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Confabulation: An Anecdotal Autobiography
This comprehensive, in-depth, and personal journey through the eyes of one of the world’s most famous comics creators, Dave Gibbons, spans his earliest years copying Superman and Batman comics as a kid, to co-creating the bestselling graphic novel of all-time, Watchmen , and beyond.
Presented alphabetically, with informally written anecdotes that can be read from cover-to-cover or simply dipped into, Gibbons reveals unseen comics’ pitches, life as the first Comics Laureate, and going from being a fanzine artist to infiltrating DC Comics in the 1970s. The book covers everything from working on Doctor Who and meeting Tom Baker to being inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame. Gibbons also discusses, for the first time anywhere, the reasons why he and fellow Watchmen co-creator Alan Moore no longer speak. Packed with over 300 iconic, rarely seen, and unpublished art pieces and photographs, Confabulation: An Anecdotal Autobiography not only entertains, but peels back the layers of a fascinating career in comics.
Presented alphabetically, with informally written anecdotes that can be read from cover-to-cover or simply dipped into, Gibbons reveals unseen comics’ pitches, life as the first Comics Laureate, and going from being a fanzine artist to infiltrating DC Comics in the 1970s. The book covers everything from working on Doctor Who and meeting Tom Baker to being inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame. Gibbons also discusses, for the first time anywhere, the reasons why he and fellow Watchmen co-creator Alan Moore no longer speak. Packed with over 300 iconic, rarely seen, and unpublished art pieces and photographs, Confabulation: An Anecdotal Autobiography not only entertains, but peels back the layers of a fascinating career in comics.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published March 14, 2023
2 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
Dave Gibbons
655 books257 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Dave Gibbons is an English comic book artist, writer and sometime letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything". He also was an artist for the UK anthology 2000 AD, for which he contributed a large body of work from its first issue in 1977.
Gibbons broke into British comics by working on horror and action titles for both DC Thomson and IPC. When the science-fiction anthology title 2000 AD was set up in the mid-1970s, Gibbons contributed artwork to the first issue, Prog 01 (February 1977), and went on to draw the first 24 installments of Harlem Heroes, one of the founding (and pre-Judge Dredd) strips. Mid-way through the comic's first year he began illustrating Dan Dare, a cherished project for Gibbons who had been a fan of the original series. Also working on early feature Ro-Busters, Gibbons became one of the most prolific of 2000 AD's earliest creators, contributing artwork to 108 of the first 131 Progs/issues. He returned to the pages of "the Galaxy's Greatest Comic" in the early 1980s to create Rogue Trooper with writer Gerry Finley-Day and produce an acclaimed early run on that feature, before handing it over to a succession of other artists. He also illustrated a handful of Tharg's Future Shocks shorts, primarily with author Alan Moore. Gibbons departed from 2000 AD briefly in the late 1970s/early 1980s to became the lead artist on Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly, for which magazine he drew the main comic strip from issue #1 until #69, missing only four issues during that time.
He is best known in the US for collaborating with Alan Moore on the 12-issue limited series Watchmen, now one of the best-selling graphic novels of all time, and the only one to feature on Time's "Top 100 Novels" list. From the start of the 1990s, Gibbons began to focus as much on writing and inking as on drawing, contributing to a number of different titles and issues from a variety of companies. Particular highlights included, in 1990, Gibbons writing the three-issue World's Finest miniseries for artist Steve Rude and DC, while drawing Give Me Liberty for writer Frank Miller and Dark Horse Comics. He penned the first Batman Vs. Predator crossover for artists Andy and Adam Kubert (Dec 1991 - Feb 1992), and inked Rick Veitch and Stephen R. Bissette for half of Alan Moore's 1963 Image Comics series.
