Rating: 
Summary: A Great Start to a Great Series
Review: What happens when one of comicdom's greatest writers creates a story in an alternative Victorian-era England, with famous literary characters as super-heroes? Alan Moore's "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," part homage to 19th-Century literature, part unconventional superhero story, and an introduction to a new, periodical series from Moore and artist Kevin O'Neil. In less-capable hands, such a project would be doomed to failure from the start, but Moore's writing and O'Neil's Manga-influenced comic art make "League" a triumphant piece of literature.In the soot-choked London of "League," where giant cranes construct gothic bridges and dirigibles are as commonplace as hansom cabs, Mina Murray, former wife of Jonathan Harker and object of Dracula's affection, is recruited by a Mr. Bond for an unusual mission. Mr. Bond's supervisor, "M", wants Murray to team up with Captain Nemo and his Nautilus submarine to track down Allan Quatermain in Egypt. Once they force his opium addiction into remission, the team recruits Mr. Edward Hyde, and his meek alter-ego Dr. Jeckyll, and a Mr. Griffin, better known as The Invisible Man, who is creating a series of "miraculous" pregnancies at a school for delinquent girls. Once the team unites, "M" gives them their first mission: to investigate a Chinese gang ruled by a criminal mastermind, who has stolen a device that allows massive ships to fly. There is concern that the gang leader will create a giant airship that will allow him to bomb and destroy any part of London he desires - which would be disastrous for the Crown. While investigating, the League discovers that things aren't quite as they appear, which leads to a final showdown with a famous literary villain. Moore's writing and O'Neil's art save what could have been a trite story and make it not only passable, but enjoyable and fun. It lacks the literary and philosophical depth of Moore's other works, like "Watchmen" or "From Hell," but "League" isn't really designed to offer some genre-shattering thesis. It's just good fun, especially for those who have read some late 19th-Century literature. Don't overanalyze it, enjoy it, and you can't go wrong with "League." Final Grade: B
Rating: 
Summary: The first adventure of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Review: I knew they would never be a sequel to Alan Moore's classic comic series "The Watchmen" (and I wish Frank Miller had let well enough alone with "The Dark Knight Returns"), but certainly "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" is a kindred spirit in key regards. If the Watchmen were supposed to be superheroes that we recognized, even though we had never seen them before, then the League offers up recognizable fictional characters that we have never seen together before. Going back a century for inspiration, Moore creates a Pax Britannia circa 1898 where the "superheroes" are fictional characters who had been created by that particular point in time, to wit: Mina Murray (Harker) from Bram Stoker's "Dracula," Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea," Alan Quartermain from H. Rider Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines," and the titular characters of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and H. G. Wells' "The Invisible Man." There is also reason to believe that "M," the shadowy figure who orders the League about, might in fact be Mycroft Holmes (and if you do not know what literary series he is from then just totally forget about enjoying this series). If that, in and of itself, is not enough of a hook to get your interested in checking out this collection of the first comic book adventure of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen let me remind you that Alan Moore is doing the writing. The artwork by Kevin O'Neill is certainly evocative of the turn of the last century, or, more to the point, does not look like a contemporary superhero comic book. Moore and O'Neill also maintain a wonderful conceit throughout the series of presenting the comics as being published at the time of the story, filled with wonderful "ads" that are often as interesting as the story (one of which actually required the initial print run of one of the issues to be destroyed, a story you will have to find related elsewhere, patient reader). Moore's intention was to deal with a superhero group before all the clichés were established (again, similar to how "The Watchmen" was in a different reality unencumbered by the DC and Marvel universes). Seeing an obvious parallel between the Hulk and Jekyll/Hyde, Moore let his imagination roam in his alternate, technically more advanced version of Victorian London. The more you know about literary history from this period (e.g., Emile Zola's Nana is killed in the Rue Morgue by Hyde), the more you will enjoy all this work. But this first adventure for the League still works if late 19th-century fiction is not your forte. British Intelligence has discovered that cavorite, a material that makes flying machines possible, has been stolen by a mysterious Chinese figure (Oh, come on, take a wild guess who it has to be). Campion Bond of MI5 has been ordered to assemble a team of adventurers to retrieve the cavorite, which is crucial to the race to get to the Moon. "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" is really much more fun than we usually associate with Moore's work. Certainly his tongue has never been further in his cheeks than with this series. The first three issues of Volume 2 have seen the light of day so far this year and if you read through this original endeavor you can quickly get up to speed with the current adventure. Just remember it is 1898 and Britannia waives the rules...
