This week in class we read and began to discuss The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill. My experience with graphic novels has been limited and I have never been a huge fan of comics, but overall I enjoyed the reading. At the start of the book I was not aware that it employed famous literary characters as its protagonists, so it was fun to draw parallels between Mina and Mrs. Harker. It is interesting that she is not only a woman in a League of Gentlemen, but also that she holds the group together as their leader. Her organizational talent and forward thinking mindset remains very consistent from Dracula, though her unwillingness to advocate for herself has thankfully made a switch for the better.
Overall I felt that the characters were more engaging and intriguing than the plot in the novel. Captain Nemo's brooding nature and sometimes pessimistic view was a nice contrast to the others. Allan Quartermain, though superpowerless, seemed to help keep the story from getting too out of hand and also acted as a nice way for the reading audience to help connect with the novel. Dr. Jekyll is very likable and timid, and he adds an element of unpredictability with his transformation problem. The Invisible Man was the only character I was somewhat surprised by. Even though he has a pretty cool superpower/curse, would the other Gentlemen really so easily allow a criminal/murder/rapist to join their group? His crimes appear much more severe than anything the others are guilty of. While the airship-war-machine story that they embarked on was original, it seemed a little too over the top and rushed in my opinion. I guess that it is hard to create a quest for such outlandish characters without the quest quickly becoming outlandish itself.
Alan Moore did a fairly impressive job of impersonating the darker side of late nineteenth century Gothic fiction. He also wasn't afraid to use subjects that could cause a lot of hatred from some groups, such as the extreme anti-Asian sentiment and some of the violence which he tries to keep in tune with the time period. I think I preferred The Walking Dead, though.
ReplyDeleteI was also intrigued by the characters and their development. I think my favorite -- or at least the one that interested me the most -- was Captain Nemo. I don't really know his backstory but I've put 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on my list of stuff to read.
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