[.ca] League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The VOL 01 (ISBN 1563898586)

Fun:
This was the first Alan Moore comic I read, and I could tell right off the bat why comic fans always speak so reverentially about the man. After reading just a few panels, it was clear that Moore is someone concerned about the texture of language, the subtext of character, and nuance of meaning. I had heard this one wasn't Moore's best effort, but I wanted to read it before I saw the Sean Connery movie based on it. I was still highly impressed, however, and thought it was one of the best written comic I'd ever read. But after just recently finishing Moore's mesmerizing FROM HELL, I can see that by comparison, LEAGUE is a slightly inferior work. But that's just because FROM HELL is hands-down the most amazingly complex and well written comic novel I've ever read. Still, LEAGUE, a high concept literary action hero romp is a lot of fun, and if it's not quite the toure-de-force that Moore achieved with FROM HELL, it's still a thrilling story.

much better than the movie!!!:
this is a very good comic book. the only reason i didn't give it a five-star rating is because i think that the characters can be fleshed out a little bit more. that having been said this is an enthralling and gripping read. if you have seen and hated the movie (as i did) then please don't turn your back on this. the story is much better and the characters are more rich than in the movie. the difference abound greatly between the comic and the movie. quartermain isn't the rough and tumble hero in this comic, rather he is a bumbling, opium addicted, idiot. he does sober up somewhat by the end but he still isn't the same character depicted in the movie (which makes him more interesting). nina murray (harker in the movie) is the most mysterious as her story isn't expounded on as of yet (but here's to hoping the second collection does). nemo is an ego-maniac, the invisible man is a pervert, and dr. jekyl is a wus. those thing having been said, the plot is great and the twist at the end is even better. read this for a good time and i guarantee you will enjoy it (at least better than the movie!).

unimpressive; idiotic; racist:
Having enjoyed reading Alan Moore's "Watchmen," I looked to League of Extraordinary Gentlement hoping to find more intelligent writing and deep plots. I found neither in this piece of \oexpletive deleted\c. Filled with racist tones and needless violence, this \oexpletive deleted\c book is complete and total \oexpletive deleted\c compared to The Watchmen. What the \oexpletive deleted\c wass Alan Moore thinking when he wrote this? It's as if he wiped his \oexpletive deleted\c and handed the resulting \oexpletive deleted\c to the publisher, thereby resulting in this book-bound \oexpletive deleted\c being sold. Most likely this book will be enjoyed by teenage fanboys around the world who wouldn't know good writing from their left \oexpletive deleted\c.

great story but where's Dorian Gray?:
I got this graphic novel after I collected all the books on the chracters in the movie League of Extraordinary Gentleman, And it was great, but I kept wondering where Dorian Gray was. You see his portrait on the front cover, but he's not in the book. You would think since this stroy is based in 19th centry England he would be in this stroy, but no. Anyway this is a great novel to have. It has great graphics, great story, great chracters too. But there are somethings I wish theyed put in there, like how miss Murry is, and I'd wish you could see more of Nemo's crew. One of the many cool things in this book is if you look in some pages there are news papers that say Mars is Volcanic(guess who's gonna drop to earth in the next stroy). Another cool thing in this stroy is when someone is talking to someone in another launge it's written in that launge like Aribic, and Chinese. This is a great novel to add to your collection.

Crazy fun:
This 'graphic novel' by Alan Moore is filled with fascinating characters, literary references, and very dry humor. It's a hundred times smarter than the movie that came out last summer under the same title. This tells the story of five famous characters from Victorian literature who join forces in a 'league of extraordinary gentlemen' to save the world. Allan Quatermain from 'King Solomon's Mines', Mina Murray from 'Dracula', Dr. Jekyll and his Hyde counterpart, the invisible man and Captain Nemo from '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' come together, bantering over cups of tea(...). The graphic element of this graphic novel is absolutely stunning. The artist O'Neill assembles crowded street scenes in Paris and London with a few quick strokes of his brush, and lovingly creates detailed images of the macabre and sometimes perverse world Moore has created in words. Take a look at the all girls 'school' the characters visit while recruiting the invisible man. Whew. The action is fast paced, the dialogue is biting and believable, and the characters are great fun. Overall, a good, smart story.(...)Enjoy.