| The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen | |
|---|---|
_(cover_art).jpg) Cover of Volume I | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher |
|
| Genre | |
| Publication date | 1999–2019 |
| No. of issues | 21, plus one original graphic novel |
| Main characters | |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Alan Moore |
| Artist | Kevin O'Neill |
| Letterer | Bill Oakley |
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (LoEG) is a multi-genre, cross-overcomic book series co-created by writerAlan Moore and artistKevin O'Neill which began in 1999. The comic book spansfour volumes, an originalgraphic novel, and a spin-off trilogy of graphic novellas.Volume I andVolume II (released as two six-issue limited series) and the graphic novelBlack Dossier were published by theAmerica's Best Comics imprint ofDC Comics. After leaving the America's Best imprint, the series moved toTop Shelf andKnockabout Comics, which publishedVolume III: Century (released as three graphic novellas), theNemo Trilogy (a spin-off of three graphic novellas centered on the character ofNemo), andVolume IV: The Tempest (originally released as a six-issue limited series). According to Moore, the concept behind the series was initially a "Justice League ofVictorian England" but he quickly developed it as an opportunity to merge elements from numerous works of fiction into one world, in a matter akin to the shared fictional universes ofMarvel andDC Comics.
Elements ofVolume I were used in a loosely adapted featurefilm of the same name, released in 2003 and starringSean Connery in his last live-action role.
The year is 1898, andMina Murray is recruited byCampion Bond on behalf ofBritish Intelligence and asked to assemble a league of other extraordinary individuals to protect the interests of theEmpire:Captain Nemo,Allan Quatermain,Dr. Jekyll, andHawley Griffinthe Invisible Man. They help stop a gang war betweenFu Manchu andProfessor Moriarty, nemesis ofSherlock Holmes. Following this they take part in the events ofH. G. Wells'sThe War of the Worlds. Two members of the League (Mina Murray and Allan Quatermain) achieve immortality, and are next seen in an adventure in 1958. This follows events that take place after the fall of theBig Brother government fromGeorge Orwell'sNineteen Eighty-Four.
Following this, Mina and Allan team up with fellow immortalOrlando and are shown in an adventure which spans a century, from 1910 to 2009, concerning a plot by evil magicians to create aMoonchild that might well turn out to be theAntichrist. During this adventure Captain Nemo's daughter Janni Dakkar is introduced, and some of her adventures are chronicled subsequently. The final volume of the series ends with an immortal Mina escaping an Earth dominated by magical entities and various alien invasions to live out her immortal life on a space station with Orlando, Jack Nemo (great-grandson of Captain Nemo) and a clone of Mr. Hyde.
All characters within the series are either pre-existing characters, or are in some way related to one.
In a 1997 interview withAndy Diggle for the now defunct Comics World website,Alan Moore gave the title of the work as "The League of Extraordinary Gentlefolk". Moore changed the name toGentlemen to better reflect the Victorian era.Simon Bisley was originally going to be the artist for the series before being replaced byKevin O'Neill.
The Victorian setting allowed Moore and O'Neill to insert "in-jokes" and cameos from many works of Victorian fiction, while also making contemporary references and jibes. The works bear numeroussteampunk influences. In the first issue, for example, there is a half-finished bridge to link Britain and France, referencing problems constructing theChannel Tunnel.[1]
Most characters in the series, from thedominatrix schoolmistressRosa Coote to minor characters such as InspectorDick Donovan, are either established characters from existing works of fiction or ancestors of the same, to the extent that individuals depicted in crowd scenes in Volume I have been said (both by Moore, and in annotations byJess Nevins) to be visually designed as the ancestors of the cast of theBritish soap operaEastEnders. This has lent the series considerable popularity with fans of esoteric Victoriana, who have delighted in attempting to place every character who makes an appearance.[1]
Moore said:
The planet of the imagination is as old as we are. It has been humanity's constant companion with all of its fictional locations, likeMount Olympus and the gods, and since we first came down from the trees, basically. It seems very important, otherwise, we wouldn't have it.[2]
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Moore's longstanding, outspoken criticism ofDC Comics (stemming in large part from what he perceives as mistreatment at their hands over the rights toWatchmen) made his position with DC-owned subsidiaryWildStorm Comics (of whichLoEG publisherAmerica's Best Comics is animprint) tenuous from the start. Moore's initial agreement was with WildStorm ownerJim Lee, who sold his studio to DC after dealing with Moore, but before any of the ABC projects were published. Moore agreed to honor his contracts with Lee, but made it clear that he wished to continue to have no dealings with DC directly.
