America's Best Comics (Concept)

America's Best Comics last edited by gravenraven on 05/27/23 03:09AM View full history

A company set up by Alan Moore as an imprint of Wildstorm, Jim Lee proposed the idea to Moore in the late 1990s. Alan Moore agreed to the idea before the Wildstorm/ DC Comics merger. Alan Moore honored the contracts even though it went against his vow not to work with DC again.

America's Best Comics (ABC) would also be a place where Moore could continue ideas he had not fully explored with Awesome Comics going bankrupt. Around the time when ABC was developing Awesome Comics found unexpected financial problems and Rob Liefeld closed Awesome Comics. Moore's Supreme and Glory stories remained unfinished. Although Glory's first arc was completed at Avatar Press, the aspects of magic Moore wanted to explore were later perfected in his Promethea story. It is also likely that Moore's unexplored "Superman" stories, which Supreme ultimately was, were explored in Tom Strong instead.

At most part DC honored the Alan Moore's wises for them not to interfere with the production of the comics coming out of American's Best Comics. The only three known times DC interfered was an issue of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (LoEG) Vol. 1, where they pulped issue #5 because it contained an authentic vintage advertisement for Marvel-Brand douche, because of fear of lawsuit. Another insistence was when Alan Moore wanted Hello Kitty blinds in a scene for Tomorrow Stories, but changed it to Hello Hitler instead. There was also a Cobweb story that DC was not allowing to be printed, so Alan Moore changed up the names and characters a little, then got it printed it at Top Shelf.

Alan Moore's last work at DC would be The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier. This would be controversial again. DC Comics would not distribute this comic outside of the United States. Even Canada had a hard time getting this comic. The Absolute version as well would have features cut out of the final production, such as the 7 inch vinyl. This would feature the distance of Alan Moore and DC Comics.

After the contracts were honored Alan Moore ended all his series the way he wanted it, except for LoEG because he still owned the rights to that. Tom Strong and Top Ten have continued on after Alan Moore's departure, but have found little growth since. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen have found a new home at Top Shelf as well.

With the parent imprint (Wildstorm) closing down in 2010, it seems America's Best Comics has moved over to Vertigo. ABC as an imprint has to survive after Wildstorm, because outside of the few DCU stories, V for Vendetta and Watchmen, ABC remains as the only new work DC Comics can publish from Moore. None of the ABC books can be published under DC Comics because the contracts forbid DC Comics to appear on the comics themselves. Vertigo being the biggest and oldest imprint left has inherited the rights to print ABC books. With Absolute Promethea Vol. 3 solicited in April of 2011 (re-solicited for August 17, 2011) under the Vertigo section, ABC is solidified as Vertigo property and is still alive in some sorts. This is very appropriated because Vertigo has be referenced as "The House that Moore Built".

The release of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Omnibus Edition with the Vertigo Banner on the spine, it appears ABC is defunct officially.