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Skizz #1
Skizz : Prepare to Enter an Alien World - Ours!
From comics' greatest writer comes an early classic - a tale of alien contact - Alan Moore style! When a spacecraft from Tau Ceti crashlands just outside Birmingham (UK), its sole occupant - Interpreter Zhcchz - is left alone and incapable of escape, in a world he can't begin to comprehend. Terrified, hungry and disorientated, the alien finally finds warmth in a dark shed... But Skizz (as Roxy, the schoolgirl who befriends him calls him) becomes the object of a government search, led by the crazed alien-hunter Van Owen, after the wreckage of his ship is found. With Skizz still desperately trying to adjust to Earth, and only Roxy to protect him, will either of them survive, let alone cope with the strangest days of either of their lives?
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
3 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
About the author
Alan Moore
1,578 books21.7k followersAlan Moore is an English writer most famous for his influential work in comics, including the acclaimed graphic novels Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell. He has also written a novel, Voice of the Fire, and performs "workings" (one-off performance art/spoken word pieces) with The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels, some of which have been released on CD.
As a comics writer, Moore is notable for being one of the first writers to apply literary and formalist sensibilities to the mainstream of the medium. As well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes, he brings a wide range of influences to his work, from the literary–authors such as William S. Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon, Robert Anton Wilson and Iain Sinclair; New Wave science fiction writers such as Michael Moorcock; horror writers such as Clive Barker; to the cinematic–filmmakers such as Nicolas Roeg. Influences within comics include Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kirby and Bryan Talbot.
As a comics writer, Moore is notable for being one of the first writers to apply literary and formalist sensibilities to the mainstream of the medium. As well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes, he brings a wide range of influences to his work, from the literary–authors such as William S. Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon, Robert Anton Wilson and Iain Sinclair; New Wave science fiction writers such as Michael Moorcock; horror writers such as Clive Barker; to the cinematic–filmmakers such as Nicolas Roeg. Influences within comics include Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kirby and Bryan Talbot.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 9, 2021
Increíble. Historia a lo E.T. donde Alan Moore aprovecha para hablar de las bajezas y también de las noblezas humanas. Se refleja una Birmingham sombría, donde la alienación de los desempleados, la desatención social por parte de los altos estamentos y la incomprensión familiar están a la orden del día.
Algunas cositas del final fueron algo predecibles y hasta complacientes, pero en general me encantó.
Algunas cositas del final fueron algo predecibles y hasta complacientes, pero en general me encantó.
August 10, 2020
The plot is familiar: an alien crash lands on Earth. Lost and light years from home, Interpreter Zhcchz must seek the help of humans if he's ever to return. Naturally there are government agents who seek to capture him …
The setting is less familiar to most: Birmingham, England, circa mid-80’s. Alan Moore and Jim Baikie set out to do the most realistic alien-lost-on-Earth story of which they were capable. Their hard work paid off, and characters like Roxy and Cornelius and of course Zhcchz loom large in my memory to this day.
Alan Moore’s pre-DC career tends to get overlooked, save only for those series that were later completed with American publishers like V for Vendetta and Miracleman. This is a shame as much of it, particularly his work for 2000AD, is quite good in its own way. In his beginnings, you can see themes that would carry through into later works.
In my experience, any Alan Moore is worth reading. Recommended!
The setting is less familiar to most: Birmingham, England, circa mid-80’s. Alan Moore and Jim Baikie set out to do the most realistic alien-lost-on-Earth story of which they were capable. Their hard work paid off, and characters like Roxy and Cornelius and of course Zhcchz loom large in my memory to this day.
Alan Moore’s pre-DC career tends to get overlooked, save only for those series that were later completed with American publishers like V for Vendetta and Miracleman. This is a shame as much of it, particularly his work for 2000AD, is quite good in its own way. In his beginnings, you can see themes that would carry through into later works.
In my experience, any Alan Moore is worth reading. Recommended!
September 24, 2011
‘Skizz’, first published in 1983 for British comic series 2000AD (originator of Judge Dredd and many other iconic comic figures), is a rather heart-warming tale.
