The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume III: Century #2 1969 [Paperback]

Alan Moore launched the first volume of "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" in 1999 as part of his ABC Comics line, and these stories have continued through a subsequent volume, a standalone graphic novel, and now a series of three graphic novellas comprising a third volume. The series is now released by Top Shelf after Moore's breach with DC publishing, ironically prompted by circumstances surrounding the awful 2003 film adaptation of "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" volume one. "1969" is the second of the three-volume "Century" series which began with "1910", published in May of 1910. "1969" continues many of the things that fans of the series have come to enjoy about it; while I appreciate much of what Moore is doing, I've always had some reservations about the League as a project, and those continue to be in evidence here. Spoilers follow.

Our story opens with ritual murder, followed by the return to Britain of what has become the League's three regular characters in the 20th century: Bram Stoker's Mina Murray, H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quatermain, and Virginia Woolf's immortal Orlando (who spends the story as a male). London is now in the midst of the swinging 60s (though given Moore's writing style, it's only moderately more sexual than the other venues we've visited), and the heirs of the evil wizard Oliver Haddo are still out to raise the Anti-Christ. It's up to our lead trio to intercept Haddo's men, all the while walking through a galaxy of obscure cultural references (obscure particularly, in many instances, to non-Britons). While past iterations of the League existed in a world drawn almost exclusively from books and plays, the mid-20th century is a multimedia age, and so a panoply of individuals from television and film put in appearances.

I increasingly find that Moore's work on the "League" fits the definition of 'sound and fury, signifying nothing'; there's a cleverness to Moore's deployment of so many characters, but there's little meaning to any of it. It's "Where's Waldo?" writ large, and for a project that has occupied so much of Moore's time over the last decade, that's a little discouraging. Moore is the greatest living comics writer and his best works are among the most interesting literature of the late 20th century. While it's silly not to allow some indulgences, this feels like it's becoming more and more inessential the further it goes along. In particular, Mina and Allan, the continuing characters, are now so removed from their original contexts that it's hard to relate them to them. On the plus side, I enjoyed Moore's brazen use of a very familiar pop culture figure (albeit in a lawyer-friendly way) as the latest avatar of Haddo.

Clever and well-illustrated, but a bit disappointing.

You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger fan of Alan Moore than myself. My first introduction to his talent was in 1984 when he started writing Swamp Thing and I now own a good portion of his works from all different publishers. My reaction has generally ranged from enjoyment to complete and utter awe at his abilities. That was until I read The Black Dossier which I kinda didn't dig. I was a huge fan of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but The Black Dossier sailed right over my head and I theorized that it was written as revenge on DC comics; the Dossier being his last published work for the company with which he had no great love. Century #1: 1910 was better than The Black Dossier but it became clear that The Black Dossier was not any kind of revenge but was written as intended and Century 1901 was a continuation of mostly the same.

Century 1969 features Mina Harkin, Allen Quartermain and Orlando continuing their search for the body shifting cultist Oliver Haddo, this time in London in the summer `69. The three may be based on literary characters but I'm just not feeling it. There is some mention of Mina's ever present neck scarf and some talk of how old they are (despite looking younger than ever) but mostly it feels like three people in their twenties enjoying life (sex and drugs) while trying to uncover a plot to bring on the anti-Christ. There is a really cool drug freakout scene in Hyde Park and Andrew Norton makes another great appearance. Moore always nails those moments as when Haddo (named Haddock) does his body transference but overall this isn't a story that made a tremendous impact on me.

I gave Century 1901 four stars mostly based on the respect Alan Moore had engendered in me throughout the years. If I hadn't known it was Alan Moore who had written it I probably would have given it three. Alan Moore has talked about how liberating it is to be freed of any of the major publishers and I would say that what we're witnessing is a departure from any commercialism with Moore creating an experimental labor of love. The thing is when a writer is concerned with commercialism they try and satisfy the reader and I just don't get the feeling that's Alan Moore's primary concern here. Moore is expressing his passion and knowledge of literature and attempting to tie together stories from different writers that occupy the same time periods. I just don't get the impressions that creating a moving storyline is a priority. Alan Quartermain and Mina Harkin are well and good but for me the interesting characters in the original League were Nemo, Hyde and Hawley Griffen all of whom are long since gone. The literary references are now so obscure that they're all just passing me by.

I wrote a less than glowing review of Century 1901 and got scolded by a Moore fan which I find very ironic since I consistently proclaim Moore the greatest comic book writer of all time bar none. I just can't in all honesty say I've been drawn in by anything League related since volume II. If I was a British Literature professor I might find it all fascinating but I'm a comic fan in Ohio who loved Watchmen, From Hell, Promethea, Top 10 and on and on but this one? Not as much love. Sorry. That won't stop me from pre-ordering Century 2009 and hoping for a big ending.

Alan Moore unloads on Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones in this thinly veiled graphic roman a clef centered around the 1969 Hyde Park send-off for Brian Jones, here transmogrified into Basil Thomas. As a Beatles fan, I'm gratified to see Alan's satiric gifts aimed elsewhere but I still think it's a bit of "dirty cricket" to lay the blame for the entry into this world circa 1969 of the misbegotten Moonchild at the feet of poor old Mick. Surely, Richard Nixon must bear some of the blame, too.