Works other than comics include providing the background art for the 1994 computer game Beneath a Steel Sky and the cover to K, the 1996 debut album by psychedelic rock band Kula Shaker. In 2007, he served as a consultant on the film Watchmen, which was adapted from the book, and released in March 2009. 2009's Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars Director's Cut for the Nintendo DS and Wii platforms featured hand drawn art by Dave Gibbons.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Dave Gibbons is an English comic book artist, writer and sometime letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything". He also was an artist for the UK anthology 2000 AD, for which he contributed a large body of work from its first issue in 1977.
Gibbons broke into British comics by working on horror and action titles for both DC Thomson and IPC. When the science-fiction anthology title 2000 AD was set up in the mid-1970s, Gibbons contributed artwork to the first issue, Prog 01 (February 1977), and went on to draw the first 24 installments of Harlem Heroes, one of the founding (and pre-Judge Dredd) strips. Mid-way through the comic's first year he began illustrating Dan Dare, a cherished project for Gibbons who had been a fan of the original series. Also working on early feature Ro-Busters, Gibbons became one of the most prolific of 2000 AD's earliest creators, contributing artwork to 108 of the first 131 Progs/issues. He returned to the pages of "the Galaxy's Greatest Comic" in the early 1980s to create Rogue Trooper with writer Gerry Finley-Day and produce an acclaimed early run on that feature, before handing it over to a succession of other artists. He also illustrated a handful of Tharg's Future Shocks shorts, primarily with author Alan Moore. Gibbons departed from 2000 AD briefly in the late 1970s/early 1980s to became the lead artist on Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly, for which magazine he drew the main comic strip from issue #1 until #69, missing only four issues during that time.
He is best known in the US for collaborating with Alan Moore on the 12-issue limited series Watchmen, now one of the best-selling graphic novels of all time, and the only one to feature on Time's "Top 100 Novels" list. From the start of the 1990s, Gibbons began to focus as much on writing and inking as on drawing, contributing to a number of different titles and issues from a variety of companies. Particular highlights included, in 1990, Gibbons writing the three-issue World's Finest miniseries for artist Steve Rude and DC, while drawing Give Me Liberty for writer Frank Miller and Dark Horse Comics. He penned the first Batman Vs. Predator crossover for artists Andy and Adam Kubert (Dec 1991 - Feb 1992), and inked Rick Veitch and Stephen R. Bissette for half of Alan Moore's 1963 Image Comics series.
Works other than comics include providing the background art for the 1994 computer game Beneath a Steel Sky and the cover to K, the 1996 debut album by psychedelic rock band Kula Shaker. In 2007, he served as a consultant on the film Watchmen, which was adapted from the book, and released in March 2009. 2009's Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars Director's Cut for the Nintendo DS and Wii platforms featured hand drawn art by Dave Gibbons.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 23, 2024
I like Dave Gibbons's work but am only a casual fan and must confess that I mainly read this to see what he had to say about his relationship with Alan Moore. It does not disappoint. Probably the most insightful thing I've read or heard about the road Moore went down. Great stories about plenty of other greats and work in the comics business. Oddly touching story about the too-much-maligned Jim Shooter as well. If you are the kind of person for whom the name Dave Gibbons conjures specific images, you will enjoy this.
April 25, 2023
Total delight.
March 2, 2023
This excellent autobiography is entertaining, amusing and fully engaging. It is a series of anecdotes arranged alphabetically, as the title suggests. This being the case when starting reading it, I began just dipping in when I had a spare moment, but then what actually happened was I found I wanted to read more to find out more about Dave's life.
Dave's conversational style feels like a chat down the pub with a long term - really solid buddy, and in a lot ways he is. He has figured in a lot of people's lives in my age category (50's) and with a love of comics and graphics novels - as I first encountered his work as a boy in 2000ad and Doctor Who Weekly, then as teen on Watchmen of course, and his work has kept popping up over the decades and figures largely in my collection.
The other great thing about this book is that you get an insight into his relationship with Alan Moore, Brian Bolland and the the UK comics scene in general which I find fascinating.
Oh and I haven't even mentioned the awesome amount of artwork, plenty of it that I never seen and I do count myself as a fan that already owns a number of his books.
