The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

[lemming13]

Before anyone gets put off at the thought of the family-friendly movie version, I refer to Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's epic comics, which don't seem to have a thread and richly deserve it.
The first mini-series, now available in collected versions as both regular and super-deluxe, concerns the League (consisting of Mina Harker, Allan Quartermain, Captain Nemo, Dr Jekyll and Hawley Griffin aka the Invisible Man) battling against Fu Manchu, who has stolen the only existing sample of Cavorite. They hand it over to the head of their employer who does sadly turn out to be Moriarty. They defeat him in an aerial battle over London. Definitely NOT material for families; for one thing they retrieve Griffin from a girl's school where he is masquerading as an incubus. But the story is richly embellished with an encyclopedic knowledge of classic and pulp literature, and concludes with a rather spiffing tale of Allan Quartermain, Randolph Carter, and Morlocks - Allan and the Sundered Veil.

[lemming13]

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Volume 2 continues the League's exploits with a Martian invasion of Earth, sparked by the efforts of Jon Carter and Lt Gullivar Jones to destroy the hostile tripod-builders. During the story Griffin turns traitor, assaulting Mina and stealing the defence plans for London; in revenge Hyde rapes and murders Griffin. So still not stuff for the kiddies. Meanwhile Mina and Allan, under orders from the new commander Mycroft Holmes, make contact with a certain Dr Moreau (and his little pets, including a talking bear in checked trousers and a toad that drives) and retrieve a bacteriological weapon which is turned on the Martians regardless of the risk to humans. Hyde dies fighting a tripod, and Nemo quits the League in protest against the use of the engineered bacterium. The book version contains The New Traveller's Almanac, a travelogue of the world inhabited by the League, and it again shows an incredible and obscure knowledge of literature and other fictional media that the Vault would be proud of. There's also a League Board game and many other jolly little add-ons.

[lemming13]

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/be/BlackDossierCover.jpg/250px-BlackDossierCover.jpg [/img]

There was a lot of controversy around the publication of this third volume, sparked off by Alan Moore's fury with Warner Bros (parent company of DC comics which were the publishers of the series). Though it finally appeared Moore decided to publish nothing more through DC, and all future volumes of the upcoming adventures will come from other sources. There was also controversy because this volume contained much more text than previous ones. Personally I think it works just as well and allows for some interesting experiments, like Moore's peculiar beat novel of Allan and Mina's American adventures versus the Cthulhu cult in the 50s, The Crazy Wide Forever. And possibly the finest P G Wodehouse pastiche ever produced, 'What Ho, Gods of the Abyss'. The framing narrative is set in a Britain just recently freed from the shackles of Big Brother and enjoying its freedom by venturing out into space with the likes of Professor Quatermass, Dan Dare and Roger the Robot. Mina and Allen steal the Black Dossier about the League from the unsavoury hands of British intelligence as personified by misogynistic rapist traitor, James Bond and are pursued across the country while perusing extracts. Mina Harker engages in combat with British agent Emma Night (married name Peel), and finally they return to the Blazing World, the interdimensional sanctuary of strangeness (offered in 3-D with glasses included). It closes with a Shakespearean soliloquy from Prospero, on the glory and inspiration fiction offers to the human race.

[andydecker]

Great descriptions, Lem.

The art is wonderful, and I loved vol 1+2. There has been a lot of negativity of all things Moore lately in the comicspehre, but to see how good a writer he is (and O´Neal an artist) you just have to compare the first few pages on Mars in 2 with all those new John Carter of Mars mini-series from Dynamite which are so f***g godawful. In a few panels there is more to discover then in 6 issues of this crap.

But I have to confess that I struggled with The Black Dossier. It was the first of LoEG I had to have the annotations on a separate page to just understand what was going on in most panels; i.e. what it was really about.. There is a fine line between clever references and wanking, and here it often was crossed. The actual plot was also bit light, and I hated the ending ;D

Still bought vol 4. Even if this was more in the vein of the ending of 3 and I not really understood it.

And I hated the movie. A good example how Hollywood buys a property, puts it through the wringer just because and produces a trainwreck of epic proportions. This doesn´t even qualify as trash.

