Alan Moore knows the score

I'm doing a phone interview with Alan Moore next week and am rather looking forward to it. Mainly because he's my favourite comics writer of the last 25 years and also because I can't wait to revisit some of the subjects we covered when I last interviewed him (back in the mid-80s for KOOKS!, my music, film 'n' comics zine).

Obviously, the main thrust of the interview will be Alan's comics (Lost Girls, League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, who'd win a fight between Swamp Thing and Tom Strong), but I'm also hoping to get him to talk a bit about his politics.

Back in the '80s Alan was involved with Northampton's local green group and even illustrated some promotional posters for gigs they put on to raise funds (I still have photocopies of a couple of them knocking about somewhere). Of course back then green politics were viewed as being strictly the preserve of hippies, anarchists and other long-haired ne'er do wells, a somewhat hilarious contrast to now when politicians of every hue compete unconvincingly to see who can be the most eco-friendly.

It'll be interesting to see how Alan feels about the "mainstreaming" of the green agenda and whether he views it as cynically as I suspect he might.

I'm also going to tackle him on why his material these days is seemingly less political than it was in the '80s when he wrote the brilliant Brought To Light and organised the AARGH! (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia) book to combat Section 28.

I'm conducting the interview for the latest incarnation of Tripwire magazine, which is reinventing itself as a 128-page, full-colour book retailing for around 15 bucks (a tenner over here I think). If this first effort is a success, my good pal Joel Meadows (the book's editor) plans to make it an annual event. Look out for news of the book's launch at the San Diego Comic-Con in July.

To be honest, I'd pretty much done with comics journalism (I'm far more interested in writing comics than writing about them) but it isn't every day you get the chance to talk to someone as fascinating and complex as Moore. Not that I expect to get a word in edgeways mind...