If you have any passing interest in any of his work this is fully recommended.
Dave's conversational style feels like a chat down the pub with a long term - really solid buddy, and in a lot ways he is. He has figured in a lot of people's lives in my age category (50's) and with a love of comics and graphics novels - as I first encountered his work as a boy in 2000ad and Doctor Who Weekly, then as teen on Watchmen of course, and his work has kept popping up over the decades and figures largely in my collection.
The other great thing about this book is that you get an insight into his relationship with Alan Moore, Brian Bolland and the the UK comics scene in general which I find fascinating.
Oh and I haven't even mentioned the awesome amount of artwork, plenty of it that I never seen and I do count myself as a fan that already owns a number of his books.
If you have any passing interest in any of his work this is fully recommended.
January 17, 2024
Not a traditional biography, but a terrific one. Dave Gibbons has presented this as an A to Z guide to his life, giving him the ability to tell anecdotes from throughout his life. It feels like going down to the pub and sitting with Gibbons for several hours while he regales us with stories over pints. If you aren't familiar with Dave Gibbons, you should be. He's the artist behind Watchmen and Martha Washington along with one of the best one off Superman stories ever told.
The book is published by Dark Horse and presented in this large, oversized hardback. It's terrific for looking at all the art packed within. There's all kinds of promotional and unproduced comics and adverts within, drawn by Gibbons and all blown up so you can see every little detail. I loved seeing and hearing stories about all of the British work he did that never made it over to the U.S. You also get why he and Alan Moore no longer really talk to one another anymore, even after creating one of the most seminal comics of the modern age. Just terrific stuff in here.
The book is published by Dark Horse and presented in this large, oversized hardback. It's terrific for looking at all the art packed within. There's all kinds of promotional and unproduced comics and adverts within, drawn by Gibbons and all blown up so you can see every little detail. I loved seeing and hearing stories about all of the British work he did that never made it over to the U.S. You also get why he and Alan Moore no longer really talk to one another anymore, even after creating one of the most seminal comics of the modern age. Just terrific stuff in here.
June 24, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed this trip through the life and career of comic book writer/artist Dave Gibbons. Known chiefly through his collaboration with writer Alan Moore on Watchmen, Gibbons has had a rich and wonderful time (mainly) drawing both US and UK comics. The format of this autobiography is interesting and imminently enjoyable; Gibbons has opted to take an alphabetical tour of his life, with short, well-written anecdotes about everything and everyone from Aliens to Zanga, Man of Mystery, with numerous stops in between. He’s a warm and engaging writer, too, and totally honest; you will learn why he and Alan Moore no longer speak, and a lot of other Watchmen-oriented dish. I wish every famous comic book artist would do something like this … it’s a great format and profusely illustrated, with wonderful production values.
June 7, 2023
Great format for an autobiography -- this is what it might be like if you met Dave Gibbons at a pub and he started rattling off stories about his life and career. In contrast to many of his contemporaries, he has a very positive view of the comics industry, and seems to be just as much an enthusiastic fan as he is a seasoned professional.
November 4, 2023
A great overview of not just a career, but a life.
Ordered alphabetically, a ramble through the life and times of Mr. Gibbons, offering rare insights into a life comics in a time when the medium, by and large, did not have the degree of respect that it has today. Fascinating!
Ordered alphabetically, a ramble through the life and times of Mr. Gibbons, offering rare insights into a life comics in a time when the medium, by and large, did not have the degree of respect that it has today. Fascinating!
March 23, 2023
An utterly beautiful, engaging memoir of one of the most important comics creators of the last fifty years. An absolute must-read for anyone interested in comic book history.
April 15, 2023
A lovely book about one of my favorite artists. Found several books I didn't' have and ordered them off of ebay.
June 5, 2023
Breezy, visual and wonderful with a inside look at how comics used to be in both the UK and US. (i.e more than one of them existed in the former.)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews