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I haven't been a big fan of victorian novels, but I managed to "get into it" for this read. I was very impressed to see Ms. It has great pacing and dialogue, which kept me reading through all the unfamiliarities. League of Extroadinary Gentlemen, although not my favorite, was good old Alan Moore fun. As a comic, The League of Extrodinary Gentlemen is fun and clever, but not all the way entertaining and gripping. A lot of stories fail to involve a girl in the adventure and they are limited to being a damsel in distress or the polar opposite, the She-Hulk.
It was refreshing to see such an intelligent and contributing woman in the League.
After watching the film and then reading the comic, I have to say the book is SOOOOO much better.
Alan Moore is in love with these characters in a way I cannot mimic.
I rank it below Watchmen, but definately above V for Vendetta.
Murray as one of the more likeable heroes, through her iron wit and charm.But as I get along to the end of the book, I lose interest.
It's brilliant in comparison, and I'm sad to see the film do so much injustice.
One thing that didn't translate was the perfect role played by the female of our heroes.
So when I read the ending story which uses close to no images and long columns of text, I got a little quick to turn the pages.
I give it a B+
As portrayed in the comic, Mina appears to be just a bad-ass chick who always wears a scarf and, despite the protestations of the men, becomes the leader of the team. I'd seen the movie before reading the original graphic novel. I must say, though entertaining, the movie doesn't come close to the storytelling found in Moore's book. Their adventures create an intriguingly convoluted tale, full of action and imagination. The over-the-top art suits the story and the steam punk setting perfectly.
Here, again, Moore suceeds with excellent storytelling, gathering an all-star cast of mythical English characters and arranging them for the reader's utmost enjoyment. This work, much like From Hell, presents another great satirization of Victorian culture. There are also a bunch of goodies in the back of this volume, not to be missed.
I'd started with the paperback of Vol.1, and loved it -- I enjoyed playing Spot the Reference -- and got the hardback Vol.2 and Black Dossier. Thinking it would be nice to hava an all-hardback set, I kept my eyes open. Spotted it on Amazon and leapt. The seller got it to me quickly and in great condition (though used) as promised.
I'd heard a lot of really good things about this book from different people, but after buying it I find myself asking, "Wha huh." or saying, "Pffft." As has been mentioned by other reviewers, the *idea* is a good one but the execution is lacking in a horrible way. Being a fan of comics and graphic novels in general but not enough to know people's names or what else they've worked on, I can't compare this book to anything else in order to point out its flaws. My main problem is this: the story itself bit the big one. Some of the characters were (I felt) inaccurate, the villain in the story was more amusing than anything else, and the plot was so artificial I literally had to force myself to finish.And now I'm going to say something that some might consider blasphemyThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen the book was just as bad as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen the movie.There I said it.
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