ien k iew icz ' s ▁assistant ▁Al ▁Columbia , ▁were ▁never ▁finished . ▁ ▁The ▁work ▁marks ▁a ▁move , ▁on ▁Moore ' s ▁part , ▁away ▁from ▁genre ▁fiction , ▁in ▁the ▁w ake ▁of ▁the ▁success ▁of ▁Watch men . ▁Moore ▁we aves ▁mathematics ▁into ▁a ▁narr ative ▁of ▁so cio e conom ic ▁changes ▁wr ought ▁by ▁an ▁American ▁corpor ation ' s ▁building ▁of ▁a ▁sho pping ▁m all ▁in ▁a ▁small , ▁traditional ▁English ▁town , ▁and ▁the ▁effects ▁of ▁the ▁economic ▁policies ▁of ▁the ▁Margaret ▁Th atch er ▁administration ▁in ▁the ▁ 1 9 8 0 s . ▁ ▁Public ation ▁history ▁ ▁The ▁planned ▁ 5 0 0 - page ▁graph ic ▁novel ▁was ▁to ▁be ▁serial ised ▁one ▁chapter ▁at ▁a ▁time ▁over ▁twelve ▁issues . ▁The ▁series ▁was ▁printed ▁on ▁high - quality ▁paper ▁in ▁an ▁unusual ▁square ▁format . ▁ ▁The ▁first ▁two ▁issues ▁were ▁produced ▁by ▁Alan ▁Moore ' s ▁self - publish ing ▁company ▁Mad ▁Love , ▁with ▁writing ▁by ▁Moore ▁and ▁art work ▁by ▁Bill ▁S ien k iew icz . ▁However , ▁the ▁work load ▁for ▁the ▁com ic ▁was ▁inten se , ▁and ▁S ien k iew icz ▁st alled . ▁By ▁the ▁time ▁he ▁back ed ▁out ▁of ▁the ▁series , ▁the ▁third ▁issue ▁was ▁still ▁incomplete ▁and ▁rising ▁overhead ▁cri pp led ▁the ▁production . ▁Kevin ▁East man , ▁cre ator ▁of ▁Te en age ▁Mut ant ▁Nin ja ▁T urt les , ▁stepped ▁in