Moore came into dispute with
Marvel Comics in the 1980s when they had reprinted some of his Marvel UK work without his permission. Since then, he had blocked any further reprints. This led to a falling out with his collaborator on
Captain Britain, artist Alan Davis, as he was denied reprint fees and exposure for his work. In 2002,
Marvel Comics' editor-in-chief,
Joe Quesada, attempted to persuade Moore to contribute new work (Moore had already contributed to Marvel's
9/11 tribute comic,
Heroes), and convinced him the company had changed. Moore agreed to the publication of a reprint collection of his
Captain Britain stories, on the understanding that he would receive full credit for his characters. However, Moore's credit was omitted. Despite Quesada's explanation that the omission was a printing error, his apologies, and the omission being corrected in subsequent printings, Moore declared he would no longer consider working for Marvel.
Moore has also had disputes with
DC Comics, which led to his decision in the late 1980s to no longer work with them. Among the reasons reported for this rift were DC's plan to institute a "mature readers" label for certain books they published; the publisher keeping
Watchmen and
V for Vendetta in print beyond their original serialization, which prevented the rights from reverting to Moore and Gibbons; and DC's refusal to pay Moore and Gibbons royalties on merchandise the company considered "promotional items" for
Watchmen.
Film adaptations of Moore's work also proved controversial. With
From Hell and
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Moore was content to allow the filmmakers to do whatever they wished and removed himself from the process entirely. "As long as I could distance myself by not seeing them," he said, he could profit from the films while leaving the original comics untouched, "assured no one would confuse the two. This was probably naïve on my part."
His attitude changed after producer Martin Poll and screenwriter
Larry Cohen filed a
lawsuit against
20th Century Fox, alleging that the film
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen plagiarized an unproduced script they had written entitled
Cast of Characters. Although the two scripts bear many similarities, most of them are elements that were added for the film and do not originate in Moore's comics. According to Moore, "they seemed to believe that the head of 20th Century Fox called me up and persuaded me to steal this screenplay, turning it into a comic book which they could then adapt back into a movie, to camouflage petty larceny." Moore testified in a deposition, a process so painful that he surmised he would have been better treated had he "molested and murdered a busload of retarded children after giving them heroin." Fox's settlement of the case insulted Moore, who interpreted it as an admission of guilt.
Moore's reaction was to divorce himself from the film world: he would refuse to allow film adaptations of anything to which he owned full copyright. In cases where others owned the rights, he would withdraw his name from the credits and refuse to accept payment, instead requesting that the money go to his collaborators (i.e. the artists). This was the arrangement used for the film
Constantine.
The last straw came when producer
Joel Silver said at a press conference for the
Warner Bros. film adaptation of
V for Vendetta that fellow producer
Larry Wachowski had talked with Moore, and that "he [Moore] was very excited about what Larry had to say." Moore claims that he told Wachowski "I didn't want anything to do with films... I wasn't interested in Hollywood," and demanded that DC Comics force Warner Bros to issue a public retraction and apology for Silver's "blatant lies", even though Silver appeared to have been lied to himself by Larry Wachowski. Although Silver called Moore directedly to apologize, no public retraction appeared. Moore was quoted as saying that the film had "plot holes so big, you wouldn't have gotten away with it in
Whizzer and Chips" and complained about the addition of things like "
eggy in a basket", which he saw as an ill-researched attempt by Hollywood screenwriters to make an American dish sound English. (This latter comment appears to have prompted the filmmakers to have fun at Moore's expense; in the final film, British actor
Stephen Fry is seen pointedly remarking how odd it is that someone British might never have heard of "eggy in a basket".) Moore once again announced that he would no longer work for DC, which is owned by Warner Bros.
This latest conflict between Moore and DC Comics caused Moore to receive a very sympathetic article in
The New York Times that was published on
March 12,
2006, five days before the USA theatrical release. In the
New York Times article, Silver stated that about 20 years prior to the film's release, he met with Moore and Dave Gibbons when Silver acquired the film rights to
V For Vendetta and
Watchmen. Silver stated, "Alan was odd, but he was enthusiastic and encouraging us to do this. I had foolishly thought that he would continue feeling that way today, not realizing that he wouldn't." Moore did not deny this meeting or Silver's characterization of Moore at that meeting, nor did Moore state that he advised Silver of his change of opinion in those approximately 20 years. The
New York Times article also interviewed David Lloyd about Moore's reaction to the film's production, stating, "Mr. Lloyd, the illustrator of
V for Vendetta, also found it difficult to sympathize with Mr. Moore's protests. When he and Mr. Moore sold their film rights to the graphic novel, Mr. Lloyd said: "We didn't do it innocently. Neither myself nor Alan thought we were signing it over to a board of trustees who would look after it like it was the Dead Sea Scrolls."
The re-release of
V for Vendetta in a hardcover edition to tie in with the film's release, put Moore into a "black rage" when he noticed there was a printing error on the back cover. According to Moore, he threw his editions of the book into a tip, "as they weren't worth recycling" and was upset about the lack of standards. Commentators have pointed out that Moore's own self-published works (eg.
AARGH), featured similar printing errors.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier, a hardcover graphic novel, will be his last work for the publisher, and future installments of
LoEG will be published by
Top Shelf Productions and
Knockabout Comics. Moore has also stated that he wishes his name to be removed from all comic work that he does not own, including
Watchmen and
V for Vendetta, much as unhappy film directors often choose to be credited as "
Alan Smithee."