Rating: 
Summary: very good
Review: This book, like most of Alan Moore's work, has a great story, interesting to read writing, parallells, twists, and multiple layers of enjoyment.
Rating: 
Summary: Just Didn't Get It
Review: First off: Alan Moore is brilliant, just to get that out of the way. The "Comics-as-Literature" movement is due in large part to Moore's work in the 80s, "The Dark Knight Returns" and "Watchmen." His writing is typically dark and satirical, but his creations are some of the most inventive and imaginative out there. Comics are what they are today because of Alan Moore, and he is the best at what he does.Usually. But this... this seems more like a writing exercise than a complete story. It's a pastiche of the writers of the day, written in the style of the day. Like he said, "I'm bored. Let's see, what would happen if Captain Nemo and Allan Quartermain were drafted by the British Government." The story comes second to research, as Moore tries to squeeze in as many "in-jokes" as possible on each page. O'Neill's art is serviceable, but a little on the "underground" side--that is, scratchy and cartoony. And there were several times when the art was hard to follow. All in all, very disappointing. Since most of the characters in the book are in public-domain, there are other novels available dealing with the concept of fictional characters meeting each other, and they are done better than this.
Rating:
Summary: What Comics Were Meant to Be
Review: The first volume of League comics is a great representation of what comics were meant to be. The medium lends itself best to escapist fiction, creating worlds that only illustrations could describe and colorful characters could inhabit. This is not to say that comics cannot convey powerful messages, as Moore's "Watchmen" and Spiegelman's "Maus" have shown, but I feel the best comics are the ones that do not take themselves so seriously. Moore definitely understands the lure of adventure and has generated a rousing one in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The story of the League is intriguing enough alone to read it. Imagine if England's most exotic men and creatures, people such as Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, and Dr. Jeckyll were brought together by Her Majesty's government in order to defeat the enemies of the empire. This is just the scenario in the first volume of the League, where this strange group of men and a few others are enlisted by a Mr. Bond of military intelligence. Their main mission is to recapture a material that will be used by Britain to go to the moon. It is in the hands of the nefarious "Doctor", an Asian triad king. If this was not exciting enough, they soon learn that there opposition and situation is much more complex, as a mysterious Mr. "M" watches and guides their actions (It's a great treat to see him revealed!). Moore goes all out in this comic. His writing is absolutely charming and magnetic, with a kind of cockney tilt and a humorous Victorian slant. The host of funny cameos is a real treat, people including the nefarious Artful Dodger. The art is spectacular, with an intriguing mix of futuristic Metropolis and steam fueled 19th century London. It is gothic combined with modern and it's a treat for the eyes. The dialogue is well written and Moore has a knack for complex storylines that quickly absorb the reader. A great addition to anyone's comic library.
Rating:
Summary: Brillaint!
Review: This is how all comics should be: innovative, fun, entrancing. Buy this and become addicted. Alan moore is a dark god of comics!
Rating:
Summary: It's no "Watchmen", but ...
Review: Think the Avengers or the JLA of the late 19th century. Mother England needs protection, so MI5 enlists those with proven courage under fire. They are: Mina Murray(Harker) of "Dracula", Alan Quartermain (an Indiana Jones type character from pulp novels), the reluctant Captain Nemo from "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", Jekyll and Hyde, and Hawley Griffin, the Invisible Man. Of course, this isn't a typical adventure. It's a mystery, teeming with cameos and reference. When compared with writer Moore's other works, it is surprisingly humourous and lighter in subject matter. Moore does darken some of the charcters though, reminding us that Captain Nemo is an Indian prince embittered with England, Quartermain is an opium addict, and the Invisible Man ... well, just read it and see. The art is, as always with Moore's works, reflective of the time period. The comic panels usually look like Victorian era etchings, which makes for a nice effect. Overall, it is a great read, leaving you satisfied for having done so. More to the point, it will leave you desperately awaiting the live action movie this summer, starring Sean Connery as Allan, a role he was born to play. Come on, it's Alan Moore. Just buy the sodding thing already.
Rating:
Summary: LXG Is Perfect!
Review: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is perhaps the best comic of the 21st century. Its premise is totally original: gather already established literary characters past their primes and have them go on a mission. Moore sets himself up well, since he has unlimited characters. Since his characters are pre-created, all he has to do is fit them into the storyline. Also, he did his research. I happen to own the novels that the characters come from. I checked back to them, and all info in the comic is the same as that in the novels.
One little extra that people keep failing to notice is in what would be issue two, around the beginning of the book, after they find the Invisible Man. There is a portrait on the wall with a prototype LXG. Three of the members are Natty Bumppo, Lemuel Gulliver and... The Scarlet Pimpernel, the original masked hero! Now that's a great surprise! I'd love to read about their adventures. Maybe in another volume...
Rating:
Summary: A Steampunk Classic
Review: The "League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" is loaded with references to other works that a sharp reader can pick up on. Sherlock Holmes references (not merely the obvious ones), James Bond, the Scarlet Pimpernell, art that is reminicent of 19th century popular illustrations, & un-numbered Jules Verne references. If you liked HG Welles, Arthur Conan Doyle, Poe, Stoker's "Dracula" or any other book from the 1870s-1920s, you'll love this.
Rating:
Summary: A pleasure at any level
Review: Alan Moore comes closer to a weaver of Persian rugs than any other comic writer out there. What do I mean by this? Simply, that he has woven a tapestry so rich with references that only an expert of old pulp and adventure fiction could hope to catch it all. Have any doubts? Search the web for the amateur annotations fans have assembled, showing how each page has literally a dozen references of some sort. Amazing stuff.
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: Rich in literary references - "for the discriminating eye"
Review: I heard about this on the internet among the buzz starting with the movie being shot, starring Sean Connery. It peaked my curiosity to hear that a comic book contained such an exhaustive reference to old literature characters that a website had been set up with annotations for practically every panel of the comic. Sure enough, just about every panel DOES contain references to everything from Oliver Twist to Sherlock Holmes. But enough about the "Easter Eggs." The fact that this is a great, ripping story filled with humor often is overshadowed by the hidden references, but it really is worth picking up for simply the story. Written in a similar form to the old "Penny Dreadfuls," this is noir at its best. Even the ads on the inside covers, etc, are great to read, filled with references, or based on actual ads "back in the day." You owe it to yourself to check this out. Especially if you end up seeing the movie. Everything I've heard is that it will probably be interesting, but not as good as this. Then, after you read this, pick up the new miniseries, League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Vol. 2 - out now in a comic store near you!
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