over for Sean McKeever as writer of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
's Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane is an American comic book series focusing on a teenage Mary Jane, the love interest of superhero Spider-Man. The series, published by Marvel Comics, is a teen drama set outside the regular Marvel continuity, and aimed at teenage girls, as opposed to the traditional male...
series starting with a new issue #1. The series lasted for five issues. On July 27, Marvel announced that Moore would also take over for Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
as writer of Marvel's Runaways
Runaways (comics)
Runaways is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The series features a group of teenagers who discover that their parents are part of an evil crime group called the Pride. Created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, the series debuted in April of 2003 as part of Marvel Comics'...
. This run lasted for 9 issues.
On November 19, 2007 Terry Moore announced in his blog that his new self-published series would be named Echo
Echo (comic book)
Echo is an American comic book independently-published by Terry Moore under his Abstract Studio imprint. The first issue was released on March 5, 2008 with silver foil accents not to be included on future printings....
and its first issue would appear on March 5, 2008. Echo ran for 30 issues, concluding in June 2011.
Moore was featured in The Cartoonist
The Cartoonist
The Cartoonist: Jeff Smith, Bone and the Changing Face of Comics is a 2009 documentary about the life and art of Jeff Smith, the creator of the Bone graphic novel series and regarded as one of America's greatest living cartoonists...
, a 2009 documentary film on the life and work of Jeff Smith, creator of Bone.
Themes in Moore's Work
Moore's work is known for its sensitive and realistic portrayals of women in particular. At a time when the comics industry was portraying women in highly exaggerated and sexualized images, Moore created female (and male) characters with natural body fat and who had body image problems. Moore continually emphasized in his editorial pages how he wanted to portray real women in real relationships, rather than the busty, unrealistic images that were common in most comic books in the early 1990s.Moore also took on the subject of sexuality in his work. His female protagonists, while never explicitly adopting a sexual identity, struggle throughout the stories with their relationships with one another, with their male counterpart, and whether friendship can be or should be discrete from romantic love.
External links
- The Strangers in Paradise Website
- Interview with The Comics Journal
- Baker's Dozen with Terry Moore
- Terry Moore's Blog
- In depth interview with Terry Moore on SiP and Echo
- Comic Geek Speak Podcast interview with Terry discussing the end of Strangers (June, 2007)
- Tery Moore discussing SiP Pocket Editions on Comic Geek Speak Podcast:
- Greg Upton at Emerald City ComiConEmerald City ComiConThe Emerald City Comicon is an annual comic book convention taking place in Seattle, Washington. Originally taking place at the city's Qwest Field , the venue changed to its current home at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center since 2008...
for The Backroom Comics PodcastBackroom Comics PodcastThe Backroom Comics Podcast is a weekly video podcast and audio podcast focused on comics. It is hosted by Kevin Malcolm, Greg Upton, Pete Greenberg and Jason Doctor. The first episode was released on March 20, 2009...
Emerald city ComiCon 2010 Part 5, March 2010