The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century #1

by Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill

Alan Moore's familiar cast of Victorian literary characters enters the brave new world of the 20th century, set against a backdrop of London, 1910, twelve years after the failed Martian invasion. In the bowels of the British Museum, Carnacki the ghost-finder is plagued by visions of a shadowy occult order who are attempting to create something called a Moonchild, while on London's dockside the most notorious serial murderer of the previous century has returned to carry on his grisly trade. Working for Mycroft Holmes' British Intelligence alongside a rejuvenated Allan Quartermain, the reformed thief Anthony Raffles, and the eternal warrior Orlando, Miss Murray is drawn into a brutal opera acted out upon the waterfront by players that include the furiously angry Pirate Jenny and the charismatic butcher known as Mac the Knife. This book is the first of three deluxe, 80-page, full-color, perfect-bound graphic novellas, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, each...

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction, Steampunk, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

83 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Alan Moore is an English writer most famous for his influential work in comics, including the acclaimed graphic novels Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell. He has also written a novel, Voice of the Fire, and performs "workings" (one-off performance art/spoken word pieces) with The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels, some of which have been released on CD.

As a comics writer, Moore is notable for being one of the first writers to apply literary and formalist sensibilities to the mainstream of the medium. As well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes, he brings a wide range of influences to his work, from the literary–authors such as William S. Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon, Robert Anton Wilson and Iain Sinclair; New Wave science fiction writers such as Michael Moorcock; horror writers such as Clive Barker; to the cinematic–filmmakers such as Nicolas Roeg. Influences within comics include Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kirby and Bryan Talbot.

Reviews

[Nicolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The League faces an existential question of its place in the twentieth century. Ten years into it, Mina Murray and her team of literary characters face a dark threat that threatens London and the rest of the British Empire.

The cast simply could not match the gravitas of a team with Nemo, Quartermain, Jekyll, Hyde and Dorian Gray. I barely know the new additions but it's nothing Wikipedia can't shed light in a few finger strokes. But that's the thing, it's simply not as iconic as the original crew.

Still, I'm in the for long haul. I got all three books to Century at half-price off. It's a promising start and I do hope I see some more recognizable literary figures or else this would turn out to be a monstrous disappointment.

[Antonomasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

[4.5] Marvellous fun!

I was disappointed by the original League graphic novel and film, yet, as I have a thing about characters placed at different points in history, had been quite irrationally drawn to Century since I first saw it. And a good thing that was too, it turns out.

I really liked the art here (by Kevin O'Neill), energetic and caricature-like, perhaps made things that weren't fun seem a little too much fun, but hey, it's a comic. Also a hint of Modernism / Cubism to it at times, which obviously fitted the setting perfectly.

Very atmospheric, full of the gothic darkness and vim of late Victorian/ Edwardian horror and adventure tales featuring dastardly occultists. Was drowsy anyway, but this plus the cocktail of characters and allusions to different stories (and some bits and pieces taken up by later authors - Ben Aaronovitch), some of which I could place only hazily - not to mention the Brecht lyrics, greatly compounded that. The characterisation of Orlando has a lot of artistic licence, but I loved them as a more or less separate entity from the protagonist of one of my favourite books.

Was going to be four stars until the appearance of minor character "Andrew Norton, Prisoner of London", confined to this city but not to any one century. First panel he appeared, I was thinking, hmm, this bloke looks a lot like Iain Sinclair. Surely not? Then he speaks, and he is! Perfect Sinclair pastiche and what a great way to hommage/ parody him. I broke out in a giant grin, and the story would have had to become appalling after that not to get five stars. Then right at the end of the panels, I was uniquely impressed by some gore (not something I generally go for at all). The seagull with the eyeball hanging from its beak was, somehow, perhaps worryingly, hilarious. It wasn't without the occasional fault: the apparent confusion of George V with his stuttering son, and the panel where Mycroft Holmes resembled Arthur Daley, but there was an awful lot less I wanted to nitpick here than in most comics. I'm not sure it was quite enough of a story, but then it is the first instalment of three, and I was having such a whale of a time along the way that it was fine the ending wasn't quite as bombastic as expected.

Surprised by the bonus prose short stories at the end. Clever, again highly allusive, sometimes moving and erotic, and silly (but then this is Alan Moore who wrote Lost Girls, so shouldn't really be surprised). Tired and dizzy, I had regressed and it wasn't until the third time I looked at it that I remembered what gollywogs were actually supposed to be and that they were classed as offensive. (Until I was really quite old, maybe 30ish, I thought they were simply a type of made-up creature, like teddy bears or fairies, nothing to do with representing people - and I read the accent in the story as badly transliterated Scottish because of Robertson's jam...) Already lost 3 or 4 followers in the last 24 hours, for entirely different things so not going to bother trying to make up for this.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kazimo da je interesantan eksperiment koji se meni uopste nije svideo i ostavimo na tome. Prica ima svoj finih momenata ali ogromnim delojm je izuzetno konfuzna bez da objasni bilo sta. Moguce da je to poenta ali meni nije leglo.