Yet the tale is told without losing an ounce of the dystopianism for which the British are so well known. Set on the Planet Burmy-Gam, it helps to read the text in a Brummy accent to get a real feel for it.
Alan Moore is very good with linguistic clues – his brutal and unhinged government alien hunter is positioned as South African with just two carefully placed words at the beginning.
This is a kinder counterpoint to Moore’s ‘V for Vendetta’ and a riposte to Spielberg’s ‘ET’. The British Midlands are presented as brutal and Government as wholly weak or malign but there is good.
The ordinary coppers and state servants are good enough blokes (much as in 'V') but they are obliged to obey cruel orders. The local working class population, if dim, is, however, good hearted.
Although nearly three decades separate this story line and Thatcher’s Britain from today’s riots and economic crisis, you would not think it from the tone.
Today Government would be seen as not fully competent enough to be evil and the police would not get such a good press but the sense of a population coming to terms with the unthinkable could be 2011.
A word is due here for the artist Jim Baikie. Alan Moore is rightly considered a bit of a genius and this often means that his illustrators get put into second position by default.
‘Skizz’, however, is a perfect partnership of word and picture. Baikie illustrates the text from well within the British comic tradition, which is all stark black and white pen and ink contrast.
The panels are constructed almost filmically but with ‘real people’ rather than following the American propensity to give their kids a succession of good and bad ideal types.
Perhaps if a solid TV Director with access to Dr Who level CGI could just follow the instructions and not get too creative, one day this might be the one film that Alan Moore does not have a moan about.
It would simply be a kind and fun film with solid old-fashioned emotional engagement.
‘Skizz’ himself, the alien interpreter who breaks a few rules and finds himself lost on Burmy-Gam, horrified by the ape-creatures, is a wonderful creation, the very type of the ordinary alien bloke.
The story is really one of minor civil servant out of his depth, lost in the jungle and waiting for the local colonial police to come and rescue him. We are just the tribespeople.
Yet the tale is told without losing an ounce of the dystopianism for which the British are so well known. Set on the Planet Burmy-Gam, it helps to read the text in a Brummy accent to get a real feel for it.
Alan Moore is very good with linguistic clues – his brutal and unhinged government alien hunter is positioned as South African with just two carefully placed words at the beginning.
This is a kinder counterpoint to Moore’s ‘V for Vendetta’ and a riposte to Spielberg’s ‘ET’. The British Midlands are presented as brutal and Government as wholly weak or malign but there is good.
The ordinary coppers and state servants are good enough blokes (much as in 'V') but they are obliged to obey cruel orders. The local working class population, if dim, is, however, good hearted.
Although nearly three decades separate this story line and Thatcher’s Britain from today’s riots and economic crisis, you would not think it from the tone.
Today Government would be seen as not fully competent enough to be evil and the police would not get such a good press but the sense of a population coming to terms with the unthinkable could be 2011.
A word is due here for the artist Jim Baikie. Alan Moore is rightly considered a bit of a genius and this often means that his illustrators get put into second position by default.
‘Skizz’, however, is a perfect partnership of word and picture. Baikie illustrates the text from well within the British comic tradition, which is all stark black and white pen and ink contrast.
The panels are constructed almost filmically but with ‘real people’ rather than following the American propensity to give their kids a succession of good and bad ideal types.
Perhaps if a solid TV Director with access to Dr Who level CGI could just follow the instructions and not get too creative, one day this might be the one film that Alan Moore does not have a moan about.
It would simply be a kind and fun film with solid old-fashioned emotional engagement.
‘Skizz’ himself, the alien interpreter who breaks a few rules and finds himself lost on Burmy-Gam, horrified by the ape-creatures, is a wonderful creation, the very type of the ordinary alien bloke.
The story is really one of minor civil servant out of his depth, lost in the jungle and waiting for the local colonial police to come and rescue him. We are just the tribespeople.
