to defending homosexual rights; the production costs of Big Numbers were high; and Moore's polyamorous relationship with wife Phyllis and their lover Debbie Delano fell apart. Kevin Eastman's Tundra Publishing agreed to publish the rest of the series. Sienkiewicz's detailed artwork was time-consuming to produce. He hired the 19-year-old Al Columbia as an assistant, but the pressures of the project combined with personal issues led him to quit Big Numbers after the second issue's publication. He drew the entire third issue which never saw print. Sienkiewicz drew every page and figures for all three issues and also did several painted/multimedia covers for upcoming issues that never saw print. Jon J Muth and Dave McKean were among the names rumoured as replacements. Ultimately the job fell to the inexperienced Columbia. Tundra tried to promote Columbia by publishing his first stand-alone comic book, Doghead, in 1992, and put out a Columbia-drawn poster for Big Numbers. The pressure turned out to be too much for the young artist, who is said to have destroyed the artwork for the fourth issue in 1992, and was not heard from again until the publication of The Biologic Show in 1994. Plot Set in the fictional English town of Hampton, the book explores the socioeconomic changes brought about by globalisation on an insular community, represented by the building of a shopping mall by a large American corporation. Meanwhile, the community also experiences pressure from prime minister Margaret Thatcher's economic policies, including cuts to health care and welfare. Style and analysis Each page is laid out in a rigid twelve-panel grid. The all-white speech balloons are circular, rather than the more common shape. Adaptations In a 2001 interview Moore indicated that he did not believe Big Numbers could ever be completed as comics. 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. An account of the unravelling of the Big Numbers project is included in Eddie Campbell's 2001 graphic novel Alec: How to Be an Artist. Reception The first issue sold 65,000 copies, the second 40,000. References Works cited External links Big Numbers #3 1990 comics debuts Comics by Alan Moore Mathematics fiction books Unfinished comics