[Sud666 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The League of Extraordinary Gentleman is taken into all new times but Alan Moore. fast forward to 1910 and we are dealing with an all new league. Only Mina (she's a vampire so essentially immortal) Harker is still around.

This time the story revolves around Capt Nemo's daughter- Janni. I shall not lie- I found Janni to be rather annoying. When her dying father asks her to take over the Nautilus, Janni comes up with the brilliant plan to just swim away and leave on a tramp steamer. She then ends up in London, near the docks, and starts working as a scullery maid and waitress. Brilliant. When she is approached by members of her father's crew informing her that Capt Nemo is dead- she brilliantly declares she "has a life". Ah yes..I see. A wonderful life as a scullry wench is a seedy dockside bar serving trash. Indeed quite a life. So the crew (who seem to follow her only due to whom her father was) decide to go hang out in the Thames estuary while Janni "find's herself". Lovely. Of course when one is a lone Indian girl working as a scullery wench in the docks of 1910 London there is bound to be trouble (which if Janni had an ounce of sense-she'd realize). So after a lot of emotional nonsense about how she will never be like her father- Janni gets gang raped by some of the bar regulars. Then immediately she realizes why everything she did and said was crap- so she sets of the signal and the entire dockside is massacred by the Nautilus crew. Err..thats pretty much it.

So why three stars? Well as shallow as the story is-it is well written and the art is not bad. The parts where Moore turns the tale into a song is rather clever. The sotry itself is also not bad-it's just the stubborn stupidity of Janni that I found irksome. Also this version of the League lacks some of the star power and panache of the original members. But that also might just be me.

[Fiona MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning artwork from Alan Moore. I tried this on a whim because I loved the film and really enjoyed it in graphic form. It was funny, creepy and beautiful! I've just ordered Alan Moore's "From Hell" which is a tad larger...

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This continuation of the earlier "League of extra-ordinary gentleman" is now arrived in a new century in the year 1910. The more fantastic creatures left the group. Allan Quartermaine his son has taken his fathers place, a Raffles masterthief has joined. When Carnaki has a dream about a disaster in the future the team goes searching for a Supernatural threat.
Meanwhile captain Nemo has a daughter who has no wish to follow him in his footsteps. She flees from the island and ends up in London. Here she hopes to escape his fathers heritage. When Nemo dies his servants find her to inform her of her inheritance " the Nautilus".
She is only a female in 1910 and she discovers what here place is in the socalled civilized world.

A decent comic with two storylines that seemingly come together. This is an adult comic with an adult coming of age and at the same time the question remains is the League still viable in the 20th century.

Have to look up more installments.

[Jake · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really, really, wanted to like this.

For those not familiar--the original League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was an interesting idea in which Alan Moore took a number of characters from various stories that were all roughly contemporaneous in their setting, and meshed them together in a sort of "Victorian superhero team". So you had Mina Harker, Alan Quartermain, Mr. Hyde, Captain Nemo, and the Invisible Man all teaming up to, well, fight crime. It's a bit more complicated than that, but that was the basic idea. The second series pitted the same group against the martians from War of the Worlds, and was also cool in it's own right. The Black Dossier deviated from the original group by telling two stories; one, set in the 1960's, about a group related to the original league attempting to recover the titular Black Dossier. The other 'story' was really just the text of the Black Dossier itself, which explains a lot about where the League members came from, places them in a greater historical context, and contains a stupid amount of sex. Really. A STUPID amount of it. It made the framing story feel not only disjointed, but a bit weird, and I didn't entirely enjoy it.

This one though, seemed to just tell a single, straightforward story, and so I had high hopes. Such high hopes that I read it twice, just to be sure.

But even after a second read through, I found I really didn't like this. Mostly because this story lacks two things; engaging characters, and an interesting plot.

To the first; some of the characters are familiar (Harker and Quatermain, as well as Orlando for those who read Black Dossier). Others, like Carnacki, and the other guy, who I cannot remember at all, are new. It doesn't matter, because they are indescribably dull. This is the first story about the League where I absolutely, completely, and totally did not care about the members of said League at all.

