Alan Moore vs Gene Wolfe

[cannonfodder]

Which of the two do you guys think has more talent?

Now I know Moore works more in the graphic novel's medium, while Wolfe is a writer, but they both have the same mythic resonances, the same eye for the esoteric and baroque, the same love for complexity and character. Which do you think is king?

[The Crimson Avenger]

Gene Wolfe, hands down.

Personally, I can't stand Alan Moore's stuff. I feel the odd guy out because I just don't get him.

[Kenneth Mark Hoover]

Wolfe is simply the better writer between the two. On every level.

[sensawunda]

Whereas Moore works comfortably in genre, Wolfe's stories weave in and out of SF, F, Horror, and Literary without missing a beat. His Book of the New Sun creates one of the most complex and complete mythos ever seen in a spec book. He even creates a logical, non-English language that he mixes into the English of the book to add another layer of world-building depth. Every book in that tetrology won a different major award in SF/F, and for good reason. One cannot compare Watchmen and The Shadow of the Torturer, not only because of Wolfe's amazing storytelling ability, but because a graphic novel can rely on pictures, whereas novels use only words. It's not fair to either of them. A better question would be who is the better writer between Jack Vance and Gene Wolfe, which is another post entirely.