The League of Extraordinary Gentleman
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
The League of Extraordinary Gentleman Details
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Most of Alan Moore's most famous works are a critique of the superhero genre: "V for Vendetta" critiques the British system and an anarchistic response to it, "The Watchmen" critique the American culture of superheroes as liberal visionaries or right-wing vigilantes in the context of the cold war. This continues this critique but by referencing the 19th century literature, both classic and pulp. Indeed, Moore seems to be pointing out that the line there was always thin. In the context of the British Empire, Moore shows that heroes are basically imperialists. Furthermore, in a similar vein to "the Watchmen," most of the characters are much more morally problematic than their literary counterparts. Having a background in 19th century British literature helps: Bram Stoker's "Dracula," Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea," H. Rider Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines," Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and H. G. Wells' "The Invisible Man" build the context of the main characters, and the personalities do seem rooted in the books. Knowing Ian Flemming's James Bond and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes' characters help as well. The art is very driven by pulp art as well as Victoriana in general. That said, the empire may not be all it seems and so too the problems of the precursors to comic books. This volume is a fairly straight ahead story as far as Moore is concerned, although the literary references build very quickly. At a surface level, this is not a subtle comic, but it works much more deeply in dialogue with its source material and with culture of superheroes: a genre that Moore seems to work in only to undermine.