Of course, there are plenty of other characters in the story; well, some, anyway. Unfortunately, they are all equally dull. Janni, daughter of Captain Nemo, has some potential, but her story arc is so grossly cliched as to just be somewhere between silly and dumb. I would think that someone so interested in pushing social boundaries (as Moore seems to be) would be able to come up with a story about a woman becoming strong in a way that doesn't follow such a ridiculously cliched path.

As for the plot; there isn't much of one. I gather from reading some other review that this is intended to kick of a series, so I suppose that could be forgiven, except for the fact that I don't really even know where the story is supposed to go from here. Or rather, this installment of the story was so boring as to make me not care enough to figure it out.

While I've read much worse in the graphic novel department (anything done by Rob Liefield comes to mind), this one ultimately just isn't up to the standard set by it's predecessors. It's not even close.

[George (Abandoned Places) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s hard to describe LOEG: Century 1910. I mean this in the most literal sense. This graphic novel is a handful, and as such almost defies description. First, the characters: I was an English major in college, and had no idea who any of these people are. Don’t expect any help from Alan Moore; there is almost no back-story. Raffles is a thief – we know this because he steals something. Carnacki is psychic – we know this because he has a vision. And Lando is an immortal hermaphrodite who switches sexes, wields Excalibur and is involved in a love triangle with Mina Murray and Alan Quartermain, who is now young. Some of the characters sing, including a warbling Jack the Ripper, and Captain Nemo’s daughter makes an appearance. There is lots of violence, some of it against women, which seems to pop up a fair bit in Alan Moore’s works.

To the plot: unfortunately, it doesn’t exist. Alan Moore is so busy being clever he doesn’t plot, except in the most rudimentary sense. There’s some mumbo-jumbo about magic (no sock snake, though) and we learn that The Moon Child is going to be born a century hence. I did not learn this from reading the graphic novel; I know it because I read an interview with Alan Moore, who states that the last volume takes place in 2010. Our heroes, alas, have no such resources, and thus spend the entire volume walking about confused. Since I was confused also (see first paragraph), I could sympathize.

And then there’s the stuff about magic. On the one hand I know next to nothing about magic (except for what I see in the movies); on the other, I understand magic perfectly. At one point in my life I had O.C.D. so badly that walking to school was an adventure. Magic, as described by Alan Moore, attaches great importance to certain rituals and numbers, and as such, it’s not interesting except to other people who have O.C.D. – oops, I mean other magical practitioners.

Maybe Alan Moore should write for that 14-year old boy he talks about in interviews. You know, the mythical 14-year old boy who is his supposed audience, who apparently knows enough about English history and literature to understand all of his obscure references. One last thing: this story should have begun and ended in 1910, not 2010.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let’s cut right to the chase: the current installment in Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN is the first part of a trilogy and frankly doesn’t offer much other than what I hope is a setup for a big eventual payoff, so I say wait for the collected edition of all three parts. That’s the short of it and the long is about to follow, so if you don’t want to read spoilers bail right now.

This 72-page first section of a trilogy takes place in 1910 (hence the chapter’s title) — twelve years after the thwarted Martian invasion of Volume II and forty-eight years preceding the Byzantine events of THE BLACK DOSSIER — and finds Mina Murray heading a new League. The 1910 lineup of the team consists of Mina, gender-shifting immortal Orlando (now male and annoying past the point of endurance), psychic “the Great Karnacki,” gentleman thief A.J. Raffles, and Alan Quatermain, Jr., who’s actually the very much rejuvenated original passing himself off as his own son (said rejuvenation is mentioned in THE BLACK DOSSIER but goes unexplained here), and to be perfectly blunt this crew is a Mongolian cluster-fuck, a sorry fact they themselves admit. But be all that as it may, this mismatched crew find themselves pitted against a quasi-satanic/Crowley-esque figure and his creepy cult of followers, a group bent on bringing about some sort of Lovecraftian apocalypse, a hoary plot that I’ve read far too many times, and frankly I’m completely fucking sick of it. During the course of their investigation, Mina and her team accomplish fuck all and resign themselves to the fact that the foreseen apocalypse will most likely appear at some point in the future, along with an across the board consensus that they are useless as a functional entity.

While the main group’s dysfunction devolves into a mediocre soap opera — with Orlando being so flamingly irritating that he came dangerously close to turning this gay-friendly reader into a fag-basher of the worst order — the narrative contains two seemingly unrelated sub-plots, one featuring the song-rife return to London of serial murderer Macheath (he of THE THREE PENNY OPERA notoriety), and the woeful misadventures of former League member Captain Nemo’s daughter, Janni.