Rating:
Summary: Fun
Review: This was the first Alan Moore comic I read, and I could tell right off the bat why comic fans always speak so reverentially about the man. After reading just a few panels, it was clear that Moore is someone concerned about the texture of language, the subtext of character, and nuance of meaning. I had heard this one wasn't Moore's best effort, but I wanted to read it before I saw the Sean Connery movie based on it. I was still highly impressed, however, and thought it was one of the best written comic I'd ever read. But after just recently finishing Moore's mesmerizing FROM HELL, I can see that by comparison, LEAGUE is a slightly inferior work. But that's just because FROM HELL is hands-down the most amazingly complex and well written comic novel I've ever read.
Still, LEAGUE, a high concept literary action hero romp is a lot of fun, and if it's not quite the toure-de-force that Moore achieved with FROM HELL, it's still a thrilling story.
Rating:
Summary: Crazy fun
Review: This 'graphic novel' by Alan Moore is filled with fascinating characters, literary references, and very dry humor. It's a hundred times smarter than the movie that came out last summer under the same title. This tells the story of five famous characters from Victorian literature who join forces in a 'league of extraordinary gentlemen' to save the world. Allan Quatermain from 'King Solomon's Mines', Mina Murray from 'Dracula', Dr. Jekyll and his Hyde counterpart, the invisible man and Captain Nemo from '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' come together, bantering over cups of tea(...). The graphic element of this graphic novel is absolutely stunning. The artist O'Neill assembles crowded street scenes in Paris and London with a few quick strokes of his brush, and lovingly creates detailed images of the macabre and sometimes perverse world Moore has created in words. Take a look at the all girls 'school' the characters visit while recruiting the invisible man. Whew. The action is fast paced, the dialogue is biting and believable, and the characters are great fun. Overall, a good, smart story.(...)Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Victorian Age Adventure at its finest
Review: Alan Moore first toyed with the idea of doing crossovers of 19th Century literature characters in his introduction to Saga of the Swamp Thing back in 1987. Now he has finalized that vision in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Simply put, this is history's first superhero team, composed of characters taken out of several Victorian age works of literature and the result is amazing. Mina Murray (Dracula), Alan Quartermain (Mines of King Salomon), Hawley Griffin (The invisible Man), Captain Nemo (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde; all of these singular characters are forced to join together and stop a common foe. They are united under the service of the Queen and for the greater glory of England and the Empire. The artwork by Kevin O'Neal is amazingly good and it portrays the English in a most amusing way.
The dialog is sharp and Mr. Moore has pulled all the stops regarding the references to Victorian literature. There are allusions to Edgar Allan Poe, as well as Gulliver's Travels. Very enjoyable and entertaining.
You'll marvel at the sheer scope of Mr. O'Neal's artwork. You'll laugh at the interactions between the characters.
You'll go "oooh" at every reference you recognize. Buy it. Read it. Love it.
Rating:
Summary: Comics as Literature.
Review: For those who think that reading comic books are a waste of time and that graphic novels aren't anywhere near real literature, this is one comic you should check out and which maybe even change your mind. The illustrations are amazing, capturing the essence of the time period in which the story takes place. The story is written by the great Alan Moore (what more needs to be said), so the plot is intense; the action fierce; and the characters fully developed. That in itself is enough to purchase this little book. However, besides great illustrations and an excellent story, this graphic novel taught me more about 19th century literature than I ever learned during my four years as an undergraduate English major. I read a great deal and love 19th century literature and history, but I was only able to pick up on about 60% of the references in the story on my own. The rest I had to look up. It was a wonderful educating experience that has opened my eyes to a whole dimension of stories I never knew existed before. Nevertheless, the immense references and allusions should not scare the uneducated reader away. Even if you have never read any 19th century literature and know very little about the period in history, the story is still an excellent read and thoroughly enjoyable. Happy reading.
