World Famous Comics: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 2
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 2
By: Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill Publisher: Wildstorm Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Wildstorm Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 228 Publication Date: September 01, 2004 Release Date: September 01, 2004
Product Description: The inspiration behind the blockbuster movie, THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN once again uses the classic characters from familiar literature to tell a tale of epic proportions in Victorian England.In volume two, when alien invaders from Mars mercilessly attack London, the throne quickly calls upon Allan Quatermain, Mina Harker, Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll to protect the empire.Using their various skills and intellect, the League goes about preparing a defense against the invasion but when the Invisible Man joins the Martian's cause, all appears to be lost.Now, as one of the members dies a horrific death, the League turns to the legendary Dr. Moreau as their last desperate hope.
These Gentlemen have Moore Once again Alan Moore along with Kevin O'Neil has created an adventure delving into Victorian England using H G Wells epic "The War of the Worlds" as its offbeat scenario. As an aside, this story is set in 1898 Victorian England. H G Wells released his classic "War of the Worlds" in precisely the same year of 1898. So you see Mr. Moore does have a well hidden sense of history and humor. The collection of eclectic characters turns even more offbeat in Volume II. We're introduced to rather inept Victorian sex along with Mr. Hyde going off the deep end. In fact the moniker of Extraordinary Gentlemen actually plays out as an oxymoron. I found out that the action in Volume II moves much faster than the first Volume. As is usual with Mr. Moore, one finds oneself scratching one's head as the story line becomes mixed and incoherent which is Moore's trademark. When you seem to be the most confused, Moore sheds some light, the problem is exposed and a conclusion is quickly forthcoming. As he did with his rather large work of "Watchmen" in which the Author reached a quick conclusion after a massive buildup, we see the quick conclusion of Volume II after a rather prose interruptus beginning. As is usual with Moore's works, he ends this Graphic Novel with "The New Traveller's Almanac" which takes us on the science fiction world tour of his incoherent fantasies. Is it good? Yes and no, sometimes I can scream at Moore to get to the point. What he needs is a quick ending as in the front of the Graphic depiction! Moore is indeed off the wall and a bit crazy. Give him 5 stars and pray for Moore.
Brilliant, but not for everyone. At times hilarious, horrifying, and head-scratching, Moore's follow-up to the first _League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_ is more of the same. That is, it's a jumble of the best (and worst) pulp literature of the 19th century mashed up into an entertaining comic book.
Moore knows Victorian pulp, and his love for it comes across clearly in both this and its prequel. In the main plot arc, characters like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Captain Nemo, and Allan Quartermain team up to take down the Martian invasion from H.G. Wells' _War of the Worlds_. But Moore stuffs each panel with far more obscure literary references. While his attention to detail and his encyclopedic knowledge of antique trash literature is fascinating (I read a lot of books from this era when I was younger), it somewhat limits the appeal of the series to a wider audience.
The accompanying serialized prose story is even more referential, to the expense of story -- it's a travel journal through the whole of Moore's fanciful _League_ world. Although picking out each reference is fun for a while, I found it a much less compelling read than the equivalent story in Vol. 1, which followed Allan Quartermain on a hallucinogenic, Lovecraftian trip through time.
Don't misunderstand; Moore has crafted an exciting and entertaining adventure from his source material, and it still makes a great read on its own. However, it really helps to have some familiarity with 19th century adventure, horror, and science fiction (and like graphic novels!).
Prospective buyers should note that this is definitely intended for adults. It contains some violence and nudity, but moreover the wealth of sly literary in-jokes is written for an audience who can appreciate them.
Extraordinary rubbish "Contains spoilers"
OK,so after the quite good story in the first volume you expect something even better when you think of War of the Worlds,especially more action.Well,you 're left with the expectation.
From the beginning of the alien invasion the plot is already going the wrong way,as we see the Invisible Man teaming up with the invaders.That's right.Ugly Martians with way superior technology who don't understand human language and want to destroy the human race, team up with an invisible man who proposes to them to rule the earth next TO HIM! Yeah,right.Moore, probably trying to find a way to make the story interesting, chooses the easy way of the traitor solution.This could work in other stories but here it's simply extraordinary idiotic and laughable.
The plot doesn't get better later.No action,some blah blah blah,two extraordinary ridiculous sex scenes (Moore still struggles to keep your attention) and the death of two main characters,all packed together with O'Neill's extraordinary GROTESQUE art (if there was a prison for incompetent artists O' Neill should be a lifer).Perhaps Moore was in the restroom when he wrote all this.
And this rubbish received an Eisner Award.I'm not surprised.They probably just saw the writer's name and that was enough.
the league of mediocre gentlmen The commic book part is great, however; the end story is really wordy and kind of boring. It does have some clever points but not enough to keep you interested. I was impressed to see that Speilburg (sp? I'm a bad speller) copied the tripods from this story and used them in "War of the Worlds" remake.
Enjoyable, but lacks the punch of Volume 1 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2 continues the exploits of Murray, Quatermain, Nemo, Hyde, and Griffin--but does it without the fascinating and incredulous elements featured in Volume 1. Volume 2 chronicles the team's fight against invading Martian forces, even as the team crumbles apart. The story-line, however, isn't developed enough to fill the entire volume and thus the book is hampered by superfluous inclusions. The first several pages occur on Mars--it's semi-interesting material but has next-to-nothing to do with anything else in the graphic novel; the prose travelogue section that finishes out the volume is slightly enjoyable, but it's simply too much for what it is and it collapses under its own length.
The Martians are a fearsome opponent but singularly uninteresting as "bad guys" who want to burn things. Bond returns as the ever-sweating team liaison, but this time he's far too competent and informed to be enjoyable. Likewise, the supremely executed Volume 1 sexual tension between Murray and Quatermain entirely collapses into boring sexual intercourse. And to make it worse, the artwork of their sexual encounters is substandard: Murray looks fabulous dressed, but slack and big-nosed in the buff. I admit that Quatermain's scarred and withered body was well-executed--but who really wants to see a nude septuagenarian adventurer? The introduction of Moreau is nearly pointless and his various beast-men look like Sunday comics renderings, except for that rabbit at the train station--the one being eaten by wild fox.
The highlight was surely Hyde's complete escape from Jekyll and his self-analysis of the process, but even though perfectly executed it was so conventional a psychological process that it lacked any lasting punch. Yes, yes, Griffin's visible blood, Hyde's death-monologue, and Nemo's comment about Englishmen are all excellent. Yet these are the highlights of Volume 2, and not the moment-per-page type of event encountered in Volume 1. So much for damning with faint praise--the good news is that Volume 2 is still fun to read, unlike the train-wreck disaster of the Black Dossier.
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