The latter sub-plotline is a story within the actual story, while Macheath’s lyrical excesses baffle me as to their exact narrative point (the less said about that, the better). Janni is a willful type who has been at odds with her father since day one (for no explained reason), and when her father makes the deathbed request that she take on his mantle, Janni all-too-predictably rails against him and a major argument ensues in what I have read is Punjabi, rendered in Punjabi script without benefit of translation so those of us unfamiliar with the language, written or otherwise, have no fucking clue as to what’s being said by either party. Janni runs (swims, actually) away from home and stows away aboard a conveniently-passing British passenger ship to become a put-upon scullery maid at a dodgy hotel on a sleazy London waterfront that’s simply crawling with whores and drunken low-lives. Exactly what she sought to accomplish by that questionable move is anyone’s guess, and no explanation is provided. Ishmael — yes, that Ishmael — tracks her down and informs her of her father’s death, requests she honor her father’s dying wish, and gives her a flare gun with which to signal him (and the crew of nearby super-submarine Nautilus) should she change her mind. The petulant princess kicks Ishmael out on his ass, only to find herself set up by the hotel’s proprietor for a back alley gang rape by a number of his inebriated clients. Following that bit of thankfully off-panel brutality, Janni signals the Nautilus crew and unleashes them upon the neighborhood in a horrifying orgy of bloody plunder and vengeance that reduces what appears to be several city blocks to flaming rubble as she saves her assailants for last before accepting her destiny as their pirate queen. Meanwhile, scores of innocent people unrelated to her violation are mercilessly and pointlessly wiped out, presumably to provide some action for the reader, but I found it merely depressing and utterly gratuitous.

So, great. Another heroine motivated to power and greatness by rape. I was offended by that old saw when I first encountered it at the age of nine when reading Red Sonja’s origin and have seen it countless times since then, so I’m fucking tired of that cliché too and expected something more clever from Alan Moore, but I guess not everything can be MIRACLEMAN or SWAMP THING…

While Moore has made a career of addressing assorted storytelling tropes and often spinning gold from them, I found this chapter to be a huge disappointment and hope it will work better when seen as a part of the completed whole. It was worth reading for O’Neill’s engaging artwork, and I did like Janni and hope to see what she evolves into, but why give us eighty pages of a League that’s a pack of losers and subject us to the THE THREE PENNY OPERA stuff? If I want to experience THE THREE PENNY OPERA, I’ll experience THE THREE PENNY OPERA as its own entity and not endure Moore being “artsy” (translation: “lazy and pretentious”) by using it to serve as a lyrical commentary on the events of his story. So THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN-CENTURY: 1910 was a big disappointment for me, but, as previously stated, maybe it’ll pay off when all is said and done.

Oh, I neglected to mention the requisite prose piece that rounds out the book, but it’s another example of Moore’s sometimes tedious writing in the style of old school pulps, notable solely to me for its inclusion of a not-mentioned-by-name Stardust the Super Wizard of I SHALL DESTROY ALL THE CIVILIZED PLANETS infamy. But, fuck it; it was seventy-two pages, and even though I was able to read the entire thing over the course of a half hour subway ride, it was at least a meaty disappointment. I await the next two chapters before I pass full and final judgment.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

The League has always been Moore's best work in my opinion. "Watchmen" was dull and overrated, "V for Vendetta" is now hopelessly outdated, mired as it was in Thatcher's time, and his "Tom Strong" series hasn't got a pulse, just a bland post modern take on 50s sci fi. But I loved The LXG series. Vol 1 was great and even though Vol 2 got slated I really enjoyed it. I tried with Black Dossier but in the end it just collapsed under the weight of its own references. Moore's prose is very weak. He may try to write like Angela Carter and Salman Rushdie but the plain fact is he just can't. Comics is his medium soley because the artwork catches the lack of imagery his words can't express. Dossier tried to mimick the styles of Shakespeare, Fleming, Cleland, and Wilde and failed each time.

So LXG Vol 3 (Part 1?! Cash in!) is the "proper" next part to Vol 2. Thankfully Moore's abandoned his lugubrious prose and settled to collaborate with O'Neill as equals. So what do we have? A very slim volume. Nemo's daughter wants a different life to the one her father lead so she runs off to London. Things don't go well and she winds up working in a brothel. Jekyll/Hyde and Griffin are dead but we see no sign of interesting characters filling the void left by these two. Instead we get the annoyingly double entendre spouting idiot Orlando (introduced in Dossier, basically Virginia Woolf's character who can changes sexes. The twist is s/he can live forever. Yawn). Allan and Mina are wandering about mostly in this volume not doing much, they encounter a mysterious time traveller who says mysterious things then disappears. Then Nemo's daughter has an experience that changes her mind and the "book" ends in a bloody slaughter.

