Customer Reviews

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 3: Century #1 1910

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well, well, here we go again. After "The Black Dossier", which I found tremendously disappointing after so long a wait (v2 itself having been a bit of a let-down from the preceding one), Moore and O'Neill's famous Victorian adventure heroes return for an adventure with an actual plot. The first of three 'graphic novellas' (it's basically just a slim graphic novel) telling the story of an overarching plot in the 20th century, the events of this one were alluded to in the "Dossier". Plot details are discussed herein, so be warned.

Moore said he wanted this to function both as part one of three and as a story in its own right, hence the decision to abandon the more traditional 22-page single-issue format of previous installments in favour of larger bundles. In that sense, he has succeeded. "1910" has both an internal narrative arc and an ending that augurs future plot developments. On the question of how compelling this story is by itself, I would say reasonably so, moreso than either "The Black Dossier" or "League v.2", though many of my problems with this property remain.

As alluded to in "The Black Dossier", this story picks up in 1910, with the League consisting of old standbys Mina Murray (not yet a blonde), Allan Quatermain ("Junior"), Thomas Carnacki (from W. H. Hodgson's "The Casebook of Carnacki the Ghost Finder", originally serialized in "The Strand"), A. J. Raffles (another magazine serial character, created by Arthur Conan Doyle's brother-in-law, E. W. Hornung), and a male Orlando (Virginia Woolf's novel of the same name; a major figure in "The Black Dossier"). The reign of Edward VII has ended, and the inauguration of George V is impending, with the Great War that will bring to a definitive end this period in world history whispering on the horizon. Our crew is following Carnacki's premonitory dreams which involve the moon-child cult of Oliver Haddo (Aleister Crowley's "Moonchild") and the return to town of Jack MacHeath. Meanwhile, in a separate plot, Janni, the daughter of Captain Nemo, arrives in London hoping to escape her father's wish for her to succeed him.

Sexual perversion and violence against women has been a recurring theme in Moore's work (in his early classic, "Watchmen"), and repeatedly throughout the "League" books Moore seems to be depicting the nature of Victorian society (he did something similar in "From Hell", which also featured Jack the Ripper, though in a very different light to how he's shown here). Moore has taken some criticism for his use of rape as a plot device in the past, so those critics will find more to criticize here, as the poor Janni, violated by some wharfside scum, summons her father's men to wreak deadly vengeance on the waterfront before assuming her father's identity as Nemo. It's certainly not an act portrayed lightly, of course (and never was in his work), but as a plot element it can perhaps get a bit tiresome. Moore has already done many stories about how, as he ends here, human civilization runs on "monstrous deeds".

From a narrative perspective, this story repeats some of the problems I had with earlier iterations of this group: the main characters don't do or accomplish much in the course of the story, there's little character development (only, really, in Janni's case, and that's a fairly standard story that Moore doesn't add anything new to here), or any of the things that make Moore's best work special. The most notable feature is probably Moore's extensive use of written music, as both MacHeath and a seaside madame named Suki spend more or less all their screentime 'singing' (which comes across to the reader as rhymed narration or monologues). This is a unique use of the comic book format that I'm not sure would really work in a visual medium, given the time that passes between panels of the song. As with Moore's "From Hell", there's a great deal of criticism of Britain's class structure here, and the hypocrisy of the upper class of this era. Kevin O'Neill's art is customarily good.

This is probably the best whole installment of the "League" franchise since the original volume in 1999. All the same, I cannot escape the feeling that there are more interesting things Moore could be doing with his time.

THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill's motley crew of Victorian-era literary figures, returns for a fourth outing, and the results are extraordinary, indeed.

The first in a trilogy, CENTURY: 1910 sees an modified League, consisting of Mina Murray, Allan Quatermain (Masquerading as his own son, thanks to his newly immortal condition, as seen in THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: THE BLACK DOSSIER), Carnacki, Raffles, and Orlando, dispatched by Mycroft Holmes to prevent the apocalyptic vision received by Carnacki from becoming a reality. To say more about the story would do potential readers a disservice. (I will say that the story involves Captain Nemo and his equally hardcase Daughter Janni, the Ripper murders, Aleister Crowley, and Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's musical THE THREEPENNY OPERA. An odd, but pleasing, mixture.)