July 24, 2021
Alan Moore's contemporary Brum-approximation of E.T. is a wonderful chunk of early 80's comics. An alien interpreter crash lands on Earth and is taken in by teenage misanthrope Roxy and with the help of her dad's mate and an approximation of Yosser Hughes they try to free him from the villainous clutches of a psychotic (and possibly South African) alien hunter. It's got bags of atmosphere, the occasional intrusion of Moore's cerebral navel-gazing and barely any fat on it. A fantastic caper basically - limited only by the fact that it is essentially E.T. so you know where the beats fall before they do, however much local/pop culture character and "we've seen the movie" meta-commentary there is.
Baikie's art is superb - as Moore alludes to in the semi-fictional interview included - he's a classical all-rounder managing to balance both the looming concrete of Thatcherite Birmingham, the humanity of the humans and the wild alien designs with ease. It's got a wonderfully evocative early 80's black and white functionality to it but still manages to be expressive and narratively fluid. I also never thought much of his blotchy colourwork so the fact it's relegated only to the cover in this edition is a bonus.
This copy was one I bought for my partner and was printed in the mid-noughties Rebellion era. The "graffiti" logo they use on the front is a little baffling (and not as good as the original one) and the repro throughout is fairly grand despite the ratio difference and one part which is a bit washed out but likely can't be helped. Nice to get the extra of the Alan Moore "droid interview" about it from the '84 annual and the repros of Baikie's two contemporary 'star scan' images which were originally in colour and look a bit dark here. Otherwise a very solid book and genuinely fun to read - I don't recall much from Baikie's two non-Moore sequels to this which is likely a sign of why they're not included!
Baikie's art is superb - as Moore alludes to in the semi-fictional interview included - he's a classical all-rounder managing to balance both the looming concrete of Thatcherite Birmingham, the humanity of the humans and the wild alien designs with ease. It's got a wonderfully evocative early 80's black and white functionality to it but still manages to be expressive and narratively fluid. I also never thought much of his blotchy colourwork so the fact it's relegated only to the cover in this edition is a bonus.
This copy was one I bought for my partner and was printed in the mid-noughties Rebellion era. The "graffiti" logo they use on the front is a little baffling (and not as good as the original one) and the repro throughout is fairly grand despite the ratio difference and one part which is a bit washed out but likely can't be helped. Nice to get the extra of the Alan Moore "droid interview" about it from the '84 annual and the repros of Baikie's two contemporary 'star scan' images which were originally in colour and look a bit dark here. Otherwise a very solid book and genuinely fun to read - I don't recall much from Baikie's two non-Moore sequels to this which is likely a sign of why they're not included!
June 25, 2019
Něco takového bych od Moora nečekal - velmi lehké čtení. Klasicky výborně napsané.
December 17, 2011
Skizz is 2000AD retelling ET. I didn't think that sounded like that great a premise but I found a cheap copy and decided I should get it anyway. I have to say I was surprisngly impressed. It was quite funny and had a lot of nice social commentary. It was set in Birmingham, the alien was a translator and intelligent and shocked by the brutality he saw on Earth. He was befriended by a 15 year old school girl who with the help of a couple of unemployed blokes from her council estate managed to save the creature. The creature was captured by the government who taught him English. There as a great moment when they asked him what Roxy had told him about the Police, the alien replied that she said the police were not as good as madness, which he only now understood (cut to next scene of girl sitting listening to albums). There was a wonderful character who'd been unemployed and had gone a little mad who had some amazing speeches and ended up saving the day. I must admit that the last few pages made me cry quite hard! The art was also very good, it was in the 2000AD style of black and white realism and worked really well.
January 28, 2019
Bravo!!! An E.T. Story that reflects on maybe humans are the messed up beings in the universe! Really edgy, somewhat dark but a great 3 part comic series! Cornelius is amazing! I’ve got my pride!