Dull stuff. As part of a larger narrative, say if Parts 2 and 3 of Vol 3 were together then I'd say it was a weak if intriguing first act but as a single book I'd say it's Moore on autopilot. To be honest, the main story is Nemo's daughter and to have her go off like she did is so contrived as to be unnecessary. With a premise that didn't need to happen and could simply have started off as it ended then I might have a different opinion of the book but as it is, it's a lazy effort from Moore who should've done more than this. O'Neill's artwork though is as brilliant as ever. The bloody battle in the end offers up some great drawings and save this weak effort from becoming a terrible book. I'll probably keep reading but will use the library next time instead of handing over cash for this in case it's more drivel.

[Robert Browning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alan Moore provides another consistently high-quality League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with the new 1910 volume. This provides a more straight-forward story for readers, similar to the first two Volumes and after reading this straight through in one sitting, I'm very eager to see where the rest of Volume Three winds up going. Chronologically speaking, this book falls before the Black Dossier but I'd still recommend reading the prior work first before entering into 1910. While not outright required for enjoyment of this story, it'll flesh out some background on several of the new faces (such as Orlando). One bit of warning though... this book does have an unsettling scene involving a minor that, while I felt was integral to the plotline, might offend some people's sensibilities. However, if you're a veteran reader of Alan Moore's works, this isn't something you'd be wholly unprepared for. All in all, it's an excellent new entry in the series and like all of the other League books, leaves me with a desire to delve into the existing historical works of fiction that Moore draws his cast of characters from. The League books are an English major's dream to read for certain!

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crammed with gratuitous allusions and gratuitous (female, of course) nudity.

The larger apocalyptic plot arc seemed interesting, the actual contents of this book not so much.

Not a fan of O'Neill's art.

And was all that extensive cabaret singing really necessary?

[Michael J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is much more to my satisfaction than BLACK DOSSIER, with more of Kevin O’Neill’s great art; but it didn’t have as much action as Volume 1 and Volume 2 and the new characters (with one exception) weren’t as exciting. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are gone, as is the Invisible Man. However, it’s part one of three and a set-up/introduction issue - - so I’ll expect more from the next two chapters. On a good note, this does not end in a cliff-hanger. The story is self-contained, although elements of it will come back in the next chapter.

It’s London 1910. The youthful Allan Quatermain and Mini Harkness are back, but this time Allan is passed off as the son of Quatermain to avoid questions since he was very elderly in Volume 2, which takes place twelve years before this. Both Allan and Mina have taken a bath in immortal waters between Volume 2 and this story, something that isn’t explained unless you read the text pieces at the end of this chapter. Orlando, the immortal gender-switcher who I assumed the duo didn’t meet until the 1950’s, is here without explanation and part of the new League. As annoying as he is, his frequent interruptions and historical memories add some spice to the proceedings.

An occult order are attempting to create the Moonchild, and are under investigation by the new League which now includes master thief Raffles and the psychic Carnaciki. Mycroft Holmes assists as well, but doesn’t seem to be part of the group. Jenny, the daughter of Captain Nemo, escapes her dying father’s influence to make her way in London but only ends up back as the new commander of the sub. Jack The Ripper makes an appearance as well, along with Andrew Norton/Ian Sinclair. Before this chapter concludes, the League confirms the existence of the cult, although it’s alleged leader is said to be dead. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the Black Dossier debacle. Not as good as the original books, partly because the members of the League are pretty blah this time. Can we get some personalities here? Storywise, I'm not sure what the point was. While I know that this is part 1 in a trilogy, it should still feel like it moved the narrative forward. Instead, it pretty much said at the end, "Oh, silly us, the story doesn't happen until NEXT time."

[Antonio Fanelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non eccezionale né originale: ormai la storia la conosciamo, conosciamo i personaggi principali, sappiamo che, più che altro, girano in tondo mentre le cose accadono senza capirci molto.
E' il primo di una trilogia di cui non sentivo la mancanza, però fa sempre piacere trovare il tocco di Alan Moore :)
Splendida la figlia di Nemo!
Solo la sua storia merita la lettura.

[Love of Hopeless Causes · Rating 1 out of 5]

This comic doesn't stand on its own. I was positively inclined towards the artist, author, and genre, but this feels like a cruel inside joke.

O'Neill's art is the only way I made it to the end. Never have so many talking heads done so little: League of the Extraordinary Chatters and Walkers-about. Too many character names with too little screen time to care.