The misgivings I had at the end of Volume II of LOEG still hold true, to an extent: Without the depraved personalities of Hyde, Griffin, and Nemo, the remaining members of The League are less than interesting. Mina and Allan are as boring as ever, and Raffles and Carnacki are not much better. Only Orlando delivers even a fraction of the personality that's been missing since Hyde and Griffin exited Moore's grand stage. However, the "new" characters (New to More's playground, at least- Jenny Diver, Jack MacHeath, Suki Tawdry, Oliver Haddo, and Norton, the "Prisoner of London") make for some interesting moments, and O'Neill's art is as grotesquely lovely and detailed as ever. The League itself, as always, is more of a group of passive observers than active participants- They seem very ineffective for such a highly-regarded team. However, I enjoyed the book immensely, and I wish there wasn't going to be the inevitable years-long wait before the next chapter. (Just as an aside, Moore, as usual, doesn't completely play fair with the reader, having a very important section of the book, Nemo's dialogue with his daughter, written in a completely untranslated foreign language. Jess Nevin's annotations for CENTURY: 1910 provide a complete translation, as well as invaluable background information that make the reading experience much more pleasurable for people who are not steeped in Victorian literature. The annotations for CENTURY:1910 are easily found online through a Google search, and are well worth hunting down.)

Don't get me wrong -- I enjoyed the first "Extraordinary Gentlemen" series (and hated the movie) but I found this volume to be a bit dull, and couldn't help detecting a strong whiff of self-satisfaction wafting out of the script. "What a clever boy am I!" is the constant undercurrent to it all, even though Moore seems to have little new to offer his readers that we haven't seen before, time and again. Plus, the story is so slow-moving and inert -- I found it a chore to get through, particularly the extended "musical" sequences that are intended as an homage to Brecht and Weill: sheer torture. This was okay, I guess, but personally I found myself frequently bored with most of the book. (Axton)

This is another good installment in a series that never quite lives up to its promise. At least there is less of Moore attempting to write prose "in the style of..." What I like about the league is the sheer intensity of the references - surely a mocking joke on post-modernism and the pastiche as well as a celebration of them. The series on this level does not write down to its audience and Moore cleverly blends high and low cultural elements. These books are for well read readers and don't pander to popular taste however the story Moore builds out of his splendid box of tricks could have sprung from any pulp writer of the last two hundred years and I know this is part one and some development into a more interesting plot is evident but the fact is part 2 set in 1969 will involve pages of new characters and new references leaving Mina and Alan's development almost non-existent. That said it is good fun and I love the addition of Carnacki and Raffles (a particular favourite of mine).

The writing, story, dialogue, and artwork are all fantastic in this graphic novel. I thought that it was exceptional, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Although not as strong as Volume(s) I and II, it is still very, very good, and a worthwhile investment of time.

I highly recommend this graphic novel for a read.

This graphic novel chronicles a case by the 1910 version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. This version of the League features Mina Murray, Allan Quatermain, Orlando, Thomas Carnacki and Raffles. The storyline is a loose adaptation of the musical The Threepenny Opera. This is a good comic book, but it's somewhat confusing if you're not familiar with The Threepenny Opera (as I am not).

Century: 1910 is the third volume of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's much-lauded League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series. Mina Murray and the (alleged) son of Allan Quatermain are joined by a new group of literary characters: thieving Raffles, occultist Carnacki and gender-bending Orlando. They're on a quest to unearth the secret plot of a clandestine occult group.

Meanwhile, Captain Nemo is on his deathbed. After he argues with his young daughter, Janni, about taking over the family business (aka piracy aboard the Nautilus), she takes off for England and begins working as a barmaid under an assumed name. When this change of lifestyle yields less than acceptable results, she summons the Nautilus to come for her and the pirate crew, led by Janni, come face to face with the New League.

Then they fight, make up and part ways and the book ends.

