The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century

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The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century

Early cover art for Century #1, by O'Neill
Publication information
Publisher Top Shelf Productions (US)
Knockabout Comics (UK)
Publication date May 13, 2009
Number of issues 3
Main character(s) Mina Murray
Allan Quatermain
Orlando
A. J. Raffles
Thomas Carnacki
Creative team
Writer(s) Alan Moore
Artist(s) Kevin O'Neill
Letterer(s) Bill Oakley
Colorist(s) Ben Dimagmaliw

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century is the third volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill.[1][2] Co-published by Top Shelf Productions and Knockabout Comics in the US and UK respectively, Century will be published in three distinct 72-page squarebound comics. The volumes are tentatively scheduled to be released annually with Part 1 already released on May 13, 2009; Part 2 scheduled for April / May 2010; and Part 3 scheduled for April / May 2011.[3]

Contents

[edit] Structure

The third volume will be a 216-page epic spanning almost a hundred years and entitled 'Century'. Divided into three 72-page chapters, each a self-contained narrative to avoid frustrating cliff-hanger delays between episodes, it will take place in three distinct eras, building to an apocalyptic conclusion occurring in the present, twenty-first, century. Characters and themes will thread through all three episodes, which will particularly see the characters of Mina, Allan and Orlando feature prominently, alongside W. Somerset Maugham's Aleister Crowley-anologue Oliver Haddo and Iain Sinclair's London-bound time traveller Andrew Norton.[4]

Moore has stated that the move from DC Comics/WildStorm/America's Best Comics has been liberating, and that the work on Century is "as if we feel freed from the conventions of boys' adventure comics," allowing for a work that is "a lot more atmospheric," building slowly to "a tremendously bloody climax."[5]

[edit] Chapter 1. What Keeps Mankind Alive

In 1910, twelve years after the failed Martian invasion, Captain Nemo is on his deathbed in Lincoln Island. He asks his estranged daughter, Janni Dakkar, to resume his name and calling after his death. Janni refuses and leaves her father's side. Spying a passing ship, she swims towards it and stows away upon it. The ship takes her to London where she takes up employment at a wharf side hotel under the name Jenny Diver. Arriving on the same ship as Janni is Jack MacHeath a.k.a.Jack The Ripper, who is a direct descendant of the 18th Century Jack MacHeath a.k.a.Mack the Knife, and immediately takes to murdering prostitutes again.

Meanwhile, the occult detective and second League member Carnacki has visions of bloodshed on the waterfront and of a secret cabal of magicians convening to plot the creation of a Moonchild destined to bring forth the end of the world. Mina believes these visions may be connected with the upcoming coronation of King George V. Intelligence chief Mycroft Holmes advises them to investigate both, and suggests that the bloodshed on the waterfront is the work of MacHeath, who he believes to be Jack the Ripper.

While investigating one of the men Carnacki saw in his vision, Orlando, Quatermain and Carnacki stumble upon the circle of magicians, who claim that what Carnacki saw is either wrong, or has not happened yet. Carnacki inadvertently gives the magicians a crucial piece of information that they need to create the Moonchild. At the same time, Mina and Raffles consult Andrew Norton, a time traveler bound by the confines of the city of London, who speaks in riddles that hint at the war in Iraq and the July 7 bombings, but otherwise offers little help. He vanishes to another time, promising that he will meet Mina again in 1969.

Janni is raped by the drunken patrons of her hotel, and is later aided to her room by Suki Tawdry. She fires a flare to summon the Nautilus (which Suki, as narrator, has been referring to obliquely as The Black Raider) docked nearby.

The following day MacHeath is about to be hung without trial as Mycroft is worried that a trial might bring to light the involvement of the 14th Earl of Gurney in the original Ripper murders. MacHeath sings his last plea from the gallows while the Nautilus, now painted black as per Nemo's orders, and with his skull nailed to forecastle, emerges and destroys every building on the waterfront, save for Janni's hotel. The crew of the Nautilus descends upon the waterfront to loot, murder and rape while Janni, now the captain of the Nautilus, orders that the hotel patrons be killed slowly. This, and Suki's reference to the Nautilus as The Black Freighter recall the song Pirate Jenny.

At the last moment, a message arrives from the Earl of Gurney confessing to all the Ripper crimes. MacHeath is released and the League head to the waterfront to try and push the pirates back. While the men fight Mina comes face to face with Janni who recognises her. Janni says her father had nothing but bad things to say about Mina, which renders her worthy of respect to Janni. She bids Mina farewell, inviting Mina to join her should Mina ever decide to forsake government work. When Mina asks her name, Janni says she is "no one".

