The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (spoilers lie henceforth)

[moonmaster]

MORE MOORE!!!

I got Vol. 1 of this today. I have yet to read it...

 

[ProjectX2]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Vol. 1 is cool. Vol. 2 is so-so.

They're both better than the movie, which I actually liked anyway. :?

The cool thing about this series is that EVERY character is from a piece of literature. The main characters, the background characters, the characters that only appear in one panel. EVERY character who speaks is from a book somewhere.

 

[E.Vi.L.]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The movie was an abomination!

The serie is very cool. Even the bios written for the artist is cool!

Consult an internet site with annotations for the serie. It's very cool.

 

[moonmaster]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Thankfully, the film didn't scare me away from the comic.

 

[vintsukka]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The cool thing about this series is that EVERY character is from a piece of literature. The main characters, the background characters, the characters that only appear in one panel. EVERY character who speaks is from a book somewhere.

Nope. Campion Bond isn't. Sure there are hints to a lot of places but the character himself was created by Moore. (I was just reading the annotations the other day.)

 

[Friday]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

I didn't really enjoy LoEG. I think it was mainly because most of the characters in it had no direct connections with myself save the Arthur Connan-Doyals and the Invisible Man. I haven't been exposed to the others short of old movies and mid-day cartoons. And Dr. Jekyle and Mrs. Hyde with one of the brothers from Wings, but I digress. Besides the mentioned I haven't read any old Alan Quartermain stories, nor any Jules Verne (always had a copy of 20,000 leagues that I never did get around to) so alot of the charcters in it were mearly classic pop-icons from another time. Never really something that grabbed me and pulled me in, so bringing them together didn't do a whole lot. The overall plot of the book was fairly basic too, atleast in terms of what if historical fiction. I wish I had liked it better though, since I've heard nothing but great things about the massive Absolute editions of both. And Moore seems to think the Dark Dossier is going to be the greatest work ever to grace the medium of comics. Guess I'm just out of the loop on this one.

 

[Bass]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

I too, felt 'out of the loop' because I'm just not a huge fan of that era of stories. However, I did enjoy the trade a lot, and got a lot of the feel for the mosaic nature of the work.

The only thing the film has that the comic doesn't, is Dorian Gray. That's the one thing in the film I wished was in the comic. The Phantom of the Opera was also nice.

Otherwise, the comic is quite obviously far superior to the film.

 

[Ultimate Houde]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Vol 1 is okay

Vol 2 Sucked hardcore. It was a horrible story, within a horrible plot, filled with horrible venom biting scorpions. do yourself a favor, don't get it

 

[ProjectX2]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Nope. Campion Bond isn't. Sure there are hints to a lot of places but the character himself was created by Moore. (I was just reading the annotations the other day.)

Really? He's an original character? I'm sure Moore referrenced him from some novel...

Or I could be just making this up.

 

[vintsukka]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Really? He's an original character? I'm sure Moore referrenced him from some novel...

Or I could be just making this up.

From the annotations E.Vi.L. linked:

Moore has said that he needed a character to play that particular role in the story, but there was none available who fit the bill, so he made one up. He created that name specifically to give a sense of familiarity to the character where none otherwise existed.

 

[moonmaster]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

It took me a while to get into it, but I definitely liked it. I thought it was fun and I really enjoyed the characters. The trade has some really awesome extras, too.

Really? He's an original character? I'm sure Moore referrenced him from some novel...

Or I could be just making this up.

He's supposed to be an ancestor of James Bond, but obviously they're not allowed to say that without creating legal problems.

 

[Bass]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

What's important is that Nemo rocks.

 

[ProjectX2]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

What's important is that Nemo rocks.

"I'm with the darky," - Mr. Hyde

 

[Bass]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

:lol:

 

[onenewquestion]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Moore, Moore, Moore, how do ya like it, how do you like it?
The movie had great actors, sets, costumes, the story just blew. I blame the scriptwriter, the producers, and the director for the bad quality of the story. With several million dollars, you would think that they'd be more efficient with their cash. I'm sad that Sean Connery (one of my favorite actors, hey, my son's name is taken from him) was dragged into this (of course there was also Zardoz).

 

[Bass]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The reason most films today are crap is simply because everyone is up to the task except the screenwriter. Mainly because the screenwriter is actually the 'director', and directors can't write themselves out of a paper bag.

Thinking the director should have control of the script is what killed off European cinema.

Some directors are authors, like Roman Polanski and Stanley Kubrick. Many directors can make a good film great... I dunno. Too many films seem to be lacking any semblance of a script these days.

 

[ProjectX2]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Actually, on further thought, I really like this series.

I have no idea why - the art isn't that good, the characters are mostly unknown, the plots are fairly basic... but it's fun.

And I like it.

I'm thinking of ordering the two trades, and perhaps getting those two annotation books from Amazon.

Does anyone know if they're any good?

 

[Ultimate Houde]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The first one is fine, the second one is crap

I've said it a dozen times in this thread.

 

[compound]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

I too, felt 'out of the loop' because I'm just not a huge fan of that era of stories. However, I did enjoy the trade a lot, and got a lot of the feel for the mosaic nature of the work.

It's funny, because I honestly tend to shy away from the 'classics' of the English lit canon, because of the icky way they are revered by so many predestrian high-school teachers.

But I *am* thoroughly fascinated with the history of the time period itself: the fanciful and overly-complicated technology ("steampunk lite", if you please); the moral hypocricy of the age; the pretentions of 'modernization' and "progress"; the era's earnestly retrograde attitudes towards stuff like race, nation, empire-building, and gender; the political balance of power in the late industrial period. All of it intrigues me to no ends, and THAT is why I enjoy LoEG (both volumes) as much as I did.

LoEG is about more than just the adaptation of super-hero narrative cliches to 19th century literatrary figures. It's also a wry, funny, entertaining parody of the cultural values of the Victorian era -- some of which are still frighteningly prevalent in our own day and age.

 

[ProjectX2]

Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The first one is fine, the second one is crap

I've said it a dozen times in this thread.

I meant the annotation books...