Richard Moore (born Fredrick William Morehead in French Camp, CA, July 17, 1966) is an American writer and artist of comic books. His published titles include Far West, Boneyard and Deja Vu.
Moore's first professional work, Far West, a four-issue limited series was published in 1998 by Antarctic Press . It tells the story of Elven bounty hunter Meg and her partner, Phil who is a talking bear. The story is set in a world akin to our own Old West, though populated by fantastical creatures of folklore and mythology such as trolls, fairies and dragons. A second volume, originally plotted for three issues but shortened to only two was released the following year featuring a striking art style that used no inking as most comics use, but was done entirely in pencils which afforded a more subtle shading effect but at the cost of a somewhat longer production time.
Since that time, Moore has published Boneyard, a quarterly title from NBM Publishing, as well as a handful of one-shot titles from different publishers including several erotic comics and contributions to erotic anthologies such as Genus and Milk!. Moore also contributed to the hugely popular first issue of the gay title Genus Male which won Moore a small gay following despite his proclaimed heterosexual preferences.
In a like manner, Moore has a following amongst furry fandom due to his early use of anthropomorphic animals in both adult as well as all-ages titles. Moore's use of Anthropomorphic or funny animals grew out of a general love of animals, specifically household pets and Moore just naturally placed animals into his stories as his protagonists. Moore's use of these talking animals has decreased dramatically in recent years.
A curious aspect to Moore's creative output is the manner in which, like cartoonist and songwriter Shel Silverstein, Moore publishes work for children and young adults, (Boneyard won the 2005 gold medal for all-ages graphic novels from Foreword Magazine ForeWord Magazine - Book Of The Year Awards - 2005 Finalists Print Out) and a separate catalog strictly for adults and still manages to please both audiences.
The earlier title Far West has been reprinted as a graphic novel by NBM, and the entire run of Boneyard, originally published in black and white is being recolored and reissued. As of this time, Boneyard volumes 1 to 4 have been reissued in color with plans to redo the entire series in this fashion.
Currently, Moore is still publishing Boneyard on a quarterly basis and will soon be publishing a web comic of Boneyard's back-up feature, "Hog's Breath Inn" which will be followed later in 2006 by a new ongoing web comic, "Gobs".
"Boneyard" through NBM has ended with issue # 28, and is currently being reprinted in single issue format, in color, as "Boneyard Remastered" through Antarctic Press where he also published 2 follow up "Far West" mini-series (Bad Mojo and Badder Mojo) as well as the all ages series "Chip" and the upcoming "Chip: Second Crack".
Early illness
Moore's early adulthood was plagued by severe bouts of manic-depression which went either undiagnosed or were diagnosed improperly. Moore suffered with roller-coaster emotions, uncontrollable rage and deep depressions none of which he could control and which led to a life he has described as "hell". In exasperation, Moore and his girlfriend Jackie who is now his wife, rejected the poor quality of assistance provided by physicians and researched a diagnosis for themselves. They documented symptoms and researched bipolarism until, with enough proof in hand, they were able to receive appropriate corrective medication for the disorder. Moore was at this time in his early twenties and was only then able to feel as if he had control over his emotions and actions. Moore's years of inattention have left him mistrustful of medical practitioners.
One profound side-effect of Moore's particular mindset is that he is a self-admitted workaholic who puts in 18 hours a day at the drawing table turning out many projects that he hopes to see published in one form or another in the coming years. These include children's literature, film scripts, novels and of course more comics. To unwind from these hours of work, Moore experiments with painting and sculpture.
