“League of Extraordinary Gentlemen v. 1″ by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
A recent reading of Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s newest installment in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series, 1910, sent me scurrying back to the beginning, volume 1. It’s a fabulous re-read, because it’s so dense with lit-geek references that I’m sure I still missed many on this, my third or fourth time through it.
A strong willed woman with a mysterious past, an ex-adventurer with an opium habit, a psychopathic invisible man–all report to a man named Bond, who works for a mysterious “M”.
Mr. Quartermain? My name is Wilhelmina Murray. Your country has need of you again, sir.
Go away.
Sir, I had heard better of you. Is there nothing left of what you were? … I see. Then may the good lord help the empire, sir, if there are no men finer than yourself… to guard her?
Mayhem soon follows. There are more favorite Victorian characters here than you can shake a stick at. Not only is it fun to read, but it also makes me want to have another go at the source material. It was this series that first spurred me to tackle Gulliver’s Travels, Wells’ Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and more. I enjoyed the series, and it made me eager to read more, and to learn more. Not many books can do that, eh?