The only part I cared for were the Nemo scenes, and it isn't spelled out, so I had to backtrack once I saw the Nautilus-squid-house drawing. Ill-defined shifts in time and place cause back tracking. Did the nightmares take place at Nemo's rest home? I still don't know. Maybe that was the Extraordinary Bat-cave, but I thought Nemo lived on an Island somewhere.


That Short story at the end--can't unsee that--self-indulgent weirdness, yikes!

The Jack the Ripper subplot gets muddled and adds nothing new. It should've been its own comic to give it some teeth. This made it seem like the people of this era were easily manipulated and fool-hardy. Maybe so, but how convenient--that whole Jack the Ripper spared at the rushed-to-the-gallows scene.

All aboard the PC submarine, hoot-hoot!

I can't be the first person left wondering why the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is led by a woman. Good for her, and them, but . . . . Oh, and no-thanks for Nemo's daughter being forever defined by her foolish naivete and inability to defend herself from rape. The woman can swim 20,000 Leagues out to a boat but can't yell for help or defend herself, or have the common sense not to work in a flophouse. Raised by an island of sailors and never raped, but now that she's in the "Real World" its Rapecity! Now screwed into the hardships of the world no one will doubt her violence as she is now somehow qualified to take Nemo's place. Kill this comic fast or slow?

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Allan Quartermain, Orlando and Murray are back. I am missing the more monstrous dynamic characters of the first couple volumes. Orlando is pretty one note - he/she just mentions how they did something back in the day and everyone ignores them. We once again explore some of Jack Ripper mythology, maybe Moore's favourite topic of all time.

The main villain is some occult society that are creating a Moonchild. It seems like something out of a BPRD story but told in a more convoluted way.

Also, this is basically a musical but without the musical notation I honestly would have no idea that what the character is saying is meant to be sung. It's rhymes at times I guess.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The new League storyline seems written for me and my personal obsessions... this episode is manic comedy, a penny dreadful musical, Bertold Brecht, nightmarish augury, and dreadful violence. Working up to be a metatextual rewrite of the last century. Looking good so far. The next episode will involve Rosemary's Baby and Jerry Cornelius...I can ask for nothing more. Appearances by characters from Iain Sinclair(and looking exactly like Iain Sinclair)and Hodgson among many others add to the reference spotting fun(something some people tire of, but I never ever will)

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the previous "The Black Dossier", I had approached this volume rather warily. It is not upto the mark in terms of the 1st & 2nd volumes, but seems to be getting better. The plot is visible, as is the action-packed and fairly brutal landscape. Readable, definitely.

[DeAnna Knippling · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just don't think I get what Alan Moore is doing with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen books. I liked the first two, but since then, I feel like they aren't...clicking. Is it just me? Is it?

[G · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never thought I'll ever come across anything Alan Moore that I'll dislike but this issue's non-existent storyline concluded with a rape-revenge trope, so here we are.

[Tim Pendry · Rating 3 out of 5]

'1910', the latest (2009) in Alan Moore's 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' is a bit of a potboiler by any standards. As usual, Moore assumes an in-depth knowledge in the reader of the highways and byways of past popular and esoteric culture, but whereas, in the past, the jumbling of images and themes appeared to be both coherent and instructive, here it is just showy.

It is as if Moore was making sure that he got in all the references in '1910' that were left over from previous works. What next '1920' with cute references to Crowley, Rohmer and Buchan. '1930' with a young Auden coming up against Junger, Evola and various characters from the Waugh novels? Und so weiter ... This Moorcockian conceit is in danger of becoming tired without the offer of some deeper message behind it. As with early Moorcock, it is more style and self-indulgence than substance and meaning.

Moore's work is here much like his character of Orlando, a gender-changing immortal but also a thorough bore who drops names from the past like the worst sort of metropolitan socialite. The graphic novel is saved by the illustrator, Kevin O'Neill, who takes this relatively lazy material and creates some arresting images - the naked daughter of Captain Nemo more at home at sea than on land is creatively transformed into victim and then brutal heir to her father's domain as much through draughtsmanship as penmanship. Not great but good.

But, as always, with Moore, we are judging him here by the high standards of his own past. He is still a cut above most graphic novelists even when he fails. This story is consciously Brechtian and bleak, one in which a localised catastrophe is mistaken by these paranormal investigators, who strike me as rather bumbling compared to previous incarnations, for the one yet to come: the holocaust that started in 1914. We know it is coming. They don't. And yet they are supposed to be more prescient than us.

