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Big Numbers #1
Big Numbers 1
Graphic Novel
40 pages, Comic
First published April 1, 1990
1 person is currently reading
175 people want to read
About the author
Alan Moore
1,578 books21.6k 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 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 8, 2015
Quite different from Alan Moore's more famous graphic novels (Watchmen, Swamp Thing, Promethea etc.), this is the first of only two issues published in what was to be a twelve issue series run, and never completed. Big Numbers tells the somewhat sad stories of ordinary working class folks living in Northampton. I didn't find the stories here to be very compelling, but the astounding artwork by Bill Sienkiewicz kept me turning pages. Sienkiewicz's art style is similar in approach to Dave McKean's (The Sandman, Black Orchid etc.) and is all done here in shades of gray through the use of varying photorealist to sketched graphite pencil work. A close comparison can be made to McKean's work with Neil Gaiman on their 'Violent Cases' graphic novel. The panel flow (often oversized) in Big Numbers is incredibly well done, and often without words so that the pictures are moving the story along, and I'd recommend looking at this if only to see what can be remarkably achieved though a black & white approach. I can sense Moore's very earnest approach to this work, but I just couldn't get myself into the story much.
July 6, 2021
Vidom od kud je Zezelj moga povuc inspiraciju.
November 30, 2018
"Everyone needs an Edwin Drood", Alan Moore once remarked regarding this self-proclaimed magnum opus. Only two issues where ever published, and you can possibly find scans of the third. This was a story thought lost to the ages...Bill Sienkiewicz started and ended up screaming into the night due to the comics primal ambition. Legend has it, the project was then passed on to Bill's assistant Al Columbia, who blew all the money. They should have went with Eddie Campbell.
Big Numbers aka the Mandelbrot set is the story of ripples, rhythms and then schisms an American-style corporate shopping mall has on a small traditional English town.
Alan wrote the entire play-by-play of the series on large A5(?) cards; there are essentially 40 variables (over 35 which where characters, the other beings things such as "The Weather"). You can see the ripples happen in character arcs that mirror each other, fractals occur, etc.
Luckily, I bought a biography on Alan Moore and I meticuously transcribed photos of these notes, using a magnifying glass. I even passed them on to Sequart for someone to analyze, but no one seemed up to it.
It's understandable each issue was to be 40 pages long (a total of 480) with each character experiencing life over a year or so period (at least) so they'd age, change clothes, etc. It was a truly herculean effort for the Sienk--who has never known to have much of an endurance anyhow.
It's funny as it takes place in "Hampton" where I grew up. Alan Moore is clearly projecting his own "North Hampton" onto the premise. But I get a kick on it.
This is a five star ambition--about the socioeconomic effects that can bifurcate a town. The art is 4.5 stars (great but perhaps a little too 80s Dave McKean painterly so to be a bit hard to follow. Actual execution is hard to gauge without a complete product--but the notes set out a clear track. It'd be amazing to have had all the issues, and taken off the staples and lined up all those character narratives in a row.
Big Numbers aka the Mandelbrot set is the story of ripples, rhythms and then schisms an American-style corporate shopping mall has on a small traditional English town.
Alan wrote the entire play-by-play of the series on large A5(?) cards; there are essentially 40 variables (over 35 which where characters, the other beings things such as "The Weather"). You can see the ripples happen in character arcs that mirror each other, fractals occur, etc.
Luckily, I bought a biography on Alan Moore and I meticuously transcribed photos of these notes, using a magnifying glass. I even passed them on to Sequart for someone to analyze, but no one seemed up to it.
It's understandable each issue was to be 40 pages long (a total of 480) with each character experiencing life over a year or so period (at least) so they'd age, change clothes, etc. It was a truly herculean effort for the Sienk--who has never known to have much of an endurance anyhow.
It's funny as it takes place in "Hampton" where I grew up. Alan Moore is clearly projecting his own "North Hampton" onto the premise. But I get a kick on it.
This is a five star ambition--about the socioeconomic effects that can bifurcate a town. The art is 4.5 stars (great but perhaps a little too 80s Dave McKean painterly so to be a bit hard to follow. Actual execution is hard to gauge without a complete product--but the notes set out a clear track. It'd be amazing to have had all the issues, and taken off the staples and lined up all those character narratives in a row.
March 10, 2012
This is an absouletly gorgeous comic. It's about the lives of ordinary people living in [north]Hampton. A woman returning home after 10 years, various members of her family and then a couple in America who have plans to build a new shopping mall in the city.
The art work is stunning, beautifully rendered highly realistic pencil sketches. A lot of the panels have no dialogue and so the art work gets over the emotions within the story. It's depressing and real and so much better and more interesting than any superhero adventure could be. It's a shame only two issues were ever released but I'll definitely be getting the second one (and then reading everyone's plot developments in the Storyteller book).
The art work is stunning, beautifully rendered highly realistic pencil sketches. A lot of the panels have no dialogue and so the art work gets over the emotions within the story. It's depressing and real and so much better and more interesting than any superhero adventure could be. It's a shame only two issues were ever released but I'll definitely be getting the second one (and then reading everyone's plot developments in the Storyteller book).
August 9, 2017
I don't think this deserves the title of 'abandoned masterpiece' or 'potential magnum opus'. It's an alright story with some alright artwork. The fact that it's not completed gives even more reason to just forget about it.
May 1, 2020
Just did a reread and I'm bummed that it was abandoned. The writing is excellent, the voices of all the characters really interesting, varied and bang on for anyone from a British family. I'm left with a deep curiosity for where it would have gone. And, of course, Sienkiewicz's art is top notch.
April 10, 2021
Şəkillər çox qəşəngdir. Amma 1 səhifədə 12 panel-zad çoxdur. Ümumi silsilənin yarımçıq olmağı da qiraətimə təsir eləyir deyə 3 ulduz bəsdir. Yarımçıq kitablara nifrət eləyirəm. :D
March 16, 2013
Big Numbers is an unfinished comic book series by writer Alan Moore and artist Bill Sienkiewicz. Two issues, of a planned twelve, were published in 1990 by Moore's short-lived imprint Mad Love. Moore described this series as a potential magnum opus.
Issue 2:
In the two issues which were published the broad story is about the effect of a new US-backed shopping centre development on an English town (based on Moore's hometown of Northampton). Moore tells the story from a number of perspectives, using a range of disparate characters.
Another level of understanding Big Numbers is through fractal geometry, chaos theory and the mathematical ideas of Benoît Mandelbrot.[citation needed] The series intended to show that patterns existing at the large scale (the effect of the town) would have existed at a micro scale (the effect on individual characters' lives).
The story is told in an entirely real world. This is emphasized by Sienkiewicz's use of "photo-realistic" pencil drawings for the series.
In a 2001 interview Moore indicated that he did not believe Big Numbers could ever be completed as a comic. However, he spoke of the possibility of the comic being adapted as a television series by Picture Palace Productions, as he had the whole story mapped out on a sheet of A1 paper, and five episodes written
Issue 2:
In the two issues which were published the broad story is about the effect of a new US-backed shopping centre development on an English town (based on Moore's hometown of Northampton). Moore tells the story from a number of perspectives, using a range of disparate characters.
Another level of understanding Big Numbers is through fractal geometry, chaos theory and the mathematical ideas of Benoît Mandelbrot.[citation needed] The series intended to show that patterns existing at the large scale (the effect of the town) would have existed at a micro scale (the effect on individual characters' lives).
The story is told in an entirely real world. This is emphasized by Sienkiewicz's use of "photo-realistic" pencil drawings for the series.
In a 2001 interview Moore indicated that he did not believe Big Numbers could ever be completed as a comic. However, he spoke of the possibility of the comic being adapted as a television series by Picture Palace Productions, as he had the whole story mapped out on a sheet of A1 paper, and five episodes written
July 31, 2020
1990 = £2.75
WOW! I've never seen so much diligent and diverse hard work done by an artist per page! It seems obvious why this wasn't finished- it was just too ambitious art wise! The lack of ending SHOULD NOT STOP YOU FROM READING THIS GEM- it's even displayed on huge square pages!!
At all angles, Sienkiewisz gives -what seems like all of his styles at that point- plenty of license with stunning effect!! As you go through it SLOWLY, you'll find faces and such embedded in or obfuscated by the background which will demand further investigation of all that came before it!!! THEN there's his lettering: done well geometrically and with the appropriate diversity, even sign language and a language from India, for the people who are talking=
The lettering is done the ideal way,
like Dave Sim is famous for, but it's BETTER!
To Alan then: The British-isms of the characters, in their actions and their phonetically spelled speech, are the most authentic that this Anglophile has seen in the medium. He's only besting himself though.