This was a bit of a pain in the rear, until further research into the matter led me to discover that 1910 is merely the lead-in to two more volumes of League set to take place later in the 1900's. While I do enjoy Moore's literary mash-up concept (I also ordered a hardcover edition of Lost Girls that ships in about a month), these characters are just not as appealing as the original group. Quatermain doesn't do anything adventuresome, Mina doesn't vamp-out and Carnacki and Raffles are dry. The only lively characters in the book are Orlando (who is `more than friends' with both Murray and Quatermain, though it's only implied in this volume) and Janni (who was created by Moore for this book and has no basis in literature that I know of). The book is saved solely by those two characters, O'Neill's gorgeous, detailed art and the sometimes somber sometimes humorous musical styling of two minor cast members, a whore and a murderer.

Still, lukewarm Moore is better than alot of other writers' best efforts and O'Neill's good as ever. I'll be picking up the next volume for sure. 7/10 and high hopes for future additions.

Well, well, here we go again. After "The Black Dossier", which I found tremendously disappointing after so long a wait (v2 itself having been a bit of a let-down from the preceding one), Moore and O'Neill's famous Victorian adventure heroes return for an adventure with an actual plot

As a fan of the LoEG, I had to pick this up. The new League is back deal with a new threat. The main character of the story is Nemo's daughter Janni who is the most interesting part of the book. Probably the most developed of the characters.

Speaking of such you might want to look up Carnacki the Ghost Hunter and A.J. Raffles the Gentleman Thief.

One thing that is great about this issue is the artwork; O'Neill again does a great job. The oft maligned Black Dossier will be special to me as I once met O'Neill at a showing of the Black Dossier and he drew a picture of Nemo in my copy.

I do wish the story had been better crafted. For example, Mina was around but didn't have an opportunity to do her vamp side.

Carnacki and Raffles were supposed to be interesting and it time they might but I was not fascinated by them as I was with Hyde and the Invisible man.

Overall, it's an ok story and I will give the forth version a try.

I am a massive fan of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series, not only because it contains some of my favourite fictional characters, but because the art is top notch and it is so skilfully written (after all, this is by Alan Moore, the genius behind Watchmen). The League is the only fictional series I know that actually gets better with each next instalment, which means that Century #1: 1910 is the best League book released so far (of course, I know that Century #2: 1969 will be even better, but it's coming out next month).
This instalment of LoEG features Mina Murray and Allan Quatermain, who have been the two protagonists in every League volume. Only two decades after the Victorian league was torn apart, marvellous Mina has formed a new league whose line-up features Quatermain, a foxy ladyboy named Orlando, the psychic detective Tom Carnacki and gentleman theif A.J. Raffles. The second Muarray league has two missions: to find out who is behind the murders of several different women, and to prevent Oliver Haddo from creating a 'Moonchild', which can potentially end the world. But, as with any Alan Moore book, the plot is much more complex than that. Even though Mina and Allan are partners, they still enjoy kinky sex with Orlando (which is even kinkier, when you think about it, because Orlando can change genders). Meanwhile, Janni Dakkar, the beautiful daughter of Captain Nemo, takes up a job as a cleaner in a seedy pub, when she is suddenly raped by two drunks. Janni, now called 'Jenny Diver', is looking for a way to seek revenge...
The book ends with a prose appendix called 'Minions of the Moon'. The prose section of Century #1: 1910 is quite entertaining, if you don't get overwhelmed by Moore's notoriously purple prose. It tells the story of Mina, who is sent to the Moon to help its natives make peace with each other, and also of Allan and the female Orlando, who indulge in games of submission and dominance in a Parisian secret society; there is a very, VERY sexy scene-- where Allan feels up Orlando in a limousine-- that left my loins tingling, my heart racing and my brain begging for more. Better still, Minions of the Moon will be continued in the other two books that make up Century.
This book is absolutely fantastic, masterfully crafted and highly entertaining. However, it includes plot elements which will come as spoilers unless you have read the previous three volumes. But if you've finished off Vol. 1, Vol. 2 and The Black Dossier and enjoyed doing so, then by all means buy this book.