Book Description
England in the mid 1950s is not the same as it was. The powers that be have instituted...some changes. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen have been disbanded and disavowed, and the country is under the control of an iron-fisted regime. Now, after many years, the still youthful Mina Murray and a rejuvenated Allan Quatermain return and are in search of some answers. Answers that can only be found in a book buried deep in the vaults of their old headquarters, a book that holds the key to the hidden history of the League throughout the ages: The Black Dossier. As Allan and Mina delve into the details of their precursors, some dating back centuries, they must elude their dangerous pursuers who are Hell-bent on retrieving the lost manuscript... and ending the League once and for all.
Book 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.
Customer Reviews:
20,000 leagues under the first volume.......2007-09-06
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen II retells HG Wells's "The War of the Worlds" from the perspective of Allan and O'Neill's gaggle of quasi-functional heroes.
There's a lot to like about the second volume of LOEG. Its ability to communicate purely visually is excellent -- the story of the Martian wars was done almost exclusively in untranslatable "Martian" dialog. I enjoyed having to work a bit to understand the purely visual language. The Martians who invade Earth are suitable creepy (think of beaked brains with tentacles) and their war machines aptly frightening and effective. The cast of LOEG -- Mina Murray, Jeckell/Hyde, Nemo, Quatermain and the Invisible Man -- are on hand to battle this latest of challenges to the London of 1898.
But there is plenty not to like. For one thing, the plotline is familiar to the point of ennui, and A&O's efforts to spice it up mostly fall flat The LOEG team sees very little action, and mostly plays observer to unfolding events. There's plenty of time (and too many panels) of pointless and fairly graphic lovemaking between two main characters. Hyde spends too much time moping around and too little time kicking alien [...]. The subplot about a team member betraying the entire planet to the invaders stretches the bounds of the character beyond plausibility. A forest attack by a group of Doctor Moreau's half-animal creations would not have been more ludicrous if staged by Winnie the Pooh, Tygger, Eeyore and Kanga. And the finale lacked gore or punch.
As always, there's plenty of female nudity to keep the boys interested. The gross-out quotient is pretty low, limited mostly to the appearance of the aliens and one character puking. The back-of-the-comic prose story is overly long, overly written and completely uninteresting. It's basically an excuse to get the ladies to run around without their tops.
LOEG 1 did a better job of restraining the adolescent impulses of its creators -- or at least of tempering them with fast pacing and an air of mystery. It also had more storylines and was more complex. And it didn't really on cheap pathos (the LOEG loses some members) to keep the reader engaged. Not even LOEG2's few literary references (hardly more than an inn called "The Bleak House" -- whoa!) were cause for much interest.
Messrs Moore and O'Neill should have quit when they were ahead. A disappointment.
A wonderful followup.......2007-03-28
The twists, the turns, the new reference material, it's all more reason to read, and, for me , at least, own this. Some good and logical inclusions, and some equally fanciful ones make for a great mix. The ending is understandable, though a trifle disappointing. Once again, they immerse us skillfully in time and place, adn give us enough companion material to complete the job.
Decent..........2007-02-09
I was semi-disappointed by The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2 ONLY (and please note that I said ONLY) in that it didn't fully live up to the tight writing and fast-paced action of LoXG Volume 1.
At times I felt that I was, rather than reading a continued fictional history of classic characters, re-reading War of the Worlds itself. Not much truly happens within the first half of Volume 2 with the exception of the alien forces landing and the appearance at the beginning of John Carter. The dialogue wasn't as tight as in the first, either.
But those are only two complaints and they're all in relation to the first volume. If I review Volume 2 as a stand-alone (the validity of which could be argued either way), I'd have to say it stands very strong.
This collection of 6 comics is still far superior to most comics and graphic novels put out there these days. I was a bit thrown off by the interaction between Quartermain and Mina, it seemed all from out of left field imho.
But all in all the pace eventually picks up, the characters are strong and more deeply explored and some logical ends come about. I certainly cannot say I wasn't entertained.
Not as good as the first, but a decent follow-up and better than most of what's going on out there in comics.
WOW!.......2007-01-06
i haven't reviewed the first volume and i don't think i will. This is one great series i just can't believe alan moore keeps doing it. I'm shocked and amazed. Seriously i'm in a great state of shock from the beauty of this work. The art is from outer space kevin o'neill is a brilliant artist and i know that alan moore picked him out to get the best out of him with this series. The story, the characters are all so well designed and researched marvelous. just like the rest of Alan's work. Recommened for everyone, enjoy it. ( can't wait for the third and final volume ).
not as good as loeg 1..........2006-12-28
but its still pretty darn good. there are also a few surprising moments in this book, two stand out in my mind. but overall the story is bigger but nowhere near as good or compelling as loeg 1.
but this is still better than 99% of the other comic works out there, so you can't go wrong here.
Amazon.com
Proving that mainstream comics could be infused with past literary/cultural ideals and still be bestsellers, the America's Best Comics imprint took the dilapidated superhero genre and created three vastly entertaining hybrids with Tom Strong, Promethea and Top Ten. Now, a stunning coup de grace is delivered with this masterful pairing of Victorian adventure fiction's greatest characters and the old war-horse of the super-group. With the stunning The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, it would be no exaggeration to say that Alan Moore has produced a near-perfect piece of adventure fiction that is clever, literate, rich with excitement and hard to put down.
It's 1898 and at the behest of M, the mysterious head of the secret Service, Campion Bond is dispatched to procure the services of Miss Mina Murray (nee Harker), adventurer Allan Quartermain, "Science-Pirate" Captain Nemo, Henry Jekyll (and his monstrous alter ego) and Hawley Griffin (a.k.a. the Invisible Man). Together, they must combat an insidious threat that will decide supremacy of the London skies, but their success may unleash a far greater threat. With no shortage of action, Moore and O' Neill sustain a high level of suspense, intrigue, mystery and terrific wit that all contribute to an indispensable read. O'Neill's art, so memorable in Marshal Law, produces a London filled with vivid, magnificent architecture and a malevolent atmosphere ripe with thrills and danger. An unmitigated triumph--pure and simple. --Danny Graydon
Customer Reviews:
Interesting but just okay.......2007-09-20
This is an okay graphic novel. It has some interesting story elements and characters but the story never really engaged me. Not a bad read, but clearly not for everyone. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who is not a clear fan of comic books.
Eye-popping, sexy, violent!.......2007-09-05
As one of my first forays into the world of the graphic novel, "LOEG" certainly caught my attention. The book is full of memorable images, strong characters, exotic locates and plenty of action.
The book itself tells the tale of the formation of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen -- a late 19th-century collection of famous and infamous personages known to the reader through novels and films. Though the characters are familiar, their incarnation here can be disorienting and even offensive. The Invisible Man is gruff and homicidal and uses his power to satisfy his personal urges. Captain Nemo is some sort of aloof Indian emir brandishing a machine harpoon gun agaunbst "Mohammedans," and his Nautilus is a squidlike submarine with mechanical tentacles. Dr Jekyll is a small, sweaty man, while his Mr. Hyde persona is an enormous brute who enjoys literally tearing his foes limb from limb. The central characters in the novel is Mina Murray, a lady of an uncertain, yet sullied past, whose courage is matched by her elusiveness. Often sharing the spotlight is Allan Quatermain, a former famous big game hunter (I gathered) languishing in an opium haze in the back streets of Cairo. The characters, once collected, become a sort of crime-fighting collective, their mutual skills offsetting their individual defects. They are called on by mysterious authorities to work on various bizarre super crimes, including a finale that threatens all of London.
The book's conceit is that it *is* a comic from the late 1800s, and its sensibilities (good and bad) reflect that era's prejudices. Bad guys include a horde of expendable Chinese criminals and a devil's den of Arab thugs bent on rapine, characterizations that are normally found offensive in the modern world. Leavening this un-PC environment are clever period touches, such as product advertisements in mock-19th century style. An illustrated prose story at the back of the book provides a prequel that explains Quatermain's opium addiction. This part of the book is a real contrast to the quickly-read material before it. Its hyperbolic imagery, turgid prose and quasi-religious pretensions destroyed the book's fast pace, and could not make up for its lack of clever ideas.
The current volume gathers the 6-edition comic book series into a single edition. The story's narrative starts at the front of the book, followed (rather confusingly, I thought) by the front covers, back covers and special content. The book's style teeters on the edge of exploitation, but retains enough momentum to propel it forward. Some readers might be amused by the book's gathering of so many 19th century fictional heros, some might be confused. The constant stream of literary references (more than I picked up) may amuse you or annoy you. I took it all in good fun, which seems to be the best way to handle it.
If I were to rate LOEG as a film (perfectly appropriate since the book is primarily visual) I would give it a solid "R". The violence is graphic and visceral -- both literally on the page and in figuratively in the reader's imagination. There are few lost oportunities to show bare breasts -- be they on heroic sculptures or on the "Nubian" who graces many pages of the story at the back. Whether this is a good thing or not is in the eye of the beholder. Suffice it to say that LOEG appeals strongly to the mid-adolescent male mind, whatever the age or gender of its owner.
The story of LOEG is compelling, exotic, heart-pounding fun. I can't imagine having had to wait weeks for the next installment, and am glad to have it all between two covers, to be devoured in raw, bloody chunks. Recommended, but for mature readers, perhaps late teens and up.
Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-04
Moore is a genius of the form. This is ridiculously good, and packed with great stuff. Just gold.
Check out Jess Nevin's guide, for one, and Fantastic Victoriana site if you want to delve further into who is who.
Mina Harker has to retrieve a drug addicted Alan Quatermain, to put together a mission for the British Secret Service. This involves recruiting Nemo, Hyde and the Invisible Man, and locking horns with the Professor and the Devil Doctor.
As an added bonus, there is the prose 'Allan and the Sundered Veil', in which a not as dead as thought Quatermain goes in search of substances to imbibe, and in this state encounters both Randolph and John Carter, the Time Traveller, and a Great Old One. Perhaps, anyway. Even more ahead for him after that.
talk about standing on the shoulders of giants.......2007-08-10
Horrible. Disconnected, gleefully grotesque and self-indulgent. The only thing Moore proved with this was that he knew the best people to steal from.
It is NOT, I repeat NOT consistent with Victorian writing; at best you could call it a satire of the same. The hallmark of Victorian England was restraint and innuendo, and everything here is blatant and vulgar. How many gay jokes and sexual abuse can we cram into a single volume?
Listen, I'll never claim that such things didn't go on in Victorian England, and in theory I applaud the effort to bring a gritty reality to this fantasy. But ultimately it just feels like the author slinging excrement around and calling it art.
Aside from that, the characters are thinly developed (as is often the case with comics) and the clever asides and moralizing subtexts often swamp the story (Ok, the moralizing part IS actually Victorian).
And did I say story? Only the barest shoestring excuse of a plot on which to thread the disparate parts. Boring, barely motivated, predictable and lacking in suspense. I will never understand why people love this so much, except it invites games of proving who was paying the most attention in high school English class.
At least it is superior to the pathetic movie........2007-08-07
This is sadly one of my least favorite Alan Moore stories. The idea of letting characters from various classic literature meet in a conspiracy story just doesn't do the trick for me. It works in moments but ultimately it mostly ends as one reference after another.
But of course, it certainly proves that Moore knows his stuff and he manage to create a decent intensity that just sadly miss the same impact we are used to from his side.
The art by Kevin O'Neill is more interesting and he gives the book an almost abstract touch.
I have seen better. But at least it is superior to the pathetic movie.
Book Description
This book-length celebration and analysis of the Artistic Event of the Century includes an exclusive interview and introduction by League of Extraordinary Gentlemen co creator and author Alan Moore; commentary by co-creator a nd illustrator Kevin O'Neill: detailed, panel-by-panel annotations of the first League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series.
Customer Reviews:
Jess acknowledged me!.......2004-03-14
No matter one's area of expertise - there is always someone better. I thought I was expert on Sherlock Holmes. Jess makes me look like a piker.
And later on in the Alan Moore Interview - Jess gets Alan Moore to demolish my Nemo theory.
Ouch!
The essays are also worth reading.
Buy this book for those who must own the DVD.
I got mine autographed.......2003-07-23
The great comic book The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was packed with references to literature from the Victorian era. Some of these books are famous, some of them are obscure. Jess Nevins has done an excellent job of tracking down the books, so now you can know the history of these characters, many of which have been forgotten one hundred years later. For instance, I don't think too many people knew who "Rose Coote", the headmistress of the girl's school, was. Well, in this book, you can learn the history of that character, as well as every other character who is so much as mentioned in the comic. By the way, I met Jess at the San Diego Comic Con, and he said he is working on an Encyclopedia about the League. From what he said, it will be around a thousand pages long, so start saving your money now.
Excellent companion piece!.......2003-07-06
For any true fan of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (the comics, not the film), this is the book to purchase. The League is not only a wonderful story, but is also filled to the brim with references and images from other Victorian fictions of the same era. Some references are quite obvious, many are obscure, but all test your intelligence and literary know-how. There is a certain satisfaction in identifying a character on a page from a book you read years ago. Jess Nevins has collected all the annotations of these reference points contained in the first volume of LOEG. Reading it is a great enhancement to the already considerable enjoyment to be found in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen!
Book Description
Comic book, contains exclusive interviews and commentary by Alan Moore and Kevin o'Neill,and detailed, panel-by-panel annotations.
Customer Reviews:
Go to Blazes!.......2005-03-12
This is a reference book for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume Two. It helps the reader to identify the characters and references in the comic book. For example, it will tell you who John Carter and Gullivar Jones are, and will even identify all the different races of Martians and tell you what books they came from. Where this book comes in most handy is in regards to "The New Traveller's Almanac", which is a sort of travelogue about the League's world. The Almanac describes hundreds of fictional locations that exist in the League's world, very few of which the average reader will have heard of. Sure, everyone has heard of Lilliput, but who ever heard of Calejava? Jess Nevins, that's who. This book will identify the literary source of Calejava and practically every other location mentioned here (there are a handful that he was unable to identify). The book also has interviews with League writer Alan Moore and League artist Kevin O'Neill. This is an excellent reference book for fans of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
A great follow-up to the first LEG companion.......2004-10-31
If you bought the first one, make sure to get the second one too.
No one knows obscure Victoriana popular culture minutae like Jess Nevins. Except maybe Alan Moore, of course.
And if you bought either of Moore and Kevin O'Neill's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen collections, then you owe it to yourself to get Jess' annotations and other other ruminations that can be found in this new book.
Average customer rating:
- Just like the movie
- An O.K. film novelization
- Author Knows More Than Screenwriter
- A book that authors could be proud of
- a very enjoyable read!
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The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Movie Novelization)
Kevin J. Anderson
Manufacturer: Pocket Star
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ASIN: 074347676X |
Book Description
London, 1899. As the British Empire lies in mortal jeopardy, a top-secret initiative unites several of the most illustrious (and sometimes infamous) personages of the age: Allan Quartermain, famed explorer and adventurer; Captain Nemo, master of the undersea submersible Nautilus; Dr. Henry Jekyll, and his brutish alter ego, Mr. Hyde; Rodney Skinner, the Invisible Man; Dorian Gray, the ageless subject of a diabolical portrait; Mina Harker, surviving victim of the late Count Dracula; and a scrappy American secret agent named Tom Sawyer. Together, they form...
LXG
When a criminal mastermind known only as "The Fantom" plots to hurl the world into war, the League must race across the globe to foil the masked madman's insidious scheme. But they may not have reckoned with the traitor in their midst...!
Download Description
"London, 1899. As the British Empire lies in mortal jeopardy, a top-secret initiative unites several of the most illustrious (and sometimes infamous) personages of the age: Allan Quartermain, famed explorer and adventurer; Captain Nemo, master of the undersea submersible Nautilus; Dr. Henry Jekyll, and his brutish alter ego, Mr. Hyde; Rodney Skinner, the Invisible Man; Dorian Gray, the ageless subject of a diabolical portrait; Mina Harker, surviving victim of the late Count Dracula; and a scrappy American secret agent named Tom Sawyer. Together, they form... LXG When a criminal mastermind known only as ""The Fantom"" plots to hurl the world into war, the League must race across the globe to foil the masked madman's insidious scheme. But they may not have reckoned with the traitor in their midst...! "
Customer Reviews:
Just like the movie.......2007-01-13
I wanted to read the novelization to get more insight into the
characters' thoughts. Most novelizations reveal much more that the
movie. The book follows the movie closely and you get some extra descriptions and dialogue in key moments. I did enjoy the book because I loved the movie. If you want to relive it in the written page than this is for you. Also, read the book if you want a better ending to the story. It's worth it.
An O.K. film novelization.......2006-10-16
I saw the while a few years ago and thought it was O.K., with the exception of Sean Connery, who does a spectacular job in all his roles. The novel, which of course includes parts cut from the film and surprisingly cut the ending from the film out. Overall, Anderson does a good job converting the screenplay into a novel. He follows the path until he cut that ending.
This is a good novel for some one looking for a quick read.
PARTY ON, DUDES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Author Knows More Than Screenwriter.......2006-05-26
This movie novelization works a bit better than the movie it is based on. This is in part because the author is more familiar with the subject than the makers of the movie. For instance, instead of allowing Nemo to say, "I call it an automobile." The author points out that at that time Benz was already cranking out cars and Ford had devised the Model T. Thus it is added how Nemo improved on existing designs. There are other moments like this where minor problems are corrected.
Unfortunately the novelization has to hold true to the film so most of the real problems with the film adaptation are still present. Alan Moore's League is greatly changed from their original comic appearance and their literary appearances. Here the league is up against a madman bent of plunging the entire world into war in hopes of ruling it all. The league chases the villain around the world while suffering many setbacks until all is played out.
Well written with nice additions. It is too bad it had to follow the movie script as the author could have done more with the story. Still, if you can handle the story, the novelization is very well written.
A book that authors could be proud of.......2006-05-19
I have to admit that the first time that I met the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was on the big screen. It wasn't until I did further research that I found out about the series of comic books. However, after reading this movie novelisation I thought it wouldn't have done justice as a comic book. As a novel Kevin J Anderson brought out the actors who played the characters on the big screen as well as the characters from their corresponding classics. It was that that made the book worth reading.
A great book turned out from a great movie. Absolutely brilliant.
a very enjoyable read!.......2005-06-16
Most of the negative reviews about this novel complain that it's not the comic book. It's not the comic, but I don't think that's a bad thing. The novel is well written and characters, like Quatermain, are closer to their literary selves than Moore's reworked versions. Fans of the original characters and the LXG movie will enjoy this the most. I did.
Book Description
Following on the heels of the well-received HEROES & MONSTERS and A BLAZING WORLD, this new companion is the invaluable book length analysis of THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: BLACK DOSSIER, containing panel-by-panel annotations, as well as exclusive interview and commentary with award-winning creators Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill.
Average customer rating:
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League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Alan Moore
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ASIN: 0613912942 |
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