Alan Moore revolutionized the world of comics with his Watchman series for DC Comics some 15 years ago, and he still remains the top writer in the field (witness the three Eisner Awards he won this year). Next month, Top Shelf Productions will be soliciting a unique Alan Moore product -- a performance CD in which Moore takes listeners on a tour of the checkered past of London's Highbury district, providing the juicy details and strange tidbits that are never mentioned in conventional guidebooks. Form the brutal gangland slaying of Jack the Hat by the legendary London gangsters, the Krays, to the opium-tinged reveries and ravings of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Moore uses all his narrative techniques to enthrall listeners with the kind of fascinating historical details and stories that make his comics (From Hell, for example) so interesting.
Moore's spoken word stories are contrasted with the brooding, atmospheric soundscapes created by Tim Perkins, who is perhaps best known for his musical achievements with Finality Jack. This imported CD is coming out on Steven Severin's RE: label. Alan Moore first performed this work in the winter of 1997 upstairs at The Garage. While many comic artists have developed legions of collectors, few writers who work in the comics medium have done likewise. Certainly Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman both have strong followings, and to a lesser extent so do Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, and Grant Morrison. The Highbury Working, which captures Moore at the height of his spoken narrative powers, is sure to stir the interest of collectors who follow his career. This special, limited import CD will carry a retail price of $20, and will be solicited in the August Previews catalog. 