This leads us to the strange mood of the piece - one of despair. Alan Moore has always been quintessentially British in his sensibility. This means, in fantasy terms, either dystopian (as in 'V for Vendetta' or 'Watchmen') or hopefully occult (as in 'Promethea'). In '1910', there is a lot of dystopianism and very little of the occult. The bad guys are the winners, bad acts only get punished through cathartic violence and lies protect the aristocratic order.

This sounds like Moore has captured perfectly the quiet rage now bubbling under the surface of Middle England in the wake of the credit crisis and political lies and failures. This rage is sometimes palpable in England today, especially amongst the older generation of the middling sort who foolishly trusted these people in office and in the City. It is a rage that floats between depression and violence and graphic novels do not do depression very well - the rage's impulse is thus towards violence in a comic book world where serial killers and pirates are looked on cynically as no worse than the system they declare war on, where ordinary humans are little more than rats and where apocalyptic violence seems both inevitable and purgative.

What Moore has done, perhaps in a fit of absent-mindedness but as an aspect of his genius, is capture the psyche of Western culture as we move into a period of extreme scarcity for some and the destruction of dreams for many others while the system itself seems to continue with all the momentum of a steam engine whose crew has long since bailed out but which managed to leave sufficient coal in the boiler.

So, not a great work but already a work of our time and one that, more than the literary outpourings of metropolitan London society, should act as a warning that the street revolt that brought the vicious BNP into the European Parliament only a few months ago may scarcely have begun.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the third volume in this graphic novel series, writer Alan Moore, who also created The Watchmen, jumps his character forward quite a few years. The League, who is still part of the British secret service has changed quite a bit. Mina Murray is still a member, though now she is in charge along with a rejuvenated Allan Quartermain. All of their other partners have left. They have been replaced with another interesting set of literary/historical characters.

First their is Carnacki, a ghost-finder with the ability to get glimpses of the future in his dreams. Anthony Raffles, a reformed thief and the immortal Orland also are members.

The league is drawn into a mystery after Carnacki dreams about an occult that is trying to bring about the creation of a Moonchild. This will some how lead to armageddon. The problem is his dreams provide little other information.

Before long, they are investigating a local cult that turns to a possible evil sorcerer as their leader. The problem is that he was supposedly killed the previous summer. It will be up to the league to sort out if the rumor is true and whether the answer to Carnacki's prophecy can be found through that cult.

As this is all happening, readers are also getting to meet Janni. She is the daughter of former leaguer, Captain Nemo. The two have never been close, and she feels the need to head out on her own as her father heads into his waning months. She slowly finds her way to London and ends up working in a dockside pub.

After her father dies, she is visited by one of his most dedicated men, who is asking her to return back to the kingdom to rule in Nemo's place as queen. She initially refuses, but changes her mind once she is confronted with the harsh realities of humanity. It is these same realities that initially made her father declare war on the nations of the world. It is clear that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. It seems she becomes the infamous Pirate Jenny of lore.

Mina and Allan are not the only blasts from the past to come to the fore through the course of the story. One of the primary suspects for the role of Jack the Ripper returns to London, and a series of murders become headlines. The new Mac the Knife will bring about questions as to who was the killer and whether their were royal ties to the previous murders.

This volume is much shorter than its predecessors, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have the rich storytelling and great artwork of the earlier volumes. It is quickly clear that the story is not fully tied up and further volumes will be needed to finish up all the loose ends, but it does to a great job of bringing the story further.

[Lincoln · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Nile · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the first time I didn't like an Alan Moore book and I really, really disliked this one. Firstly the relentless poetry (in the form a a tuneless song) could (and should) have been avoided. Music doesn't work as well in a format that doesn't have the capability to...you know, transmit music. Secondly, a general note to all male writers: enough with the rape. I know you think you have valid reasons for it but you don't it's creepy and played out. Thirdly, the character arc (there was one that I spotted) made no sense. Janni, the daughter of Nemo (who is just as stubborn as her father if not more so) sets off to London to make her own way and build her own life. She's approached by Ishmael to take her father's position which she was always been against doing so she declines. But then she's raped and she changes her mind cause she's angry. WHAT? WHY would that happen? I feel like that is the perspective of someone who doesn't understand women, people or sexual assault. If she's as headstrong as she's made out to be she would definitely have gotten bloody revenge on those men but would have done it on her own not using her father's wealth (and by the way that would have been a waaaaay more interesting story). She wouldn't go running back to daddy.
The rest of the story is the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen bench players slowly (like excruciatingly slowly) and charmlessly investigating a possible cult and apocalypse.

