I am a big Alan Moore fan (despite how crazy and scary he looks) and this particular book has been waiting for me since I bought it a few months ago. I had put off reading it till I was done with school, and it was worth the wait.
For those not familiar with the comic series, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a group of exceptional individuals: Allan Quartermain (played in the movie by the legendary Sean Connery, but I digress) from King Solomon's Mines, Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Hawley Griffin from The Invisible Man, Dr. Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Wilhelmina Murray from Dracula. They are recruited by Campion Bond on behalf of British Intelligence to protect the Empire. They end up stopping Fumanchu from blowing up Britain with his crazy newfangled airship. At the end of the book the group is told to remain in service to the crown.
In volume two, we find our heroes in a world that takes place during War of the Worlds, when an alien pod lands in England. The story itself starts on Mars, where Lt. Gullivar Jones is fighting Martians, who decide to come to earth. Hawley ends up making an alliance with the aliens, which no one knows about till the aliens begin to strike. Dr.Jekyll has permanently chosen to be in his Hyde persona so he's this huge ape thing with a very quick temper. The group gets split up by Mycroft Holmes, (who now heads the League instead of Professor Moriarty) in an effort to subdue the aliens. Nemo and Hyde patrol the Thames in the Nautilus, and Allan and Mina go to Dr. Moreau and his creepy talking animals, in search of a weapon known as H-142. While on this trip, Allan and Mina get hot and heavy in a whole bunch of graphic panels that really skeeved me out ( some things are better left implied and off stage Mr. Moore.). I'll just say Allan is into some weird things. I'd also like to point out the irony of the F-word being replaced by "****" but there's gratuitous nudity and sex. I got a chuckle out of that, as it was the only bright spot to that part.
Hawley is left alone which proves to be a bad idea. Hyde returns to the British Museum, (where the group has their HQ) and tortures and rapes Hawley in an effort to gain information about his doublecrossing, and for the attempted rape of Mina. I'm not gonna spoil the ending because it's kind of cool and futuristic and it has to do with biological weapons, but it's worth the reading.
What I liked also was at the the end there was some bonus cover art from each of the issues, and a board game, but the highlight was "The New Traveller's Almanac". This was more words than pictures, and it was an account of the travels of the members of the League and some other literary heroes to the odd and strange places in the world.
So there you have it. Well, part of it, anyway.
Happy Reading!
-Alex
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