The fifth issue of the first volume contained an authentic vintage advertisement for adouche with the brand name Marvel Douche. The entire initial print run was destroyed and reprinted because the publisher felt that this could be perceived as an attack onMarvel Comics, DC's main competition.[3]
After several additional complaints over DC interference, Moore decided to wind up his ABC projects, intending to only continue withLeague (the only title he, with O'Neill, actually owned). He subsequently took offense at inaccurate comments made by the producer of thefilm version of hisV for Vendetta, which stated that the author—who had distanced himself completely from film adaptations of his work, particularly afterLXG—had commented favorably on a draft of the script. Moore requested that someone involved with the film's production company—and DC Comics parent company,Warner Bros.—officially retract the comments and apologize. He also claims that his lack of support from DC regarding aminor lawsuit related to the film adaptation ofThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was instrumental in his departure.
When no such apology was forthcoming, both Moore and O'Neill decided to withdraw future volumes of theLeague from DC in protest. Since the duo was still working on theBlack Dossier at the time, it was agreed that it would become the lastLeague project published by DC/WildStorm, with subsequent projects published jointly byTop Shelf Productions andKnockabout Comics in the US and UK respectively, who published bothVolume III: Century, and theNemo Trilogy, as graphic novella trilogies. Top Shelf and Knockabout later releasedVolume IV: The Tempest first as a six-issue limited series. Reprints ofVolumes I-II and theDossier were published byVertigo until its shutdown in January 2020.
Volume II has an extensive appendix, most of which is filled with an imaginary travelers' account of the alternate universe theLeague is set in, calledThe New Traveller's Almanac. This Almanac provides background information, much of which is taken from the pre-existing literary works or mythology and may be difficult to fully appreciate without an esoteric knowledge of literature. It shows the plot of the comic to be just a small section of a world inhabited by what appears to be the entirety of all fiction ever created.[4]
Moore's work includes references to previous leagues and suggests there will be others subsequently. In much the same way that theNew Traveller's Almanac, an appendix to the trade paperback collection ofThe League Vol. 2, detailed much of the geography of the League's world, the third volume,The Black Dossier, set out an extensive history of the world of the League and each of its various incarnations, threading together hundreds of disparate works of fiction into a cohesive timeline.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen won the 1999 UKNational Comics Award for Best New Comic (International).
Volume I won the 2000Bram Stoker Award for Best Illustrated Narrative.
Volume II was nominated for the 2003 award, but lost toThe Sandman: Endless Nights. Volume II received the 2003Eisner Award for Best Finite Series/Limited Series.Time magazine listed Volume II as the 9th best comic of 2003.[5] It was included in the 2005 edition ofThe Year's Best Graphic Novels, Comics, & Manga.Time also listedBlack Dossier as the second-best comic of 2007.[6]
The steampunk bandUnextraordinary Gentlemen was inspired by this comic.
On "75 Bars (Black's Reconstruction)" off theRising Down album,Black Thought refers toThe Roots as "gentlemen of an extraordinary league".[7]
Neil Gaiman citedThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as one of the influences for his award-winning short story "A Study in Emerald".[8]
Warren Ellis has citedThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as an inspiration for his comicIgnition City.[9]
The comicThe Chimera Brigade by science-fiction writerSerge Lehman has been regarded by critics as the French reply toThe League.[10] It uses proto-superhumans and supervillains from European pulp literature of the early twentieth century, but in a whole different perspective as Lehman is not mainly focused on English literature (as Moore does), mixes those real fictional characters equally with real prominent historical figures and builds a crepuscular alternate history story whose aim is to explain on a historical and psychoanalytical level why all European super-heroes disappeared from popular culture and European collective memory withWorld War II.
Jess Nevins has produced a series of annotations for each volume which are available online and have also been expanded into book form:
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen appear in aself-titled film, consisting of Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, Mina Harker, an original Invisible Man named Rodney Skinner, Dr. Jekyll and Edward Hyde,Dorian Gray, andTom Sawyer.[11]
By May 2015, a new adaptation ofLoEG by 20th Century Fox was in development.[12]John Davis said that the reboot will be a female-centric film.[13] As of May 2022, the film is on track by20th Century Studios, scheduled to stream onHulu, withJustin Haythe writing andDon Murphy, who produced the 2003 film, returning as a producer alongsideSusan Montford andErwin Stoff of3 Arts Entertainment.[14]
In 2013,Fox was ordering a pilot for the television version ofLoEG withMichael Green serving as writer and executive producer, with Erwin Stoff attached to serve in the latter role. Neither Moore nor O'Neill were attached as producers on the series.[15][16]
The DVD release ofThe Mindscape of Alan Moore contains an interview with the artistKevin O'Neill that involves the collaboration withAlan Moore,League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century, and his involvement with censorship.
| Early British works | |
|---|---|
| DC Comics | |
| Image Comics / Awesome Comics | |
| America's Best Comics | |
| Avatar Press | |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Comics based on Moore's prose | |
| Books | |
| Spoken word CDs | |
| Other | |
| Related people | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
