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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Alan Moore introduces us to the mystic warrior Promethea, April 17, 2004
After reading both "From Hell," where Alan Moore detailed in endnotes where he was getting his historical facts and speculations regarding Jack the Ripper, and the original story of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," where he created a team of comic book superheroes out of some of the most famous literary creations of the late 19th century, it is easy to read Moore's prologue in Book 1 of "Promethea" and buy it hook, line, and sinker. Entitled "The Promethea Puzzle: An Adventure in Folklore," Moore explains how the character of Promethea has appeared in works from the epic sentimental fantasy "A Faerie Romance" by the New England poet Charlton Sennet to the comic books written by Steven Shelley. Next thing you know you are off doing a Google search to find out more about these "real" people and finding out that what you should have been thinking in reference to Moore's work is "The Watchmen" with its memorable group of faux super heroes.Book 1 of "Promethea" collects the first six issues from America's Best Comics with the script by Moore, pencils by J. H. Williams III, inks by Mick Gray, and lettering by Todd Klein. The story begins with a prologue set in Alexandria, 411 A.D., in which a strange old man with mystical powers saves his daughter from a group of killer monks. We then jump ahead to a New York existing in the year 1999 that has cabs hovering without wheels, police in flying saucers, and a successful comic book about the "Weeping Gorilla." Here we meat Sohpie Bangs, who is writing a term paper and visits Barbara Shelley, the widow of the last guy to write the Promethea comic book. However, Sophie gets a big time brush off and the following advice from Barabara: "You don't wanna go looking for folklore. And you especially don't want folklore to come looking for you." There is something of misdirection to this advice, not only because it is too late for Sophie, who is gong to become the new "host" for Promethea, but also because ultimately Moore is not really writing about folklore here but about the female super hero. In modern times that pretty much takes us back to the creation of Wonder Woman, but Promethea harkens back to ancient Greece and elements of Artemis, Athena, and Atalanta. However, in a similar way Moore is also dealing with the archetypal nature of comic books, which is where the folklore part really comes into play in his concept of the Immateria, a realm where stories are real. If you can believe in the power of Story, then it can transport you to the Immateria, as young Sophie finds out. The first three stories deal with Sophie getting indoctrinated into the ways of Promethea, although there are always more questions than answers. Meanwhile the city's resident superheroes, the Five Sweel Guys, are dealing with their arch-enemy the Painted Doll. But in issue #4, "A Faerie Romance," Moore adds a great conceit to the mix, as the various incarnations of Promethea sit around in the Immateria discussing the newcomer. The idea of the archetype becomes reinforced, not by going back to the beginning, but rather by showing how each generation has had a Promethea it could call its own. This is where the series slips into the next gear and exhibits the most promise. There is a Promethean movement, which is "dedicated to advancing human life through self-expression, augmented by authentic freedom, experimentality and individualism." Now, I am not really sure if looking at these comic books as valuing the liberated and realized person while opposing repression, orthodoxy, and collectivism is the way to go, but the important thing is that you need a foundation for approaching Moore's work. Fortunately Moore is always worth reading and you can get by the scholarly mysticism by just taking the story at face value. After all, Moore is just making this up as he goes along.
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