The issues ends with Mina expressing frustration with the League, while MacHeath and Suki sing and dance to a modified version of "What Keeps Mankind Alive?" (like the rest of the songs in the issue, the basis for this song is taken from Brecht and Weill's The Threepenny Opera).

[edit] Chapter 2. Paint It Black

"Paint It Black" will take place almost sixty years after the first episode —and "about 11 years after the events of "The Black Dossier,"[6]— during the psychedelic era of Swinging London during 1969, with the League now reduced to "just three members."[7] Moore's 1969 "is a place where Tadukic Acid Diethylamide 26 is the drug of choice, and where different underworlds are starting to overlap dangerously to an accompaniment of sit-ins and sitars."[8] The setting "partly revolves around a free rock concert in Hyde Park,"[9], and sees the League encountering Jerry Cornelius (last seen in The Black Dossier)[6] and will address (and redress) his contention that "[while e]veryone knows about the brilliant psychedelic underground of the time... the occult renewal is less well known."[10] Looking "at the crossover of swinging London, dodgy Satanism and organised crime,"[10] the second episode will see the interaction between gangsters, counter-culture personalties and pop-stars, as Mina Murray and the dwindling League engage with the "hippy and criminal subculture, as well as the twilight world of its occultists" attempting to prevent the rise of the Antichrist.[8]

In this volume, Moore intends to pay particular attention to referencing "the television series of that time,"[11] while appearances will be made by at least six incarnations of Ronnie Kray (including Harry Starks from Jake Arnott's The Long Firm, Harry Flowers from Performance, and Doug and Dinsdale Piranha from Monty Python's Flying Circus, alongside continued appearances from fictional Aleister Crowley analogues.[10] Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius will make an appearance as he was in A Cure for Cancer. Moore has also hinted that explanations given for many vintage horror stories of the 1960s will be given tracing back to the occultists from the first issue, hinting at such works such as Rosemary's Baby.[11]

The epilogue, which will occur in 1976, evokes the Punk era through a "reworking of Bertolt Brecht's "The Ballad of Immoral Earnings," " entitled "Immoral Earnings in the UK."[12]

Chapter 2 is set to be released April / May 2010.[3]

[edit] Chapter 3. Let It Come Down

The third chapter brings events to "a head spectacularly and horribly in 2009" in present-day London.[11] Moore has mentioned that "the basic institution of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen will be completely unrecognizable,"[9] being reduced in scope to a single person.[7] Summarising in microcosm his approach to the whole third volume, Moore notes that

“ "I suppose that if there’s an overall moral to this third volume, it's "Times change." Invariably, throughout human history, that has been the lesson: "Times change."

And I think right now we’re going through a period of change, quite violent and rapidly, at least in my summation of the moment. And hopefully, the speeded-up view of the twentieth-century-to-present in this volume will feel quite appropriate.[9]

 ”

Thematically, Moore has stated that the third section "is actually for me more difficult than the other two, because I know quite a bit about Victorian culture or Edwardian culture or even the culture of the 1950s and 1960s, but I know absolutely nothing about contemporary culture."[7] Nonetheless, by judicious use of allusions and allowing, according to O'Neill, "a quite famous character [to] walk through the background without being named," the duo intend to hint at more modern fictional characters and elements of popular culture, just as they alluded to Victorian and 1950s fictions.[2] In particular, Moore intends to include Iain Sinclair's semi-autobiographical Slow Chocolate Autopsy character Andrew Norton, the Prisoner of London in all three issues, giving him "a slightly larger role in the third part" interecting with the League near King's Cross Station.[13]

The modern-day set third issue will therefore see Orlando, now enlisted in the British Army, involved in the war in Q'umar (The West Wing's Iran/Iraq analogue[11][14]). Moore has said that the war scenes will demonstrate "what kind of creature Orlando is after these thousands of years."[15] In England, the birth of the 'moonchild'/antichrist foretold/foreshadowed/encouraged during the first two issues will apparantly feature prominently, intending to commence "[h]is promised aeon of unending terror... starting with North London."[16] Meanwhile, in Kashmir a Sikh terrorist who claims to be Nemo's great-grandchild[17] is equipped "with a now-nuclear-armed submarine [and waging] a holy war against Islam."[16]

Moore has already expressed his intention to include references to a number of TV programmes —many of which he is only peripherally aware of[14]— including The West Wing, 24 and Armando Iannucci's Time Trumpet.[7] He has also expressed his intention to include background details such as a film starring Vince Chase (from Entourage), and a reference to a band called DriveSHAFT (as featured on Lost).[14]

