America's Best Comics is a publisher of comic books. It was set up by Alan Moore in 1999 as an imprint of Wildstorm, an idea proposed to Moore by Wildstorm founder Jim Lee when it was still under Image Comics.

Under this imprint, Moore has penned many well-regarded series, the most famous being The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Other notable comics include Tom Strong, a homage to pulp fiction heroes such as Doc Savage; and Promethea, one of Moore's most personal pieces which detailed Moore's view on Magic. Contributing artists include Kevin O'Neill, Chris Sprouse , Rick Veitch, J. H. Williams III , Gene Ha , Zander Cannon , Arthur Adams , Peter Bagge, Shawn McManus, Bruce Timm; authors include Steve Moore (no relation), Amber Moore and Leah Moore (Moore's daughters), Peter Hogan , Brian K. Vaughn , Geoff Jones , Ed Brubaker and Michael Moorcock. Most of the lettering is done by Todd Klein.

Wildstorm was later sold to DC Comics without Moore's knowledge, although the Internet was buzzing with the news of what Moore would do to Lee upon discovering the truth. This was because Moore had sworn years earlier that he would never work for DC again, after a dispute over the Mature Advisory sticker DC wanted to use on the Swamp Thing comics.

According to the interview Moore gave George Khoury in the book The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore , when Lee first saw Alan Moore after the takeover, the tall figure of Moore holding his snake-headed walking stick impressed Lee so he was sure Moore - who was then still ignorant of the sale - was going to beat him senseless. Moore was reluctant at first, but ultimately decided to accept his new situation as he had promised work to a number of his artist friends from Rob Liefeld's defunct Awesome Comics line. In the same interview, he said that it was better to go back against a principle for the greater good, than to have no principles in life at all.

Moore had announced that the imprint would end with the 32nd issue of Promethea, where the ABC Universe would be met with the Apocalypse. As of the publishing of said issue on March 2005, the Tom Strong line is still going strong, and a sequel to Top 10 titled The 49ers is solicited for May. Moore has expressed interest in writing the third volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with artist Kevin O'Neill.

Titles under the ABC Imprint

• Promethea
• Smax (a Top 10 mini-series spin-off)
• Terra Obscura (a Tom Strong spin-off)
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
• Tomorrow Stories
• Tom Strong
• Tom Strong's Terrific Tales
• Top 10

External links

• America's Best Comics