Complete. Available from Amazon(US) or Amazon(UK).
Publisher: America’s Best Comics
Writer: Alan Moore
Artist: Kevin O’Neill
As a general rule, the copyright, patents and trademarks that protect intellectual property do not last forever. They eventually expire and, when they do, the works, ideas and information they safeguarded fall into the public domain, available for use by absolutely anybody. As a result, someone can draw a moustache on the Mona Lisa or reimagine one of Shakespeare’s plays in a high school setting, and be free to make money from these derivative works. On the other hand, Alan Moore is free to assemble characters from some of the greatest works of literature ever into his very own historical superteam.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is made up of Mina Murray (formerly Harker), Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, Doctor Jekyll/Mr Hyde and the Invisible Man. These two volumes are set primarily in an alternative-history Victorian London, and Moore continues his adoption of literary characters to populate this half-imagined world; the Artful Dodger, Doctor Moreau, Sherlock Holmes and even Rupert Bear are just a few of the familiar names to make appearances. The glee that Moore and O’Neill must feel at being able to play in this world with these particular characters is obvious on every page. The beauty of these books is that prior knowledge of the literary staples is often rewarded, but in no way required in order to enjoy the League’s adventures.
Moore reinvents the icons as he sees fit – none more dramatically than Mina Murray, on whose shoulders the task falls to gather together and lead the potential heroes. Mina, last seen as Dracula’s muse in Bram Stoker’s classic tale, has undergone quite the transformation by the time she opens Volume One being recruited by MI5’s Campion Bond, grandfather of superspy James. Bond explains that his boss, the mysterious ‘M’, has ordered the formation of the League as an answer to a looming threat against the British Empire, and the first story is underway.
The following pages see Ms Murray on a globetrotting mission to recruit her fellow Leaguers from their own dark corners of the world. Once the team is assembled, the remainder of the book follows them in a twisting tale of intrigue, resulting in an action-packed finale that threatens to destroy the League and their London.
In Volume Two, the League is once again called upon to face a devastating enemy – this time the invading Martian tripods from HG Wells’ War of the Worlds. A dramatic betrayal by one member of the team, and the death of another, serve to up the stakes in a fantastic continuation (and conclusion, if you wish) to the adventures of the unlikely heroes. There are additional books available, which chronicle the further exploits of the League, but we would advise starting with these two volumes and being aware that other books vary significantly in both format and content.
As with so many comic properties, LOEG was at one point made into a less-than-stellar movie (although the casting of Sean Connery as Quatermain was inspired). If this is your only experience of the ‘Gentlemen’, we implore you to push all memory of it from your mind and give the comic the chance it deserves.
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