Kevin O'Neill: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (vols. 1 and 2)

There's what might be called "mash-up culture" and then there's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which exists in a class all its own.

These bios are gold.

I actually sat down to read Providence - thanks to my friend Trey's ongoing Lovecraft explorations over at his blog, figured it was time for me to get cracking on that one. But, despite having reread the whole thing within the past few years, when I opened the Alan Moore folder on my external hard drive, I ended up rereading League again. 

 

It's definitely a work that rewards multiple reads. It's not my intent to analyze or overview the series (or the multitude of references therein, near-exhaustively annotated here) though some of that will undoubtedly happen. Its nearest neighbor - in some ways - is Philip Jose Farmer's World Newton - a work which also shares some of League's curious sexual preoccupations - but even with that it's apples and oranges. Anyway, as the header up there announces, we're here tonight on Scenic Route business. Let's have a look at the visual design of the series, co-conceived by Alan Moore and meticulously executed by Kevin O'Neill.

O'Neill first came to prominence (or at least got on my radar) in the late 80s with Marshal Law, a caustic critique of both superhero comics and certain perceptions of US foreign policy. I'd probably have loved the series had I come across it at the time. It wasn't, unfortunately, much to my taste by the time I got round to it. 

It'd be interesting to do a compare/contrast with Chaykin's American Flagg. A project for another day. Probably a whole 'nother blogger.

But O'Neill's cartoonishly nightmarish style and his facility with objects and settings both everyday and fantastical - and of multiple eras and in a variety of styles - made him the perfect collaborator for what Moore had in mind for League. Moore had already explored pastiche to great effect (1963) as well as the late Victorian era (From Hell). Now he and O'Neill were going to combine them. Let's have a look at where it all began in the first volume of League, which began being published in 1999.

(Some of these screencaps - if "by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill" didn't clue you in already - are NSFW.)

We'll look at a little of the backstory and worldbuilding when we get to The Black Dossier and Century, but I love the tantalizing glimpses we get in the first two volumes.

I also love the way the Invisible Man's movements are represented throughout the series.

The amorality of both the Invisible Man and Hyde - and how they contrast - is very much a part of the story.

As is (or will) Hyde's keeping his ability to see Griffin a secret.

"Tremble, dear reader, at the horrid spectacle of Johnny Chinaman armed with the mighty weapons of our new Electric Age..."

The second series began in 2002 and amplified everything going on in the first considerably. I remember standing at Newbury Comics at Providence Place, RI and leafing through the first issue. This was in a not-buying-comics phase, but I always kept up with what Moore was doing. I was blown away and ended up buying each issue - a rarity at the time - mainly to try and figure out what the hell was going on. Was that John Carter? Are they doing War of the Worlds now?

Has anyone read C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet? It's been on my list forever.

I particularly like the two foxes rending one of Dr. Moreau's unfortunates on the right, here, all calmly observed by those on the other side of the track.

If you are familiar with the series, I tried to choose screencaps which evoke aspects of the plot without spoiling them. It won't always be thus, kiddies. But just to get things started.

Each volume of League comes with substantial supplemental material. This is no surprise for any Moore work - the last 6-10 pages are always filled with dense prose and other wonders. I thought perhaps he (or they, I should say - I don't know the extent of his and O'Neill's collaboration in terms of plot but let's assume there is some) was just providing some contemporaneous-sounding ads and media, but as early as the first volume, a considerable backstory, spanning the centuries and several other dimensions, was being fleshed out. 

Unfortunately - as most of it is prose - it is precisely the sort of thing I'm downplaying in this series to concentrate on the scenery. I'll likely be showcasing some of it a bit more, though, in the posts to come, as without it, some of what we see makes little sense. This was (I imagine) a problem for those fans who skipped over these sections. Skip any part of a Moore read at your own peril, gentle reader!

"Allan has mislaid his Tabuki..."

Setting the stage for the Lovecraft story to come (the first of the Nemo trilogy, which came out over 10 years later) all the way back in the first volume.

Far be it for me to cheer the crass commercialization of art, but it's a damn shame this game - or a really demented first person shooter for some specially-designed steampunk Sega Genesis - does not actually exist.

Worth expanding here, for the caption. I imagine this is pretty close to "things Alan Moore finds uproariously funny that might puzzle other folk."

Speaking of moments of questionable-taste comedy in League, or perhaps just things that crack me up, I thought I'd isolate a few of them. These don't flow from panel to panel (except where they do) - sorry for any confusion.

This whole section - recruiting the Invisible Man, who has been raping the girls of a very depraved home for wayward girls - is guaranteed to make our moral superiors and Newspeak censors in the media-academe beside themselves with word salad.

I submit, though, that the levels of satire on display just might serve some other literary purpose than propagating rape culture or whatever else. Get thee to a pun-nery.

This whole Moreau stuff is a mix of hilarious and horrifying. I love that "Mina, for God's sake, don't criticise them!" While we're here, the Mina of the first two volumes - while definitely written as a Victorian lady, i.e. matrons know best, dearie - is sympathetic; in later volumes she becomes a bit Joey Potter-esque. (i.e. why on earth would these men be so infatuated with such an unpleasant person?)

"Ravaged by a foreigner" - the subtext of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

And finally, the best response to entitled-fanboy-grumpiness from a creator/ creative team I've ever seen:

~
 You have been enjoying screencaps from:

Vol. 1 (1999) and

Vol. 2 (2002)

See you next time for The Black Dossier, when things get really weird.