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108 reviews for:
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1: The Absolute Edition
Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill
3.67 AVERAGE
108 reviews for:
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1: The Absolute Edition
Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill
3.67 AVERAGE
This book makes all of the 19th Century British and Colonial Lit that I read in university totally worth my while. I don't want to call this series Moore's masterpiece because he's written so many, but it's right up there for sure. So wonderfully detailed, and the travelog is an hilarious treat that really sets up The Black Dossier.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Look, call me a prude, but it’s just a little too filthy to be enjoyable. Clearly I’m interested enough to continue the series, but not one I’d willingly come back to.
Volume 1 was excellent but volume 2 really comes out of left field with a ton of plot points.
This should be very entertaining and it's an interesting idea. How fun to bring all these characters together. Something about the book bored me a bit. I was ready for it to be over and I was not drawn in. I respect Alan Moore and I'm surprised about that. Not really a fan of this.
I wouldn't recommend trying to read this in bed... it is extremely heavy, thus making it difficult to hold in any bed-ish position.
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I can’t believe that everyone was just wrong: the film is way better.
Forgetting everything wrong with this graphic novel (and oh boy is there a lot), nothing made the rating for it plummet more than the absolutely brutal almanac section at the end that was such a Fucking drag to read that I do believe it took several years off my life. Honestly so Fucking boring oh my god Alan Moore wtf was that shit. I genuinely don’t care for you to reference every piece of literary history ever in the most non-consequential way for like 60 pages of horrid block text. Like it genuinely took me like an extra week and a half to finish this damn book just because of this section, I just kept falling asleep it was so damn boring.
Anyway, the story here started out interesting and fun, entirely different to the film, much darker, but still fun. And then after we’ve been introduced to everyone and the stakes/mystery is slowly building up we suddenly rush through the entire second act in a very short space of time which makes the narrative lose a lot of weight. That was disappointing, but it was still enjoyable.
Volume 2 is where it got weird. I didn’t care for the War of the Worlds plot line and I hated what they did with the Invisible Man (much better in the film, although that seems to be a running theme with most characters) and dear Lord why was there so much sexual violence??? Especially against Mina?? Like Alan wtf. Very uncomfortable read, almost as uncomfortable as having to power through the rampant racial caricatures and sexism - like just because it’s set in a time where these things were prevalent, doesn’t mean you have to lean into that so heavily, made for horrible reading/viewing as it was completely unnecessary.
Also why the fuck did you make Alan and Mina Fuck like ew genuinely disgusted. And then even worse in the almanac she just instantly fucks his son right after he dies - terrible terrible awful terrible.
Honestly every character (almost) in this was disappointing compared to the film - Quartermain was sad and weak and an addict and he didn’t do anything useful, Hyde was just horrible, racist, and brutal (and yeah I guess that is on brand for the character but it just felt like a bit much most of the time), the invisible man was just shit, Mina wasn’t even a fucking vampire???? Like why bother teasing it throughout only for her to have no power of her own, like I’d respect it if he gave her any agency or like authority or just ability to fend for herself but no she’s kind of just a weak woman who nearly gets raped a bunch - terrible!! Oh and Dorian Gray wasn’t even Fucking in it?? Man was one of the best characters in that campy romp of a film!! (We don’t need to talk about Tom Sawyer, he’s just fine).
The saving Grace of this book is naturally Captain Nemo, like what a Fucking champ. He was cool in the film, but the fact that in this he just despises colonialism and the British empire is just such a hot mood, like I’m all here for Nemo absolutely murdering the aristocracy. Good vibes only. Also I will hand it to this, the Nautilus is cooler in this than the film - sick ass tentacles. The only downside of me loving Nemo is that it made me want to read Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and oh god is that so dull goddamn can I have but a moment of respite.
So yeah, this was a tough read so thanks Alan, looking forward to reading the rest of the series lol.
You get bonus points for Don Quixote and Sancho being mentioned (best boys) and honestly the best part of the almanac was Orlando because wow what a lit character, very cool, very pog.
Forgetting everything wrong with this graphic novel (and oh boy is there a lot), nothing made the rating for it plummet more than the absolutely brutal almanac section at the end that was such a Fucking drag to read that I do believe it took several years off my life. Honestly so Fucking boring oh my god Alan Moore wtf was that shit. I genuinely don’t care for you to reference every piece of literary history ever in the most non-consequential way for like 60 pages of horrid block text. Like it genuinely took me like an extra week and a half to finish this damn book just because of this section, I just kept falling asleep it was so damn boring.
Anyway, the story here started out interesting and fun, entirely different to the film, much darker, but still fun. And then after we’ve been introduced to everyone and the stakes/mystery is slowly building up we suddenly rush through the entire second act in a very short space of time which makes the narrative lose a lot of weight. That was disappointing, but it was still enjoyable.
Volume 2 is where it got weird. I didn’t care for the War of the Worlds plot line and I hated what they did with the Invisible Man (much better in the film, although that seems to be a running theme with most characters) and dear Lord why was there so much sexual violence??? Especially against Mina?? Like Alan wtf. Very uncomfortable read, almost as uncomfortable as having to power through the rampant racial caricatures and sexism - like just because it’s set in a time where these things were prevalent, doesn’t mean you have to lean into that so heavily, made for horrible reading/viewing as it was completely unnecessary.
Also why the fuck did you make Alan and Mina Fuck like ew genuinely disgusted. And then even worse in the almanac she just instantly fucks his son right after he dies - terrible terrible awful terrible.
Honestly every character (almost) in this was disappointing compared to the film - Quartermain was sad and weak and an addict and he didn’t do anything useful, Hyde was just horrible, racist, and brutal (and yeah I guess that is on brand for the character but it just felt like a bit much most of the time), the invisible man was just shit, Mina wasn’t even a fucking vampire???? Like why bother teasing it throughout only for her to have no power of her own, like I’d respect it if he gave her any agency or like authority or just ability to fend for herself but no she’s kind of just a weak woman who nearly gets raped a bunch - terrible!! Oh and Dorian Gray wasn’t even Fucking in it?? Man was one of the best characters in that campy romp of a film!! (We don’t need to talk about Tom Sawyer, he’s just fine).
The saving Grace of this book is naturally Captain Nemo, like what a Fucking champ. He was cool in the film, but the fact that in this he just despises colonialism and the British empire is just such a hot mood, like I’m all here for Nemo absolutely murdering the aristocracy. Good vibes only. Also I will hand it to this, the Nautilus is cooler in this than the film - sick ass tentacles. The only downside of me loving Nemo is that it made me want to read Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and oh god is that so dull goddamn can I have but a moment of respite.
So yeah, this was a tough read so thanks Alan, looking forward to reading the rest of the series lol.
You get bonus points for Don Quixote and Sancho being mentioned (best boys) and honestly the best part of the almanac was Orlando because wow what a lit character, very cool, very pog.
Sehr brutal, aber coole Dialoge, faszinierende Charaktere, fesselnder Plot!
I'm not really sure what I just read. It was boring, the art was okay but uninspiring, the plot was so unfulfilling, and the characters were gross. Mina Murray was the only saving grace, and all the men did the entire way through was complain about or her question her place as leader. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen my ass. By far my least favorite of Alan Moore's works.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes