The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic

The most acclaimed writer in comics history, Alan Moore, joins his late mentor Steve Moore (no relation) for one last graphic grimoire: a sprawling and stunning introduction to magic in all its timeless forms, brought to life by six wondrous and whimsical artists.

Splendid news for enquiring minds, and guaranteed salvation for humanity! Messrs. Steve and Alan Moore, proprietors of the celebrated Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels (sorcery by appointment since circa 150 AD), have produced a clear and practical grimoire of the occult sciences that offers endless necromantic fun for all the family. Exquisitely illuminated by a host of adepts including Kevin O’Neill, John Coulthart, Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch, Melinda Gebbie, and Ben Wickey, this marvellous and unprecedented tome promises to provide all that the reader could conceivably need in order to commence a fulfilling new career as a diabolist.

Its contents include profusely illustrated instructional essays upon this ancient sect’s theories of magic, notably the key dissertation “Adventures in Thinking,” which gives reliable advice as to how entry into the world of magic may be readily achieved. Further to this, a number of “Rainy Day” activity pages present lively and entertaining things to do once the magical state has been attained, including such popular pastimes as divination, etheric travel, and the conjuring of a colourful multitude of spirits, deities, dead people, and infernal entities from the pit, all of whom are sure to become your new best friends.

Also contained within this extravagant compendium of thaumaturgic lore is a history of magic from the last ice age to the present day, told in a series of easy-to-absorb pictorial biographies of fifty great enchanters and complemented by a variety of picture stories depicting events ranging from the Palaeolithic origins of art, magic, language, and consciousness to the rib-tickling comedy exploits of Moon and Serpent founder Alexander the False Prophet (“He’s fun, he’s fake, he’s got a talking snake!”).

In addition to these manifold delights, the adventurous reader will also discover a series of helpful travel guides to mind-wrenching alien dimensions that are within comfortable walking distance, as well as profiles of the many quaint local inhabitants that one might bump into at these exotic resorts. A full range of entertainments will be provided, encompassing such diverse novelties and pursuits as a lavishly decorated, decadent pulp tale of occult adventure recounted in the serial form. Completing this almost-unimaginable treasure trove is a lengthy thesis revealing the ultimate meaning of both the Moon and the Serpent in a manner that makes transparent the much-obscured secret of magic, happiness, sex, creativity, and the known Universe, while at the same time explaining why these lunar and ophidian symbols feature so prominently in the order’s peculiar name. (Manufacturer’s disclaimer: This edition does not, however, reveal why the titular cabal of magicians consider themselves to be either grand or Egyptian. Let the buyer beware.)

A colossal and audacious publishing triumph of three hundred and fifty-two pages, beautifully produced in the finest tradition of educational literature for young people, The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic will transform your lives, your reality, and any spare lead that you happen to have lying around into the purest and most radiant gold.

Book design by John Coulthart. Co-published by Top Shelf Productions & Knockabout Ltd (UK).

Alan Moore, born in Northampton, England, in 1953, is a writer, performer, recording artist, activist, and magician. His comic-book work includes Lost Girls (2006) with Melinda Gebbie, From Hell (1999) with Eddie Campbell, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (for which he won a Bram Stoker Award in 2000) with Kevin O’Neill. He has worked with director Mitch Jenkins on the Show Pieces cycle of short films and on the feature film The Show, while his novels include Voice of the Fire (1996) and his epic Jerusalem (2016). A short story collection, Illuminations (2022), and his forthcoming Long London series of novels are from Bloomsbury. He lives in Northampton with his wife and collaborator Melinda Gebbie.

Often described as the man who led Alan Moore astray (usually by Alan himself), Steve Moore (1949–2014) was a cranky old hermit who hardly lived in the 21st century at all. Starting in comics in the 1970s, he wrote mainly science-fiction and fantasy strips (sometimes under the name Pedro Henry) for a variety of British and American publishers, including titles such as Jonni Future, Laser-Eraser & Pressbutton, and Tales of Telguuth. Occasionally taking a break to work on nonfiction in the oriental, historical and Fortean fields, he wrote on the I Ching (The Trigrams of Han) and edited the scholarly journal Fortean Studies. The year 2006 saw his novelization of the movie V for Vendetta, and 2011 saw his original novel, Somnium. The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic is the result of a lifelong collaboration with Alan Moore. A Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, he lived in London, and was neither related to Alan Moore nor anywhere near as hairy.

John Coulthart is an award-winning illustrator and graphic designer. His work as a comic artist is contained in two books: The Haunter of the Dark and Other Grotesque Visions, a collection of Lovecraft adaptations which features a unique collaboration with Alan Moore, and Lord Horror: Reverbstorm, a graphic novel written by David Britton. His interest in the occult began with his mother's paperback of The Black Arts by Richard Cavendish and her back issues of Man, Myth & Magic. He lives in Manchester, UK.

Ben Wickey is a Massachusetts-born artist, writer, and animator. He is the illustrator of Ki Longfellow's The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall and the director of several stop-motion animated short films, including the award-winning The House of the Seven Gables. He lives in California with his beloved wife and cat.

Kevin O’Neill (1953–2022) was the British comics illustrator best known as the co-creator of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (with Alan Moore), Marshal Law (with writer Pat Mills), and Nemesis the Warlock for 2000AD (also with Pat Mills). With one of the most unique and detailed styles in comics, he earned an enormous worldwide fanbase that persists to this day.

Steve Parkhouse began his comics career in 1968 at the age of nineteen, working as a gofer in the Marvel Comics bullpen in New York City. He was accompanied by his art school buddy Barry Windsor-Smith, who was then a budding comic-book artist. He was fortunate enough to rub shoulders with many Marvel stalwarts. It was there he learned that comics could, and should, be fun. Taking that knowledge back to his native Britain, he wrote gags for children’s comics for the next three years and learned how to draw basic cartoons. There he met British luminaries like Steve Moore, Dez Skinn, Paul Neary, Dave Gibbons, and eventually some wannabe called Alan Moore. Persuaded by Dez Skinn to raise his sights and contribute to Warrior magazine, he found himself drawing cartoons yet again, with a script by the aforementioned A. Moore. With the main objective of lifting British comics output to a more meaningful level, Warrior magazine came and went. The survivors were picked up by DC Comics, and the rest, as they say, is comics history.

Rick Veitch is a lifelong cartoonist with a resume of thirty-seven graphic novels and innumerable comic books, including Swamp Thing, Can’t Get No, Army@Love, and the Eisner-nominated cult classics Brat Pack, The Maximortal, and Rare Bit Fiends (his dream diary in comic book form). He is co-founder of Eureka Comics, specializing in creating comics for learning and literacy with clients such as WNET, Wired magazine, the International Monetary Fund, McGraw Hill Education, the University of Vermont, and the Vermont Folklife Center. He was named Vermont State Cartoonist Laureate in 2020. He lives and works from his home in West Townshend, Vermont.

Melinda Gebbie's exquisite painted art has brought to comics a level of grace and craft rarely seen in the art form. Her career as a cartoonist dates back to the classic Underground era, where her work appeared in numerous comics, including the seminal all-women anthologies Wimmen's Comix and Tits & Clits, as well as her own solo book, the sexually charged Fresca Zizis. A native of San Francisco, Gebbie resides in England and is a frequent contributor to Alan Moore's projects, most famously as the artist of the monumental erotic graphic novel Lost Girls, as well as the Cobweb character in the America's Best Comics line.