Alan Moore And Kevin ONeill The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen
@arthurchappell (44941)
Preston, England
April 2, 2019 5:43pm CST
DC COMICS American Best - Spoiler alerts
This is a wonderful and original graphic novel about a 19th century and strangely familiar group of X-men type superheroes drawn together to fight against a powerful cartel of supervillains.
The heroes are an eclectic bunch, consisting of Allan Quartermain (King Solomon’s Mines), Lucy Harker (Bram Stoker’s Dracula), The Invisible Man (H.G. Wells), and Dr. Jekyll as well as Mr. Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson).
The real gem of an addition however is Captain Nemo, (Jules Verne) complete with the Nautilus. Nemo is presented as an Arabian Mariner as he was in Verne, not as the English James Mason Disney version of later creation.
The villains of the piece are Fu Manchu and Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes having been sent to an English Concentration Camp). Various other literary figures make cameo appearances. The Detective from Edgar Allan Poe’s Murders In The Rue Morgue assists Quartermain in bringing Edward Hyde to book, and Ishmael, sole-survivor of Melville’s Moby Dick) is a crewman on the Nautilus.
The conflict and interaction of the characters is terrific, and the action never lets up. The alliance is an uneasy one, given that the characters have a common heritage of being mavericks and difficult to work with. The Invisible Man is as mad as he ever was, and Hyde just as monstrous as always.
Jekyll comes across as a trembling time bomb, desperate not to transform into the monster once more, but he redeems himself in the end in both of his guises. The romp gets extremely explosive at times.
A dire film version was recently which needlessly added Tom Sawyer to the mix and changed the chief villain from Fu Manchu to Dorian Grey, as well as making Lucy Harker an outright vampire in her own right. The best way to appreciate this story is in Moore’s original classic. A prose story of further adventure concludes the book and a graphic comic book sequel is available.
Arthur Chappell
4 people like this
5 responses
@LindaOHio (222978)
• United States
3 Apr 19
I'm afraid I'm not a superhero fan...but a good review.
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
3 Apr 19
@LadyDuck I remembered it as I read the book after seeing the Disney film
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
8 Apr 19
@LadyDuck That often happens sadly
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (502914)
• Italy
3 Apr 19
@arthurchappell I read the book before and I was deceived by the Disney film.
1 person likes this
@AliCanary (4459)
•
4 Apr 19
It's interesting, because Alan Moore also did the award-winning Watchmen graphic novel, which was also turned into an unwatchable film.
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
8 Apr 19
@AliCanary I liked the Watchmen movie but the book is better. V For Vendetta is a great film take on an Alan Moore story. From Hell was badly done as a film too
1 person likes this
@AliCanary (4459)
•
13 Apr 19
@arthurchappell - I **LOVED** V for Vendetta. I also saw From Hell, and it was okay; I don't remember loving or hating it, just how creepy it was the way they did the eyes (showing pupils dilated so fully that there was no iris color).
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
14 Apr 19
@AliCanary Yes, the film of From Hell had some scary scenes though it skips some characters and blurs some into composite characters too
1 person likes this
@AliCanary (4459)
•
3 Apr 19
I saw film years ago--did they do a remake recently? I don't remember it very well, but I do know I wasn't impressed (neither were the folks at Rotten Tomatoes, who gave it a dismal 17% on the Tomatometer).
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
3 Apr 19
@AliCanary no sequels, - the original comics and graphic novel are still well worth reading though - they did get a print sequel but not a movie version.
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