The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2

Title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2



ISBN: 1401201172

Price: $24.95

Publisher/Year: America's
Best Comics, 2003

Artist: Kevin O'Neill

Writer: Alan Moore

Collects: The League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2 #1-6



Rating: 3.5/5

 

It’s a point worthy of argument, but in our minds The League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen is the best thing to come out of Alan Moore’s America’s
Best Comics imprint. And this second volume does nothing to disappoint. Taking
H. G. Wells’ classic Victorian sci-fi invasion story The War of the Worlds,
it documents the League’s ‘behind the scenes’ role in fighting the Martian
threat, creating a kind of alternate fiction within the original story.





The first scene-setting chapter is something of an anti-climax after the
high level of anticipation left by the first book but the pace is quick to ramp
up. Moore threads his plot carefully through Wells’ original story, paying
homage as he subverts and twists. He also plays with our perceptions of the
Victorian literary characters, making them all the more human with flaws and
complexities, showing sides that their original creators would probably never
have dreamed of portraying.





As with the previous volume Moore has plenty of fun drawing in coincidental
Victoriana, though it’s a little more opaque this time round, with more for the
enthusiast and less for the occasional reader. For the those stuck between the
two, we heartily recommend Jess Nevins’ annotations to anyone with an interest
in the detail behind the story. There’s also a weighty prose section at the
back of the book, pertaining to be an almanac of the world that Moore has
created, which binds an incredible level of detail into this fictional
Victorian backdrop. It’s almost as if Moore is demonstrating that, if he wanted
to, he could go on writing this stuff for the rest of his days. If only.





O’Neill’s art is as beautifully disturbing as ever, perfectly suited to this
dark landscape of fictional past. His Martian tripods are threateningly spooky
but thoroughly authentic to Wells’ originals, while his characterization of the
League themselves is magical.





This is Moore and O’Neill at their best, subverting and poking fun at
fictional history while clearly maintaining a high regard for it. Only someone
with a keen interest and reverence in the subject matter could create something
as reverential as this, while simultaneously letting the imagination run riot.
Both Moore and O’Neill have the balance between these two sides of their craft
so finely tuned that they are barely distinguishable, making this a unique,
intelligent and gripping work that we can’t recommend highly enough.