The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Vol. 1, 1898

Locations
Call Number: Adult Graphic Novel / League, Adult Book / Comics & Graphic Novels / Superheroes / League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 1st Floor 4-week checkout	Adult Graphic Novel / League	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Comics & Graphic Novels / Superheroes / League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen	4-week checkout	Due 05-10-2024

"Originally published in single magazine form as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, vol. 1, #1-6"--Title page verso.
1. Dead man -- 2. In the ruins of time -- 3. In the shadow of the sphinx -- 4. The abyss of the lights -- 5. The glint in fortune's eye -- 6. The awakening.
Features the Victorian era adventures of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, comprised of Captain Nemo, Allan Quartermain, the Invisible Man, Wilhelmina "Mina" Murray, Detective Thomas Sawyer, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

DON"T WATCH THE MOVIE submitted by Pumpkinscones on June 25, 2013, 3:09pm If you saw the movie do yourself a favor and try and sort out some way to give yourself a brain enema and forget it. Done that? Good. Now read on....... The League are literary heroes banded together to save the Empire. Which should be enough of a reason to read them. What is better is that everything (and I mean everything) in the books is referenced back to other classics of literature. So as well as Allen Quartermain and Nemo we meet Moreau, the Artful Dodger, Mycroft Holmes and more characters – each time you read it you'll recognize more and more cultural references. Allen Moore – famous for Watchmen, his beard and refusing to take part in any of the multiple movies made of his work (V for Vendetta, From Hell, the aforementioned) created an amazing pastiche of both the real and literary history. Read it.

Excellent on its own, even better with a familiarity of literary classics submitted by eknapp on August 22, 2020, 7:50pm Exquisitely clever mashup of Victorian era literary characters, assembled in 1898 London by a mysterious "Mr. M" in service to England.

The team:
Mina Murray--Always scarfed, recently divorced from a certain Jonathan Harker, and leader of this motley crew. Murray is smart and determined but also hypocritical and abusive to those around her.

Allan Quatermain--Great hunter and adventurer, now diminished by age and opium addiction. Quatermain is a sputtering whiner but still dangerous.

Hawley Griffin--Invisible man. A fickle, untrustworthy sociopath and casually unrepentant rapist.

Dr. Henry Jekyll--Perpetually anxious scientist whose experiments cause him to transform when upset into...
Edward Hyde--Gigantic, bestial, bloodthirsty spree killer. Yet he's oddly dependable, perhaps because of his grudging respect for Mina Murray.

Captain Nemo--Commander of the amazing submarine Nautilus and its crew, and possessor of magnificent steampunk tools and weapons. Despite his rampant sexism Nemo tolerates Murray's leadership well enough. He allows himself to be press-ganged into service by the occupier of his homeland simply because he's bored.

After the team is assembled, their mission is to recover the floating metal Cavorite from a yellow-peril crime boss (Fu Manchu!) in the Asian section of London, lest it be used to launch a new age of terror-by-flying-airship. But things are not what they seem...

Literary cameos abound: Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty. The Artful Dodger. A manufactured ancestor of James Bond. Ishmael, the narrator of Moby Dick . Edgar Allen Poe's Detective Dupin. I enjoyed this immensely and I'm not particularly well read with regard to classical literature. There may be dozens of others that flew over my head.

The Victorian social rigidity provides a neat contrast for the depravity of the characters--hero and villain alike--and the unflinching violence marbling the story. This is one of Alan Moore's finest works.