Chapter 3 is set to be released April / May 2011.[16][3]

[edit] Minions of the Moon

Accompanying each of the three issues is an episode of a text-story entitled Minions of the Moon written in the style of a 1960s "new wave" science fiction-type story, that ties together a range of lunar stories, written 'John Thomas' (a pseudonym of John Sladek, and slang term for the penis) for Lewd Worlds Of Science Fiction (Brian Aldiss' one-time pun name for New Worlds magazine) edited by James Colvin (another real-life former pseudonym, here that of Moore's friend —and New Worlds editor— Michael Moorcock).[7]The story is presented as if written in 1969[18]

Part One begins with an unnamed patient at an unidentified point in time, it then elaborates on some details of how Orlando became immortal and references 2001: A Space Odyssey. Following this there is a section that continues directly from the main story. The next section features the start of The Story of O revealing the identity of O. The next section provides details of a superhero team that Mina was part of in 1964.[7] The final section concerns Mina's journey to the Moon with the Golliwog, under instructions from Prospero in the Blazing World, who fears that the Lunar War will force mankind's lunar residents to relocate to an area which the Blazing World "powers that be" do not wish them to reach - yet.

Parts Two and Three will reference a range of lunar stories: Lucian's True History and Baron Münchhausen;[11] Francis Godwin's The Man in the Moone, Dan Dare, Otis Adelbert Kline's Maza of the Moon, Planet Comics' Mysta Of The Moon, George Griffith's A Honeymoon in Space, Marvel's Uatu the Watcher, and The Clangers;[7] the works of Jules Verne and Georges Méliès. The story features combat between the "Amazon Women on the Moon" and the Selenites, the insectoid residents of the Moon from H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon. He also wishes to make a few references to The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Street, since both shows are set in Baltimore, where Verne's astronauts hail from.[18]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Interview: Kevin O'Neill reveals the secrets of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Marshal Law, The Times, February 25, 2009
  2. ^ a b Manning, Shaun, "Extraordinary Gentleman: Kevin O'Neill on "Century: 1910" at Comic Book Resources, February 26, 2009.
  3. ^ a b c http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21322
  4. ^ Smith, Zack, "Mondo Moore: Looking Back on The Black Dossier" at Newsarama.com. Accessed May 3, 2009
  5. ^ The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log: "We’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Northampton: Part 1" Interview with Alan Moore by Pádraig Ó Méalóid, June 13th, 2008
  6. ^ a b Tantimedh, Adi, "Alan Moore’s Bestiary of Fictional Worlds, Part II," April 15 2009 at ComicbookResources. Accessed May 3, 2009.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Tantimedh, Adi, "Alan Moore's Bestiary of Fictional Worlds" at ComicBookResources, April 14, 2009. Accessed May 3, 2009.
  8. ^ a b Top Shelf blurb for Century #2. Accessed May 3, 2009
  9. ^ a b c Smith, Zack, "Mondo Moore: Alan Moore on the League, Watchmen, & More" at Newsarama.com. Accessed May 3, 2009
  10. ^ a b c "WORD March Issue Extended Edition: 'More Alan Moore'" by Andrew Harrison, 11 February, 2008.
  11. ^ a b c d e "Indie Edge February 2009: Alan Moore". Previews Magazine. February 2009. http://www.previewsworld.com/public/default.asp?t=1&m=1&c=6&s=448&ai=79482&ssd=. 
  12. ^ Smith, Zack, "Mondo Moore: Alan Moore on League: 1910, Part 1" at Newsarama.com. Accessed May 3, 2009
  13. ^ Smith, Zack, "Mondo Moore: Sinclair's Norton & Remembering Farmer" at Newsarama.com. Accessed May 3, 2009
  14. ^ a b c Smith, Zack, "Mondo Moore: Questions from Hill, Diaz, and More" at Newsarama.com. Accessed May 3, 2009
  15. ^ Nevins, Jess, "Alan Moore Interview" in Impossible Territories (MonkeyBrain, 2008), p. 200
  16. ^ a b c Century #3 blurb at Top Shelf Comix. Accessed May 3, 2009
  17. ^ Alan Moore: Inside "The Black Dossier", Comic Book Resources, November 14, 2007
  18. ^ a b Smith, Zack, "Mondo Moore: Alan Moore on New Ideas, Old Ideas" at Newsarama.com. Accessed May 3, 2009

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