That being said I can't be mad. For me this is Moore's first miss in literally decades so there's that.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The League is back, newly formed (sort of... if you've read the last three books, particularly The Black Dossier, you know about this version of the League already) and it's ready to defend London. Expect to need to sit down with a wiki after you read this (at least I did) to get all the characters and references. If you're a LoEG fan already, that shouldn't be new! Nemo's daughter, Janni, really makes the story, with her departure from Lincoln Island and transformation working in the Cuttlefish Hotel. I had not expected to dislike Orlando so much, particularly after his/her feature in The Black Dossier made me so much more curious about this character.

The artwork, as always, is awesome. I felt like the story was somewhat lacking, though I felt the same way about The Black Dossier. The last book was a quick chase, with frequent and lengthy interruptions of the League's history. Moore seems to resist the urge in this volume, with a rather short entry at the end called "Minions of the Moon," which explores the League's future. I'm really curious to see more of this iteration of the League, but it sounds like I'll be disappointed, based on Moore's plans for the next two volumes. I suppose, in a way, I've always been more interested in the other members of the League and less so in Allan and Mina.

[David Edmonds · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be honest, I was not nearly as impressed with this volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as I was with the first two volumes. This is only the first part of a larger story, so hopefully it will improve as the story progresses.

I think part of the problem is that Alan Moore was a little too literarily vague. I mean, I don't mind researching a character to find out more about them and to understand their place in the story, but when well more than half of the cast of the story needs to be researched, that becomes too much of a chore for me. Maybe I'm just not as well-read as I think I am, but it rather struck me that Moore is trying to show us how much smarter he is than the rest of us by using such vague characters.

The current version of the League (Mina Murray, Quartermain 'Jr', Orlando, Raffles & Carnacki - if you don't know who they all are, look them up like I had to do) are trying to stop an apocalyptic premonition that Carnacki has. By the end of the volume, I'm still not sure if they know what the premonition is all about or not. Again, it all seems rather vague. Hopefully the story will improve, but if the next volume isn't any better, I can honestly say that I'm not sure that I will care to read the final volume.

Overall, a real 'meh' feeling with this one.

[Dave]

I'm withholding judgement on Volume 3 of "The League..." until the rest of the issues are released. Were I to rate this book now, I'd have to give it only 3 out of 5 stars. I wasn't totally sold on the whole penny dreadful song and dance. I did thoroughly enjoy the art and story, though the book seems to suffer from it only being the first part of the third Volume. Normally with comics that wouldn't be a problem, but this is a stand alone story on it's own, set in an immensely rich world created by Moore and O'Neil and suffers for not being as complete as it could be.

Overall, if you enjoyed the first two volumes and the Black Dossier you'll like this. I really like some of the set up that occurs in this book and really can't wait to see where they take it. There are lots of references to old capers and even some references to things yet to come (if you've read the Dossier that is). I also think that while my first read-through of the material was disappointing, it's a charming book which I could see myself appreciating more on subsequent readings.

[Charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am going to say I was disappointed with this one. The third volume in the series, The Black Dossier, went completely off the rails as far as I'm concerned. So when I heard that 1910 was similar to the first two volumes, I was very excited. Unfortunately I can't say I enjoyed it as much.

I didn't really find anyone in this incarnation of the league being all that extraordinary. Seriously. Other than Mina who really hasn't shown much growth since the story first started. Orlando is too campy. Carnacki and Raffle have absolutely no personality. Quartermain, Jr. is...meh. The only character that really drew me in at all was Jenny.

The end of the graphic novel feels truncated. As if O'Neill ran out of time and Moore just finished it out in prose. And the prose was very sparse, unlike in previous volumes.

If this volume is meant to be a primer for the next volume, here's hoping it flows into it well and gives us some pay-offs and closures. Did love the Louise Brooks cameo however. I'd say wait until volume 5 comes out and read 4 & 5 back to back.

[Walt O'Hara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just glanced at it tonight, and since I'm a fan of Alan Moore, I picked it up. Very reasonable for seven simoleons. All I can deduce is that it is 1910, and the principles of the earlier stories are long dead, except for Mina Harker, of course.

Well! Having read it a couple of times, I can't say it's bad, but it hardly grabs me with the same intensity and zeal that the original League of Extraordinary Gentleman (first two stories) did. I liked the fact that Moore wanders into Crowley territory and is introducing prototypical Pulp Era action heroes in this story, that's the good part. The story, however, reveals little and seems to be altogether smug, as if to say.. "you mean, you aren't picking up on this? Oh, well, then... "

Don't get me wrong, I like Alan Moore's writing style and it's basically a good read that got chopped in half. Too much was left hanging to satisfy, but I suspect we'll set a volume four at some point.