Moore – League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Moore, Alan & Kevin O’Neill. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. volumes 1 & 2. La Jolla, CS: America’s Best Comics, 2000 & 2002.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a series of graphic novels chronicling the adventures of eponymous League; a collection of Victorian literary figures brought together to save England from the dire threats of literary villains. The first volume opens with Miss Wilhelmina ‘Mina’ Murray (formerly Mrs. Mina Harker of Bram Stoker’s Dracula) collecting other literary notables such as Allan Quartermain, Dr. Jekyll, Captain Nemo & The Invisible Man to serve as agents for British Intelligence. With their force assembled, they save London from the villainous Fu Manchu. In volume 2, H.G. Wells’ Martian invaders have landed in England & the League is dispatched to stop them. Both volumes are wonderfully illustrated by Kevin O’Neill & set the stage for a vaguely steampunk Victorian England replete with living literary characters. Though written for adults, the comics are presented in a ‘Boys own Adventure’ style with fictional advertisements, novellas, games & countless other extras included in the back of each volume.

I never really read comics as a kid. In fact, the first comic I can remember buying was in college (I could have bought one earlier, but I don’t remember any). Even then, I wasn’t really ‘into’ comics by any stretch of the imagination. Growing up, my best friend had a lot of comics (or maybe his brother did) that I sometimes read & that we would talk about; so I’ve always been familiar with the major characters & stuff in & about comics – but I didn’t really read them. I only actually started reading graphic novels a couple of years ago; part of it’s professional development, part of it’s the convenience of published graphic novels over serial comic books, but mostly it’s a genuine fascination with the convergence of great writing & great art in a single piece of work. On that note, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen does not disappoint. Moore’s writing is (of course) amazing & well-matched to O’Neill’s great artwork. Furthermore, the entire world of The League is endlessly fascinating. One can spend hours looking for all the nuanced allusions to the host of literary characters which appear in the graphic novel (although the number of character who I did not get was significantly high enough to make me feel woefully uncultured).

Of the two volumes, I enjoyed the first the most. The second was good, too, but not as much happened. Mind you, the story was good & it was just as full of clever literary innuendos – it was simply more straight-forward. The first volume, with its gathering together of diverse heroes, just had more going on & did a better job of mixing a selection of stories together.

The League is great. It gets a solid Put it on Hold rating. Though I haven’t read all of his work, at this point I’d really recommend reading any graphic novel by Alan Moore – the guy’s a genius. A couple of warnings, however – The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a graphic novel for adults – it’s not kid-friendly & I would hesitate to put it in the hands of teens. Also; please, please, please do not make the mistake that I did years ago & watch the lamentable League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Movie. I had written off this whole great series based solely on the sins of a couple unfortunate hours of Hollywood dribble.