September 18, 2020
Many things annoy me now about Alan Moore: the grudges, the flogging of a dead horse in League to the extent it became utterly joyless, that occasional sense his comics are too constructed to simply just enjoy... but for me, most annoying is his dismissal of his juvenilia. Because for some of us that juvenilia is guileless and spontaneous and joyful, all things I think Moore would lose the further into his career he got
Skizz is, predictably, scathing about it now but I think this is not only wrong of him, but also quite sad because it’s a sweet tale of a misplaced alien that surprisingly unfolds into a story about people who think they’re somehow unworthy or useless discovering a sense of pride in themselves. As someone born in Northampton I sometimes find Moore’s constant evoking of the town as a mystical wonderland a bit silly, but Birmingham is perfect as the location here: the second city, but unloved and depressed and full of people struggling to find beauty in a tarnished home. It’s got a real sense of time and place and for some 2000AD readers the politics - which Moore happily admits were stolen from Bleasdale - must have been something of a shock
But this is where the story is so good: the sense of people trying to recover dignity - most perfectly embodied in the fantastically named Cornelius Cardew - robbed from them. It’s in many ways a dry run for Halo Jones (Baikie’s lovingly scratchy art is very close to Gibson’s) with a grounded female lead in a very real world. It also has a surprising and wonderfully matter of fact black characters which again was unheard of outside of Harlem Heroes and Judge Giant in the Prog. The only hamfisted addition is our villain - it’s nicely pointed that he’s South African but his accent is particularly overdone and where Moore quietly drops some of these affectations Van Owen is still way too obvious to really work. I guess it makes sense as our titular hero is a translator but it feels like a rare misstep in what is otherwise Moore at his very best
Skizz is, predictably, scathing about it now but I think this is not only wrong of him, but also quite sad because it’s a sweet tale of a misplaced alien that surprisingly unfolds into a story about people who think they’re somehow unworthy or useless discovering a sense of pride in themselves. As someone born in Northampton I sometimes find Moore’s constant evoking of the town as a mystical wonderland a bit silly, but Birmingham is perfect as the location here: the second city, but unloved and depressed and full of people struggling to find beauty in a tarnished home. It’s got a real sense of time and place and for some 2000AD readers the politics - which Moore happily admits were stolen from Bleasdale - must have been something of a shock
But this is where the story is so good: the sense of people trying to recover dignity - most perfectly embodied in the fantastically named Cornelius Cardew - robbed from them. It’s in many ways a dry run for Halo Jones (Baikie’s lovingly scratchy art is very close to Gibson’s) with a grounded female lead in a very real world. It also has a surprising and wonderfully matter of fact black characters which again was unheard of outside of Harlem Heroes and Judge Giant in the Prog. The only hamfisted addition is our villain - it’s nicely pointed that he’s South African but his accent is particularly overdone and where Moore quietly drops some of these affectations Van Owen is still way too obvious to really work. I guess it makes sense as our titular hero is a translator but it feels like a rare misstep in what is otherwise Moore at his very best
December 18, 2022
Interpreter Zhcchz crashes on Earth, a forbidden hellplanet in a Restricted Belt, and when his ship self-destructs he has to take his chances with the locals of Burmy Gam. Captured by the government and experimented on by the demented Van Owen, Zhcchz (Skizz) has to rely on his few human friends for rescue.
Initially conceived before 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' hit cinemas in the early 80s, this book nevertheless reads as 'What if E.T. landed in Birmingham?'. That may sound gimmicky and derivative but, honestly, it works really well.
The 2000 AD comics always had a great knack of taking familiar American story tropes and giving them a sardonic British twist and that's exactly what we have here. Instead of a group of kids helping the alien, however, it's a punk teenager and a bunch of pool hall ruffians who take on the authorities.
As with Steven Spielberg's movie, there's a great deal of heart in this story and for all of its dark moments, I think it's ending might be one of the most uplifting things I've ever seen Alan Moore write.
This is a real gem from the 2000 AD glory days.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
Initially conceived before 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' hit cinemas in the early 80s, this book nevertheless reads as 'What if E.T. landed in Birmingham?'. That may sound gimmicky and derivative but, honestly, it works really well.
The 2000 AD comics always had a great knack of taking familiar American story tropes and giving them a sardonic British twist and that's exactly what we have here. Instead of a group of kids helping the alien, however, it's a punk teenager and a bunch of pool hall ruffians who take on the authorities.
As with Steven Spielberg's movie, there's a great deal of heart in this story and for all of its dark moments, I think it's ending might be one of the most uplifting things I've ever seen Alan Moore write.
This is a real gem from the 2000 AD glory days.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
August 16, 2025
I really liked this: a clearcut inversion of alien and "monster" narratives, with the real monster appropriately a South African authoritarian of the apartheid era. Moore and Baikie present a range of likeable, varied characters in a yarn refreshingly set in Birmingham and making good use of its pubs, billiard halls, Bull Ring and spaghetti junction. Roxanne, the fifteen year old Scouser who wants to be a star and is virtuous and down to earth and loving, Loz the cool masculine biker and Cornelius Cardew (such character naming, after a real person!) the good blue collar manual worker deliberately downtrodden by Thatcher's government. Skizz himself is a wonderful creation, and it's all an engaging British variant upon E.T., with much bathetic, deadpan humour and an anti-establishment countercultural core.
July 19, 2024
I quite enjoyed this early outing by Alan Moore. It remains overlooked and infrequently mentioned, mostly because it’s an early Moore work from the pages of 2000 AD. While being a somewhat familiar story, the book is all-around great. Jim Baikie’s black and white art is truly expressive and effective in bringing this sci-fi tale to life. It might not stand as tall as some of Moore’s more famous and deeper works, but his potent writing and its themes therein are constant and have been there since the start.
February 9, 2019
Great stuff from the Master's fervid early eighties phase - ET stranded in Thatcher's Britain befriends teen - 'The police? What did she say about the police?' '... she said that they weren't as good as madness ...'
April 7, 2019
Fun early Alan Moore. A good slightly gritty version of E.T.
January 26, 2022
A darker, more adult, more English, version of E.T. Fun and I like the art, but nothing Earth-shattering.
December 24, 2025
Of all the ways I could love the dimensions of the this graphic novel, it was the physical ones that impressed me most.
February 26, 2023
Moore translates the film ET's premise into a view of the depressing 1980's Britian with bars, unemployment, pool halls, rebellious teens and military protests.
August 10, 2016
I picked this up at a local comic convention last year, on a whim. I did not regret it. Skizz is a short, straight-forward E.T.esque story that is compelling and funny. The perfect read if you are looking for something not too challenging yet gripping.
Alan Moore's characters are very well-crafted, that is no secret. Cornelius, who is very reminiscent of Tom Cullen (Stephen King's The Stand), is the stand-out character in the book as far as I'm concerned.
4 out of 5 mostly because, for a moment, I felt like a kid again.
Alan Moore's characters are very well-crafted, that is no secret. Cornelius, who is very reminiscent of Tom Cullen (Stephen King's The Stand), is the stand-out character in the book as far as I'm concerned.
4 out of 5 mostly because, for a moment, I felt like a kid again.
October 14, 2010
I had read that Skizz was one of Alan Moore's earliest goes at long form storytelling for 2000 AD and that he was given the assignment of basically ripping off E.T. While "Alan Moore does ET" works as a high-minded pitch for this story, I have to say that undersells just how good this book is. There is a lot of heart in this book. It does a good job of exploring what it is to be human, both the good and bad.
September 26, 2012
My sister grabbed this for me when she was in Scotland cause I asked her to grab me any 2000AD book. I was pretty excited that she grabbed an early Alan Moore book. It pretty fun to read but I'm kind of a sucker for 2000AD stuff. The story was like a less family friendly British E.T. I think that's all it was trying to do.
January 24, 2011
More of Alan Moore's critical answer to the film "E.T. the Extraterrestial" than really an original concept. There's definitely some similarity to "V for Vendetta." But otherwise, not really that gripping or interesting.
January 4, 2012
Quick read that kind of reminded me of the E.T. movie. I'm really starting to like the illustration style, feels like an old comic should. Interesting to see the perspective of an alien crash landing on our planet and his first impression of humans and our violence.
Want to read
March 9, 2010Que vivan las ofertas que me permiten seguir completando mi mooreteca.
June 18, 2012
what a wonderful story and characters. it made me cry :)
December 13, 2012
Quite nice post-ET 80s fun from mr. Moore.
Rough art and social criticism in a black and white view of the world.
Rough art and social criticism in a black and white view of the world.
Read
December 30, 2015Lovely quote: "Some of them have style, some of them have pride, and some of them are... stars!"
June 7, 2016
3 and a half stars.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews