Blogger Steven Gaythorpe reviews Dodgem Logic by the legendary Alan Moore
The fact the Alan Moore is a genius is an undisputed, and indisputable, fact. End of, as they say.
Best known for his work in comics he is also an amazing prose stylist. His influence can be felt wherever words are written in the English language, in most dramatic, prose and poetic forms. Anyone who has ever read his work cannot helped to be transformed by their wondrous, weird beauty.
He has written for some of the mightiest icons of the comic world like Batman, Superman and Swamp Thing and created truly original characters such as V, Constantine, Tom Strong, The Watchmen and so many more.
But despite his mainstream success Alan Moore has always retained a certain underground, indie aesthetic and so when it was announced that he would be launching his own magazine nobody was really surprised. Dodgem Logic is billed as the 21st century’s first underground mag, “colliding ideas to see what happens”.
Underground comics and magazines had their heyday in the late ’60s and are part of our collective consciousness even if we are too young to have ever read Oz or its contemporaries. The format lives on today and really good indie comic book stores give shelf space to self-published, self-printed comics and magazines. My local store, the excellent Travelling Man in Newcastle, has a great collection of small press stuff. If you ever find yourself in Newcastle you should pop in (or even if you just find yourself at the train station – it’s only two minutes away).
It was on a recent trip to Travelling Man that I found a copy of Dodgem Logic issue one. I was surprised to find it there, I have to admit, because I had thought it was only going to be distributed in Northampton – I don’t know why.
Issue one is everything you could want from this type of magazine: wild, rude, anarchic, but also well put together, intelligent and strangely beautiful. It includes a very informative history of underground publishing written by Moore himself, a funny article by Graham Lineham, comics about guerrilla gardening, an amazing and trippy comic drawn by Alan Moore (so talented it hurts), recipes, ponderings, advice and loads of good stuff. It also includes a free CD of music from Northampton that’s well worth a listen!
It is, I have to stress, for adults only! Not only does Moore reproduce the infamous Rupert The Bear image from Oz but it also includes sexually explicit acts between Popeye and Wimpy... Let’s face it, though – not everything should be suitable for children; there are already too many so-called adult books and films and comics out there that have been weakened by considering the teen market.
With Dodgem Logic , Alan Moore is on his way, in his own fashion, to becoming a media tycoon. I can’t wait to see what else he will produce in the future.
Look out for issue two which should be available soon.