He must have had BIG PLANS FOR THIS: The massive cast is wildly diverse and accentuated with delightful and insightful peculiarities! I DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO PRAISE THE CHARACTERS ENOUGH!!!!
***YOU CANNOT BEAT THIS EXAMINATION OF THE EFFECT OF A YANK MALL ABOUT TO ENCROACH ON A QUEERLY QUAINT HAMPTON BOROUGH***
WOW! I've never seen so much diligent and diverse hard work done by an artist per page! It seems obvious why this wasn't finished- it was just too ambitious art wise! The lack of ending SHOULD NOT STOP YOU FROM READING THIS GEM- it's even displayed on huge square pages!!
At all angles, Sienkiewisz gives -what seems like all of his styles at that point- plenty of license with stunning effect!! As you go through it SLOWLY, you'll find faces and such embedded in or obfuscated by the background which will demand further investigation of all that came before it!!! THEN there's his lettering: done well geometrically and with the appropriate diversity, even sign language and a language from India, for the people who are talking=
The lettering is done the ideal way,
like Dave Sim is famous for, but it's BETTER!
To Alan then: The British-isms of the characters, in their actions and their phonetically spelled speech, are the most authentic that this Anglophile has seen in the medium. He's only besting himself though.
He must have had BIG PLANS FOR THIS: The massive cast is wildly diverse and accentuated with delightful and insightful peculiarities! I DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO PRAISE THE CHARACTERS ENOUGH!!!!
***YOU CANNOT BEAT THIS EXAMINATION OF THE EFFECT OF A YANK MALL ABOUT TO ENCROACH ON A QUEERLY QUAINT HAMPTON BOROUGH***
July 14, 2015
This is a review of issues #1-3:
A very interesting look at family and class relations in a small English town. Difficult to rate given that only 2 out of 12 issues were ever published, but what exists is very impressive. Great dialogue as always from Alan Moore, and maybe some of his most humourous work. Sienkiewicz’s art is really incredible, with some great changes in style in some of the flashback/imagination sequences, and the layouts are very inventive. If this had been fully completed, I daresay it would have been one of Moore’s best.
Issue #3 was never published, but rough scans are easy to find online and I would recommend seeking them out. The dialogue is all there so, while the artwork is sometimes a bit unclear, you can still understand what is going on. There is a bit of a twist regarding the Keith character, and Mr. Carroll, the market analyst, finally appears.
I don’t quite see how the whole fractal aspect fits into it, but it might have been more clear if the work had been completed. In any case, I don’t think ‘abandoned masterpiece’ is too strong a term.
A very interesting look at family and class relations in a small English town. Difficult to rate given that only 2 out of 12 issues were ever published, but what exists is very impressive. Great dialogue as always from Alan Moore, and maybe some of his most humourous work. Sienkiewicz’s art is really incredible, with some great changes in style in some of the flashback/imagination sequences, and the layouts are very inventive. If this had been fully completed, I daresay it would have been one of Moore’s best.
Issue #3 was never published, but rough scans are easy to find online and I would recommend seeking them out. The dialogue is all there so, while the artwork is sometimes a bit unclear, you can still understand what is going on. There is a bit of a twist regarding the Keith character, and Mr. Carroll, the market analyst, finally appears.
I don’t quite see how the whole fractal aspect fits into it, but it might have been more clear if the work had been completed. In any case, I don’t think ‘abandoned masterpiece’ is too strong a term.
September 7, 2013
An unfinished magnum opus, limited to 2 out of the planned 12 issues. It's hard to comment on the story given that limitation, but what we have to enjoy today is a sampling of British-TV-style stories of small-town characters. Moore's writing is just clever enough for the realistic style, and Sienkiewicz's art is breathtaking—like Dave McKean, he combines photorealism, stylized proportions, and pure joyful madness, often all within one single panel.
Speaking of McKean, this is similar to his 'Cages', and to Moore's 'A Small Killing', though 'Big Numbers' appears to hold the promise of something bigger and tighter. I guess we'll never know.
Speaking of McKean, this is similar to his 'Cages', and to Moore's 'A Small Killing', though 'Big Numbers' appears to hold the promise of something bigger and tighter. I guess we'll never know.
November 14, 2015
Had high hopes for this but it's something smaller and ordinary without being bad.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews