Fashion Beast by Alan Moore, Malcolm McLaren, Antony Johnston, Facundo Percio

During his career Alan Moore has displayed many writerly talents, not least luck in being paired with equally talented collaborators. Though Moore’s authorial ambition certainly raised the bar for US comics during the 1980s, it's repeatedly overlooked just how often 'his' biggest hits were actually dependent upon the creative input of artists like Dave Gibbons (Watchmen) and David Lloyd (V for Vendetta).

Moore originally wrote Fashion Beast as a film script for the mercurial Malcolm McLaren; so we have the former Sex Pistols manager to thank for Moore having the solid narrative of Beauty and the Beast to work with (and against), in this fashion-industry retelling of the classic fairytale – thus successfully avoiding Moore's repeated weakness when it came to shaping satisfying conclusions. 

Fashion Beast the film was lost in production hell, but the script survived and, decades later, writer Antony Johnston and artist Facundo Percio have sensitively brought it to fruition, albeit in comic-book form. The result's an engrossing narrative that highlights Moore's talent for shaping worlds and characters quickly and economically, perfectly visualised in a style that combines the realistic and grotesque in equal measure. In other words, Moore’s been lucky again. As, on this occasion, have we. [Paul F. Cockburn]