[pulphack]

i love alan moore. in any other country in europe he would have long ago been recognised for the towering talent he is. in the uk, i think he partly is, but there's also a bit of the old 'but comics are kid's stuff' still lingering.

V was my favourite Moore for years, and at first i was a bit dubious about the League for no other reason than i had a vague feeling that using old characters was 'cheating' in the sense that the reader already came to the text with some preconceived recognition that made it easier for the writer. which, in lesser hands, is how it sometimes works.

but not here: i was soon disabused of this notion by the way he takes the characters and subverts them to his ends whilst still telling a rattling good story with layers of meaning (another thing lesser writers tend not to do in such circumstances).

by the time of the black dossier, i think i was already realising that part of this was to do with what he makes clear in the Blazing World sequence - that fiction is the metaphor that helps us to understand our world, to make sense of it, and to in some way share the magic that is our place in it by both the creation and reception of stories and characters that become archetypes and myths. (i've long since belived that marvel and dc are the myths of our era, along with all the plusses and minuses they bring to that position, but don't get me started...).

it is a tough read at times as the references are so layered that you start to play 'spot the ref' rather than pay attention to the story if you're not careful (well, i did), and definitely benefits from several readings, the first concentrating just on the surface to find a way in; having said that, as lemmy points out the wodehouse and beat sections in particular are the finest pastiche and parody you'll read in a long while, and he's pretty shit hot at victorian and edwardian pulp as well.

1910 was a version of the Beggars Opera, i think (i'm not great on operetta and musical theatre - although i did like Chu Chin Chow, which says it all). again, ther verse form made it initiall hard going for me, but it repays a bit of attention, and god knows there aren't many writers who have the audacity to ask their readers to think these days. i'm looking forward to 1969, which should be out any day now as i type.

mr moore straddles high and low culture and sees them as part of the same continuum, which if nothing else means that his viewpoint should see him well at home on these pages.

(incidentally, to reiterate the brit attitude to comics, a couple of summers back my mate paul told me pat mills was speaking as part of a local authority literary festival, so we trekked down to balham library and saw him talk to 30 people. this is the man wo gave us charlie's war, created 2000AD and Action, and is feted in france. balham... martin amis got the south bank, i believe... interestingly he said the worst thing he ever did was give a job to an uber fan who now has a stranglehold on uk comics because of his position - i was trying to work out who this was, but couldn't - and has tastes that will keep comics as superhero and kids stuff, and not allow them to develop by giving unusual material time to breathe. i thought about this when paul told me how much mr moore is now reviled stateside by the comics fraternity. their loss.)

[andydecker]

Jul 6, 2011 6:33:43 GMT pulphack said:

it is a tough read at times as the references are so layered that you start to play 'spot the ref' rather than pay attention to the story if you're not careful (well, i did)

I did too. Just like in novels by Kim Newman. You automatically start to play trivial pursuit with these things. Of course in the case of Moore it is the advanced class with the more obscure stuff.

Jul 6, 2011 6:33:43 GMT pulphack said:

1910 was a version of the Beggars Opera, i think

yes, it is Bert Brecht. Opera is a thing which is alien to me too; I never saw Brecht on stage, just read his bio years ago because he had an interesting life. I can´t get enough about the times of the Weimar Republic, when we had artists like Brecht and so many more who were luckily clever enough to jump on the bus when things got ugly in 33 and not to sit it out.

But to incorporate such an opera into a pulp-tale is a wacky take, and I am not sure it worked. But it was an interesting idea. I am really looking forward to 1969. The last era where we had such a thing as a cultural change.

Jul 6, 2011 6:33:43 GMT pulphack said:

i thought about this when paul told me how much mr moore is now reviled stateside by the comics fraternity. their loss.)

This is so ridiculous. The lot of them can´t just accept that he moved on. Okay, he comes across as a bit eccentric, and in a world where artistic success has become synonymous with commercial success it sure is strange to have a comic writer who publicly announces that he don´t want to see his name on adaptions and don´t want the money either. It just seems ... so odd. But it quite makes him interesting.

I am also looking forward to the trade publication of his Neonomicon from Avatar Comics, which made the subtext of all those cthulhuoid inseminations into text.

[stuyoung]

The LoEG stuff isn't my favourite Moore comic but it can still be good fun. I agree with the general consensus that the later comics become a bit of a slog. I probably miss about 80% of the references but the Jess Nevins annotations in Heroes and Monsters etc help.

[lemming13]

I agree Alan can tend to disappear up his own fundament at times, and his obsessive interest in sex can become tiresome (not that sex is bad per se, but one or two pages with no sex references might be nice...). But there is enough classic stuff inside the Dossier to merit it. I'm trying to stay neutral on Neonomicon, having been a bit let down after getting all excited about Lost Girls and Promethea. About to read 1910, though, and staying hopeful.

[Deleted]

Jul 6, 2011 6:33:43 GMT pulphack said:

incidentally, to reiterate the brit attitude to comics, a couple of summers back my mate paul told me pat mills was speaking as part of a local authority literary festival, so we trekked down to balham library and saw him talk to 30 people. this is the man wo gave us charlie's war, created 2000AD and Action, and is feted in france. balham... martin amis got the south bank, i believe... interestingly he said the worst thing he ever did was give a job to an uber fan who now has a stranglehold on uk comics because of his position - i was trying to work out who this was, but couldn't - and has tastes that will keep comics as superhero and kids stuff, and not allow them to develop by giving unusual material time to breathe. i thought about this when paul told me how much mr moore is now reviled stateside by the comics fraternity. their loss.)

The lack of recognition and respect for Pat Mills within the UK and US comics establishment is a disgrace. For a period of time during the late 70s/early 80s he was the core creative force behind the British comic scene (along with Warrior's Dez Skinn). I do sometimes wonder what would have happened if all of the creators (Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Dave Gibbons etc) had remained in the UK instead of heading off to America, but I guess we'll never know...

I wonder if one of the reasons some fans don't like Alan Moore is that, if you're not used to his very dry sense of humour, then he can come across as very curmudgeonly in his interviews. A lot of the more contentious things he says, though, tend to be said with a bit of a wry grin which isn't readily evident in print.

He's also (rightly) very scornful of the superhero genre, which makes up 90% of the market, and continues to march on blithely even though its been roundly ridiculed and discredited by Pat Mills's Marshal Law, and Moore's own work on Miracleman and Watchmen.

I'm still waiting for a full collection of Moore's Bojeffries Saga.

[stuyoung]

Is Moore really that scornful of superheroes? All the ABC titles were superhero comics in one way or another.

[lemming13]

I'm still waiting for a full collection of Moore's Bojeffries Saga

Ditto in spades. I still occasionally come out with 'Raoul, stop bloody waving!', to the total bewilderment of the spawn who are never allowed near my hidden collection of Warrior comics. I am also a bit peeved that Axel Pressbutton seems to be unobtainable now, and Father Shandor would be perfect in a graphic novel format.

[Deleted]

Jul 16, 2011 2:41:41 GMT stuyoung said:

Is Moore really that scornful of superheroes? All the ABC titles were superhero comics in one way or another.

True. Scornful of the DC/Marvel approach to the superhero genre may be a more appropriate way to phrase it. Or, rather, of the rut it's been in for a while now.

Lemming13: I have most issues of the Eclipse reprints of the Pressbutton/Laser Eraser stuff. But, yes, they're crying out for a collected edition!

[lemming13]

Finished 1910 and 1969, of which I much preferred 1910 - 1969 was again rather too heavy on the sex and references, though it was still entertaining enough. Much delightful news - apparently Moore's new publisher Top Shelf are going to release the Bojeffries Saga at some point this year, including a British edition. No exact date, but I'm hoping it can be one of my Christmas presents to myself.

www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog/the-bojeffries-saga/717

[valdemar]

I usually read each installment of 'League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen' at least twice; once for the narrative, and the second time to wallow in all the luxurious references, and hidden visual gags - '1969' has, amongst the chaos: Blakey, from 'On The Buses'; Harry Worth; Thunderbird 2; Dr Who's second incarnation; John Cleese as the man from the Ministry Of Silly Walks, amongst others. 'Black Dossier' was an interesting tome to get my hands on - my local booksellers wouldn't sell it, but an assistant in the large national chain in town gave me a web address to get one from. It was almost comical, in a sort of 'You 'in't seen me, right?' sort of way. Oh, and opera? it's fine until they spoil it by bellowing and shrieking over all that lovely music.