# Penny Dreadful & Alan Moore **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 10, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132 "2014-05-10T17:20:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/21 "2014-05-27T07:06:10Z")
Comics fan assumes Alan Moore invented literature, can’t remember the last time he read a non-picture book published before 1987, yada yada. ETA: Anyone, _ever,_ who implies that someone is “ripping off” poor old Alan Moore either _does not understand_ Alan Moore or is in fact Alan Moore. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/22 "2014-05-27T18:36:56Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Comics fan assumes Alan Moore invented literature, can’t remember the last time he read a non-picture book published before 1987, yada yada. You’re not posting in the Pit, **foolsguinea** , so don’t flame other posters. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/23 "2014-05-27T22:52:43Z")
> [@Kasper1014](#): > > Is anyone watching this. I’ve finished the first two episodes and am really liking it so far! I’m definitely enjoying it as well. I was afraid that it would either be like **League of Extraordinary Gentlemen** or **Van Helsing,** and thankfully it’s like neither and loads better than either. Strong performances all around, and the re-imagining of the monsters seems to hit all the right notes while adding something fresh (or rotted, as the case may be). I’m definitely going to keep watching. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/24 "2014-05-28T00:21:55Z")
The D&D setting, _Masque of the Red Death_ (not the Poe story, a subset of the _Ravenloft_ setting) predates LoEG by 5 years, and it features pretty much every Victorian-era historical and literary character inhabiting the same world. For a Ravenloft nut like myself, Penny Dreadful looks like Masque: the Series, and that’s not bad at all. It’s what I wished the LoEG movie would be. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/25 "2014-05-28T00:45:46Z")
The fiftieth-anniversary DETECTIVE comic had Batman meet Sherlock Holmes well over a decade before LoEG, decades after Superman was hanging out with Hercules. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/26 "2014-05-28T06:44:19Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > The fiftieth-anniversary DETECTIVE comic had Batman meet Sherlock Holmes well over a decade before LoEG, decades after Superman was hanging out with Hercules. “Modern hero goes back in time to meet famous literary characters” or vice-versa is pretty ubiquitous. But that’s not really the similarity here, as there’s no modern characters or time-travel, a whole host of literary characters that team up and the setting is specifically late-Victorian London. I don’t think there’s anything really wrong with Showtime have the same basic concept from Moore (and they must’ve taken it directly or at least been aware of it pretty quickly, even if someone came up with the idea independently, there’s no way the process got beyond two or three people before someone would’ve pointed out the similarities). Authors, especially Moore, freely borrow from each others settings. And we’re all better for their being able to do so. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/27 "2014-05-28T10:16:35Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > “Modern hero goes back in time to meet famous literary characters” or vice-versa is pretty ubiquitous. But that’s not really the similarity here, as there’s no modern characters or time-travel, a whole host of literary characters that team up and the setting is specifically late-Victorian London. _Sherlock Holmes Versus Dracula_ was followed by _Doctor Jekyll and Mister Holmes_ way back in the '70s, because Loren D. Estleman wanted to sell some books. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/28 "2014-05-28T11:22:27Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Why is there only ONE woman in this whole show? One token woman? There’ll be at least 3, but they’re slow on the character rollout. The pilot (all I’ve seen so far) features Eva Green and …whoever plays Mina Murray, and I gather Billie Piper will be introduced later (likely as a prostitute, I’d bet.) But Green gets top billing in ads _because she’s the star_ - Hartnett and Dalton might disagree, but I speak as someone who will keep watching for Green. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/29 "2014-05-28T13:46:01Z")
> [@Kasper1014](#): > > Is anyone watching this. I’ve finished the first two episodes and am really liking it so far! We saw the first episode last night, and like it very much. Vampires you can kill, a Buffalo Bill wannabe, Dr. Frankenstein, what could go wrong? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/30 "2014-05-28T14:14:43Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > I don’t think there’s anything really wrong with Showtime have the same basic concept from Moore (and they must’ve taken it directly or at least been aware of it pretty quickly, even if someone came up with the idea independently, there’s no way the process got beyond two or three people before someone would’ve pointed out the similarities). Authors, especially Moore, freely borrow from each others settings. And we’re all better for their being able to do so. Did you skip over all the replies that pointed out that multiple authors threw a bunch of Victorian literary figures into a blender years (sometimes decades) before Moore “created” League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/31 "2014-05-28T17:51:09Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Did you skip over all the replies that pointed out that multiple authors threw a bunch of Victorian literary figures into a blender years (sometimes decades) before Moore “created” League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? That’s true, but on the other hand, how many times do you think the name “Alan Moore” was said when they were pitching the idea, versus “Philip Jose Farmer?” ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/32 "2014-05-28T18:40:22Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That’s true, but on the other hand, how many times do you think the name “Alan Moore” was said when they were pitching the idea, versus “Philip Jose Farmer?” My guess is none. Moore had nothing to do with the movie and that would be the frame of reference that most movie executives would be working off of. I’m assuming the pitch was more… “What if we do American Horror Story but with public domain characters in the 1890s?” ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/33 "2014-05-29T09:24:41Z")
I’m thinking it was more along the lines of “What if _Ripper Street_ and _Dracula_\* were to be combined, and we threw in Frankenstein too”… - The (sadly cancelled) Jonathan Rhys Meyers series. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/34 "2014-06-24T00:54:52Z")
Anyone else still watching? I’ve been VERY pleased with this series so far. Great writing, consistently good (and sometimes great) acting, and I had no idea Eva Green had such impressive acting chops. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/35 "2014-06-24T01:12:08Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > Anyone else still watching? I’ve been VERY pleased with this series so far. Great writing, consistently good (and sometimes great) acting, and I had no idea Eva Green had such impressive acting chops. I actually had creepy dreams after last night’s episode. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/36 "2014-06-24T02:21:43Z")
I’m in… last night was a great episode. So creepy and well-done. ---
**Author:** ![Gerald\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Gerald\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerald_II)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/37 "2014-06-24T22:57:02Z")
I wouldn’t be surprised if Penny Dreadful was inspired by Alan Moore’s work, just like I wouldn’t be surprised if his LOEG was inspired by Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula. In Anno Dracula the author manages to place many characters from fictional literature in the story: From Sherlock Holmes to the Lone Ranger, Dr. Fu Manchu to Blacula. Moore indulges in borrowing other people’s characters or patterning his own creations after well known established characters, and sometimes, for audiences who are already familiar with the source material: Watchmen-Charlston Comics characters and Superfolks book Supreme-Silver Age Superman Glory-Wonder Woman 1963-early '60s Marvel Comics Youngblood-Marv Wolfman era Teen Titans Zantar White God of the Congo-Tarzan of the Apes ---
**Author:** ![Lowdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Lowdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lowdown)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/38 "2014-06-26T18:41:43Z")
I am trying my hardest to like this show because I dig Josh Hartnett, but I’m not convinced it’s a keeper. Sometimes I think it’s trying too hard. Frankenstein and monster are pretty awesome. Dorian Gray is a total snoozefest. Bond girl is killing it (but needs a sandwich). Dalton’s acting is impressing me too, but they need to get going on the plot there. Overall, I think too much time is being spent trying to be edgy. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/39 "2014-06-26T19:59:56Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Comics fan assumes Alan Moore invented literature, can’t remember the last time he read a non-picture book published before 1987, yada yada. > > ETA: Anyone, _ever,_ who implies that someone is “ripping off” poor old Alan Moore either _does not understand_ Alan Moore or is in fact Alan Moore. Yeah, Moore complaining about people stealing his ideas is so very hypocritical it hurts.:rolleyes::mad: He hasn’t had a original idea in his life. His oeuvre is stealing other author’s characters and turning them into travesties. Mind, you, LoEG was well written, at least the first one. The series has been decent so far, has had some great moments. No\* Fargo\*, sure, but watchable. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132/40 "2014-06-26T20:20:32Z")
We enjoyed the pilot but don’t want to spend money on Showtime. Is it basically Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vampire Slayers? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penny-dreadful-alan-moore/688132.md?page=3)