What do you think?
Rate this book
The Last War in Albion
The Last War in Albion Volume 1: The Early Work of Alan Moore and Grant Morrison
In the late twentieth century, beneath the surface of Britain's green and pleasant land, raged a war that spanned the heights of mystical transcendence and the most obscure gutters of popular culture. The stakes were unfathomably the fate of the twenty-first century, the shape of an entire artistic medium, and whether or not several people would make their rent. On one side was Alan Moore, the acclaimed literary genius who would transform comics forever. On the other was Grant Morrison, the upstart punk who never met an idol he didn't want to knock off its perch.In Volume One of this incredible tale you'll learn how an ex-drug dealer from the slums of Northampton and a failed rock star from Glasgow made their way into the comics industry and found themselves locked in an artistic rivalry that would shake the very foundations of Britain. Starting from their beginnings writing and drawing comic strips like Captain Clyde and Maxwell the magic Cat and continuing through Moore's breakout runs on Marvelman and V for Vendetta and explosion onto the US scene with Swamp Thing, it is the fantastically unlikely tale of how the British comics industry came to produce the two greatest wizards of their generation.This is the story of gothic rock and obscenity trials. Of William Blake and William S. Burroughs. Of Hieronymus Bosch and Enid Blyton.This is the story of the Last War in Albion.
- GenresComicsNonfictionHistory
788 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 11, 2016
12 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Sandifer
24 books88 followersNote: This author previously published under the name Philip Sandifer.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Read
August 7, 2025A both Insanely detailed and simply insane in depth look at the early works of Alan Moore and Grant Morrison (book 1 of certainly many).
The problem is here is a matter of scope as the author seems to try and do EVERY aspect of not only the work and the authors’ lives but the entire history of art and culture justice, resulting in a book that is often enlightening but also features about 300 pages (this is guaranteed to be both exaggeration and a subjective truth) on the topics of William Blake (SO.MUCH.BLAKE), life as a workers’ child in the UK of the 60s and goddamned soccer rules, through means as diverse as astonishingly deep dives into secondary and tertiary literature and what must be hundreds of interviews but also seances (William Blake is quoted directly as visiting ghost).
The problem is here is a matter of scope as the author seems to try and do EVERY aspect of not only the work and the authors’ lives but the entire history of art and culture justice, resulting in a book that is often enlightening but also features about 300 pages (this is guaranteed to be both exaggeration and a subjective truth) on the topics of William Blake (SO.MUCH.BLAKE), life as a workers’ child in the UK of the 60s and goddamned soccer rules, through means as diverse as astonishingly deep dives into secondary and tertiary literature and what must be hundreds of interviews but also seances (William Blake is quoted directly as visiting ghost).
July 25, 2021
An excellent beginning.
An excellent and comprehensive survey of a time and a field with which I was intimately connected as a reader, can and once popular fanzine writer. There are some minor (but by that token irritating) historical errors, especially with regard to DC Comics' origins but Me Sandifer is consistently excellent on her major topic. The Book is frustratingly incomplete, being in itself a one-sided preliminary, so Volume 2 had better come out pretty soon!
An excellent and comprehensive survey of a time and a field with which I was intimately connected as a reader, can and once popular fanzine writer. There are some minor (but by that token irritating) historical errors, especially with regard to DC Comics' origins but Me Sandifer is consistently excellent on her major topic. The Book is frustratingly incomplete, being in itself a one-sided preliminary, so Volume 2 had better come out pretty soon!
October 14, 2021
This really long book is mostly about the early career of Alan Moore. A little of Grant Morrison. Okay. its so thorough its almost funny. But the concept of the magical war that is mentioned between the two writers was not really clarified for me. It just seems like a term bandied about. And I was into it all until they refer to an interview with William Blake that was conducted in 2014 by a medium, I kind of lost it. Could we not include the data taken from the dead?
December 9, 2019
3.5 Stars. An extremely in-depth exploration of the exaggerated pissing match between two of comics greatest writers.
I hate the binary that you have to choose one or the other; it's self-indulgent fanboy masturbation, slightly more elevated than Hulk vs. The Thing or Marvel Vs. DC.
I hate the binary that you have to choose one or the other; it's self-indulgent fanboy masturbation, slightly more elevated than Hulk vs. The Thing or Marvel Vs. DC.
March 3, 2022
Great book in looking at the early days of Moore's work, more or less just before Watchmen. Don't be misled by the title though this is more or less a book about Moore, William Blake get just as much if not more time than Morrison.
June 3, 2021
For anyone wondering why I am suddenly reading so much Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, and I know you aren't, this is the inspiration.
September 13, 2025
I started reading this in a series of essays on the web, especially after someone linked a related article on the [criminal abuser] Neil Gaiman. By the time I got 10 parts in I knew I needed it.
Despite both Moore and Morrison cribbing heavily from innumerable sources, both brought an almost hip hop level of narrative collage to their works, remixing ideas from elsewhere - reworking earlier characters and a jambalaya like restitching of story threads from elsewhere, like their plunderphonic relatives in music of that era.
This books provides a deep and astonishingly knowledgeable analysis of the two and their contrasts and similarities of the two writers and artists, covering the works, from story to themes to references to other works and works by each other.
It also, of course, covers the millieu that both swam in, from the indy comics and mid 80s pulp UK publications to the larger cultural beats in the UK while they were writing. Along with the more mundane and frankly embarring politics is within the big two comic book houses.
Still, most importantly it covers the magickal traditions and ideas that the two subscribed to, since they were critical to understanding their works. Alan Moore, with "The Watchmen", created the comic as a metatextual ritual to stop a nuclear war in the 80s (this is not an exaggeration, I am 100% serious). Meanwhile, Morrison literally [censored] over a hypersigil to both change themselves into the man they wanted to be and make the world cool enough to contain that man.
... And all of us have been dealing with the massive reverberations of those creations ever since. But none more so than Alan Moore & Grant Morrison themselves.
Despite both Moore and Morrison cribbing heavily from innumerable sources, both brought an almost hip hop level of narrative collage to their works, remixing ideas from elsewhere - reworking earlier characters and a jambalaya like restitching of story threads from elsewhere, like their plunderphonic relatives in music of that era.
This books provides a deep and astonishingly knowledgeable analysis of the two and their contrasts and similarities of the two writers and artists, covering the works, from story to themes to references to other works and works by each other.
It also, of course, covers the millieu that both swam in, from the indy comics and mid 80s pulp UK publications to the larger cultural beats in the UK while they were writing. Along with the more mundane and frankly embarring politics is within the big two comic book houses.
Still, most importantly it covers the magickal traditions and ideas that the two subscribed to, since they were critical to understanding their works. Alan Moore, with "The Watchmen", created the comic as a metatextual ritual to stop a nuclear war in the 80s (this is not an exaggeration, I am 100% serious). Meanwhile, Morrison literally [censored] over a hypersigil to both change themselves into the man they wanted to be and make the world cool enough to contain that man.
... And all of us have been dealing with the massive reverberations of those creations ever since. But none more so than Alan Moore & Grant Morrison themselves.
May 14, 2022
If you're interested in the early history of British comics and how the British invasion came to be, this is an interesting starting point. The book centers on Alan Moore's early career with bits here and there dedicated to Grant Morrison. The War from the title is the conflict between these two who are among the most celebrated authors in the comic world. What's great about this book is the level of detail and analysis on Moore's work. What I didn't like is how the author goes off on a tangent at times talking about related subjects like William Blake's life and work, or Stan Lee's. That makes the book a bit slow at times. Don't get me wrong they are interesting subjects but I don't think the reader needs such an in depth look. It's stil a great book and I'm sad the following volumes haven't been published as books (you can still read them at the author's blog) and I hope they someday will. It works well as a guide to all of Alan Moore's early works for someone who really wants to read his whole career.
October 9, 2020
Deeply idiosyncratic and well-researched look at the careers of Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, and the conflicts between them. This volume covers their earliest works, up to just before Moore produced Watchmen and changed superhero comics forever. Good stuff, but at this rate, it will take 20 volumes to cover the entire 'war' of the title.
April 24, 2017
Want to know about the secret (and not so secret) war between two of the masters of British comics (who also happen to be pretty big into Chaos Magic)?
Then read this book. It's admittedly a very niche subject, but even if you haven't read any Moore or Morrison, it's still something you can get into--though there is an assumed familiarity with both of their works. It manages not to take sides in the Moore-Morrison war, either (I'm on the Moore side, pretty much always have been--especially since I finished Jerusalem, which, wow...) and presents a balanced view of the feud between the two giants of modern comics.
Probably not for the casual reader of comics, but...
If you are a fan of Moore or Morrison, it's worth reading.
Then read this book. It's admittedly a very niche subject, but even if you haven't read any Moore or Morrison, it's still something you can get into--though there is an assumed familiarity with both of their works. It manages not to take sides in the Moore-Morrison war, either (I'm on the Moore side, pretty much always have been--especially since I finished Jerusalem, which, wow...) and presents a balanced view of the feud between the two giants of modern comics.
Probably not for the casual reader of comics, but...
If you are a fan of Moore or Morrison, it's worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews