I find myself unable to think of any phrase which so neatly sums up the spirit of The League of Extraordinary Gentleman series as that of “intellectual pornography”. I use this phrase not because these stories contain a good deal of sex and nudity but because these books seem to have been written to drive the reader towards a sort of self-inflicted mental climax. None of the LoEG books are meant to be read lightly – they are meant to be grappled with and wrestled into submission as the reader puts his wits against the author and the artist. It is fun exercise if one has the stomach for such rough sport.
Set nearly sixty years after the events of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol III): Century #1 – 1910, our book opens with the titular League returning to London after the death of popular rock star Basil Thomas. Thomas died under mysterious circumstances and The League fears that the followers of their old enemy – the dark magician Oliver Haddo – might be involved. As they search for leads among the overlapping counter-culture and magic-using communities of London, The League find evidence that Haddo’s followers, having abandoned their attempts to facilitate the birth of an Anti-Christ after that affair with the Rosemary woman, are out to create a “moonchild” that will inherit all of Haddo’s old power…and more besides! At the same time, a confederation of East End gangsters sends one of their “problem solvers”, name of Jackie-Boy, out to investigate the murder and deal with those responsible.
Author Alan Moore is in fine form, though it is becoming increasingly difficult with each passing LoEG story to keep up with him. There’s a ripping action/adventure/mystery yarn at the core of this book but one does not read Alan Moore without reading the subtext as well. Moore said that as he moved along the time-line with this series, he would be encompassing all media – not just literature. So in addition to our League made up of the immortals Mina Murray (Bram Stoker’s Dracula), Allan Quatermain (H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines) and Orlando (Virginia Woolfe’s Orlando: A Biography), we have cameos by Benny Hill’s Professor Peach character from The Italian Job, The Second Doctor from Doctor Who and “Jackie-Boy”, though never referred to by name, is obviously Michael Caine’s character from Get Carter.
Longtime Moore collaborator Kevin O’Neill handles all these cameos with his usual pluck, bending his usual style to create the most colorful LOEG book yet. While one can still see the style that originally lent itself so well to the earlier penny-dreadful inspired books in this series, O’Neill’s characters seem more wide-eyed and expressive in this outing. Every page is filled to the brim with details upon details, to the point where I nearly missed the John Cleese cameo on one page. He is, of course, doing a silly walk toward the reader.
Like all the previous League of Extraordinary Gentlemen volumes, this is a challenging novel. It will challenge your wits, as you struggle to understand all of the in-jokes and references. It will challenge your perceptions, as your eyes are assailed by Kevin O’Neill’s attempts to artistically recreate an acid trip. And given the amount of nudity (both male and female, full frontal), sex (both heterosexual and homosexual), drug use (both real and fictional drugs), violence (both physical and sexual) and vivid depictions of black magic, this may be a challenge for you to defend adding to your local library. Definitely a Mature Audiences title but also a damn good read.
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol III): Century #2 – 1969 #2
by Alan Moore
Art by Kevin O’Neill
ISBN: 978-1-60309-0
Top Shelf Productions & Knockabout, 2011
Publisher Age Rating:
So the other day, I got an instant message from my friend Melissa. She asked me if I had a copy of V for Vendetta. Oddly enough, I didn’t.
Oh, I knew of the book, certainly. I’m a big fan of Alan Moore and had always intended to read the book someday. But it was on that list of classics I intended to get to as soon as I actually had some more spare time to do some serious heavy reading. This is, it might be noted, the same reason I have yet to get around to finishing up the complete works of Poe, Swift and Twain.
This lets you know my regard for Alan Moore; I group him in such distinguished company. Well, distinguished to my mind anyway. I’m not sure how he’d feel about it.
At any rate, Melissa reminded me that the film adaptation of V for Vendetta was coming out fairly soon and expressed a desire to read the book before seeing the movie. I admitted that I would like to do the same. Arrangements were made for me to pick her up a copy (seeing as how I’m all connected in the local comic shops) and I wound up picking up a copy for myself as well.
So, what did I think of this long ignored classic?
Let me put it to you this way: the day I got it, I stayed up until 3 AM taking in every panel, reading and rereading every line and just generally devouring this novel. It is that compelling. In fact, I’ll even go so far as to say that this piece is better than the more famous Alan Moore dystopian tale: Watchmen.
I will not discuss the plot in great detail. If you have seen the trailers and posters for the movie, you probably have the basic gist anyway. And if you haven’t seen those yet, my telling you the plot would rob you of much of the joy of reading this book. And make no mistake, you SHOULD read this book before you see the movie, or maybe even after.
Briefly, the story takes place in “the future” of 1997. Fascism grips the nation and the only hope for freedom in this Brave New World is the vigilante known only as “V”. We are introduced to V and V’s world through Evey Hammond; a young factory worker saved from a gruesome end at the hands the modern Gestapo.
Through Evey’s eyes, we see V as he fights against a corrupt and oppressive government. A government with total control of the media, which rules through unrestricted spying on the citizens they claim to be protecting, as well as through mass repression of racial minorities, liberals, and homosexuals.
Well, this WAS science fiction back in 1981 when Moore started writing it…
In all seriousness, Moore wrote this as a cautionary tale which unintentionally happened to mirror the rise of Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party in England during the mid-1980s. It now unintentionally seems to mirror the rise of Neo-Conservatism and George W. Bush in the United States in more recent times.
Like Orwell and 1984 before him, Moore has become an inadvertent prophet. Such is the magic of Moore’s writing that the story now seems to be relevant though it was never meant to be more than a bit of passing fantasy and a warning – not a reflection of times to come.
Reflections are very much a part of the story, however. Smoke and mirrors are the greatest weapons in V’s rather dramatic arsenal and very rarely is seeing worth believing. The themes of image and illusion are repeated throughout the novel along with a dozen other potential interpretations.
Moore’s plotting is at its most convoluted, but everything makes an odd kind of sense as everything slowly clicks together. I’ve heard it said that you have to be British to truly appreciate this story. I disagree, but do think that one must be very well read and traveled in order to get a lot of the more subtle references and quotes that V makes in his conversation. The Guy Fawkes references are rather obvious but I was shocked to see a rather subtle parallel between Don Quixote and V. I shall say no more than that – I have too much respect for the master magician to take you backstage before the show.
The art by David Lloyd is perfectly moody. I have heard that the intent with the style here was to emulate the film noir style (even the title fits the mold, being not too far removed from Dial M For Murder) and Lloyd succeeds beautifully here. Everything is shadowy, but elegantly so. What little white there is (such as V’s mask) seems to be rare and fleeting… in danger of being swallowed up by the darkness around it and disappearing forever. This closed-in style only serves to further emphasize the environment of oppression that is very much a part of the setting. And yet, the same art makes the shadows around V and his “Shadow Gallery” seem cozy and inviting.
All in all, this is one classic I should have read a lot sooner. It is a must read for all comics fans, whether you plan to see the movie or not. And speaking of the movie, some of you are probably wondering if I plan to review the film, or if I will sit it out in protest of how Alan Moore has, again, been slighted in regards to his creative wishes?
Rest assured – I’ll review the film next week as only a nit-picker like myself can (after I’ve had a chance to see it). What with the convention this week, I won’t have a chance to see it before the next column comes due. So join us next time – for my comments on my first Con performance as well as a review of V for Vendetta: The Movie
Tune in next week. Same Matt time. Same Matt website.
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