Rating:
Summary: great story but where's Dorian Gray?
Review: I got this graphic novel after I collected all the books on the chracters in the movie League of Extraordinary Gentleman, And it was great, but I kept wondering where Dorian Gray was. You see his portrait on the front cover, but he's not in the book. You would think since this stroy is based in 19th centry England he would be in this stroy, but no. Anyway this is a great novel to have. It has great graphics, great story, great chracters too. But there are somethings I wish theyed put in there, like how miss Murry is, and I'd wish you could see more of Nemo's crew. One of the many cool things in this book is if you look in some pages there are news papers that say Mars is Volcanic(guess who's gonna drop to earth in the next stroy). Another cool thing in this stroy is when someone is talking to someone in another launge it's written in that launge like Aribic, and Chinese. This is a great novel to add to your collection.
Rating: 
Summary: unimpressive; idiotic; racist
Review: Having enjoyed reading Alan Moore's "Watchmen," I looked to League of Extraordinary Gentlement hoping to find more intelligent writing and deep plots. I found neither in this piece of [expletive deleted]. Filled with racist tones and needless violence, this [expletive deleted] book is complete and total [expletive deleted] compared to The Watchmen. What the [expletive deleted] wass Alan Moore thinking when he wrote this? It's as if he wiped his [expletive deleted] and handed the resulting [expletive deleted] to the publisher, thereby resulting in this book-bound [expletive deleted] being sold. Most likely this book will be enjoyed by teenage fanboys around the world who wouldn't know good writing from their left [expletive deleted].
Rating:
Summary: much better than the movie!!!
Review: this is a very good comic book. the only reason i didn't give it a five-star rating is because i think that the characters can be fleshed out a little bit more. that having been said this is an enthralling and gripping read. if you have seen and hated the movie (as i did) then please don't turn your back on this. the story is much better and the characters are more rich than in the movie. the difference abound greatly between the comic and the movie. quartermain isn't the rough and tumble hero in this comic, rather he is a bumbling, opium addicted, idiot. he does sober up somewhat by the end but he still isn't the same character depicted in the movie (which makes him more interesting). nina murray (harker in the movie) is the most mysterious as her story isn't expounded on as of yet (but here's to hoping the second collection does). nemo is an ego-maniac, the invisible man is a pervert, and dr. jekyl is a wus. those thing having been said, the plot is great and the twist at the end is even better. read this for a good time and i guarantee you will enjoy it (at least better than the movie!).
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: It is the late nineteenth century, and the dawn of the new century brings with it fresh worries. As fearsome techno-pirates and criminal masterminds threaten the stability of the empire, a group of five unlikely individuals are brought together - Miss Mina Murray, a recently divorced young woman who's name hangs under a social black cloud following her suffering the attentions of a certain Transylvanian nobleman; Mr. Alan Quatermain, the fabled explorer of the dark continent recently turned to opium addiction; Captain Nemo, the embittered techno-pirate and master of the incredible underwater vessel NAUTILUS; Hawley Griffin, the 'Invisible Man', a psychopathic rapist and murderer; and Dr. Henry Jekyll, an exiled British chemist constantly battling his murderously savage alter-ego, Mr. Edward Hyde. This group is charged recovering a top-secret alloy from the clutches of an Insidious Doctor from the Orient, who has based himself in Limehouse - however, all is not as it seems, and it would appear that they have as much to worry from their employer - the mysterious 'M' - as any other foe... In this series, Mr. Alan Moore (of Watchmen and From Hell fame) and Mr. Kevin O'Neil create a fantastic tour de force of Victorian literature which brings together such disparate elements as the scientific romances of Verne and Wells, the social documentary of Dickens, the pulp mystery of Conan Doyle, the feel of contemporary 'steampunk' and even period pornography into a rollicking, page-turning adventure story which stands heads and tails above most 'proper' books, let alone the much maligned 'graphic novel' genre. And in doing so, they breathe new life into beloved old characters and scenarios, and create a world populated with practically every product of the human imagination. O'Neil's artwork creates a wonderfully realized steampunk version of the nineteenth century, a marvellous world of Victorian skyscrapers and airships and fantastic machinery, and complements the story well. A fantastic, perfect adventure story. Rule Britannia.
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