The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier
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| The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier | |
|---|---|
 Cover of Black Dossier |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Wildstorm/DC Comics |
| Genre | Alternate History Horror Spy Steampunk Superhero |
| Publication date | November 14, 2007 |
| Main character(s) | Mina Murray Allan Quatermain Orlando Jimmy Emma Night Hugo Drummond Prospero Fanny Hill Galley-Wag Harry Lime/M Billy Bunter |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Alan Moore |
| Artist(s) | Kevin O'Neill |
| Letterer(s) | Bill Oakley |
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier is an original graphic novel in the comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill. It is the last volume of the series to be published by DC Comics; future editions of the series will be published by Top Shelf Productions due to Alan Moore severing all connections with DC. Chronologically, the volume is the third in the series, but Moore says that it is really an intermediary volume linking volumes two and three.
Black Dossier was released on November 14, 2007.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Background and format
Originally referred to as The Dark Dossier during early announcements of its existence, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier differs from the first two (and official statements for the third) volumes, as it is a self-contained graphic novel as opposed to a limited series later collected into a trade paperback. While the first two volumes included prose stories as backup features, the majority of Black Dossier is non-comic pieces, taking the form of prose stories, letters, maps, guidebooks, magazines and even a lost Shakespeare folio. Also included is a 'Tijuana Bible' insert and a 3-D section complete with custom glasses. All illustrations are done by Kevin O'Neill, the artist on the first two volumes. Alan Moore also recorded a vinyl record of him singing an original song that would be released with the book, but DC later made the decision to hold back on the vinyl and release it in a special Absolute Black Dossier edition after the first release.[2]
After many changed shipping dates, the Absolute Edition was released with no vinyl record, no script/sketch companion book (something that shipped with Absolute "League" vols. 1&2), and a price point of $99 - $24 higher then the two previous Absolute "League" vols. Reactions in the collecting community were largely negative.[citation needed] The DC Comics website continues to list the nonexistent extra features in the blurb for this book. [3]
[edit] Legal issues
A DC press release confirmed it would not be released outside the United States "due to international copyright concerns and related issues".[4] This was not an issue with previous volumes, as the Victorian setting meant that the majority of characters that were used were from works no longer under copyright.
[edit] Plot
Unlike earlier volumes, the comic book portions of Black Dossier are not set in the Victorian era; rather, they are set in 1958, after the fall of the Big Brother government from Nineteen Eighty Four (the chronological explanation for this is that Orwell's book was originally set in 1948, but the dates were changed by the publisher). The story itself sees Mina Harker and Allan Quatermain - now immortal after bathing in the fire of youth from She - on their quest to recover the Black Dossier, which contains the secret history of the now-disbanded League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Out to stop them is a trio of secret agents: inept, brutally womanizing Jimmy, recently-orphaned Emma Night, and aging thug Hugo Drummond. The pursuit takes Mina and Allan from London to Scotland, and eventually to the magical Blazing World.
[edit] The Black Dossier
As Murray and Quatermain read the dossier, the contents of the dossier interrupt the narrative in different sections. Stories include "On the Descent of the Gods" an account of the Gods of the League universe, as written by Oliver Haddo; a twenty-five page "Life of Orlando" comic strip which tells the entire life of Orlando from his birth in the City of Thebes in 1260 B.C., up to the Second World War told in the style of a 1950s British comic called Trump.[5]; a faux William Shakespeare play detailing the foundation of the League by Prospero from The Tempest; an imaginary sequel to John Cleland's Fanny Hill with full-page illustrations akin to those the Marquis Von Bayros illustrated for the book; a Bertie Wooster and Jeeves prose story involving one of Great Old Ones from the stories of H.P. Lovecraft; and "The Crazy Wide Forever," a short story written in the style of Jack Kerouac. Other features include a picture map of the Blazing World and its location, a cut-away of Nemo's Nautilus Mark II submarine, a series of postcards Mina and Allan sent between the years 1899 and 1913, and profiles of the second 20th century leagues and the group's French and German counterparts.
[edit] Reception
Time magazine's Lev Grossman named it one of the Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2007, ranking it at #2, and praising it as “effing genius.”[6]
[edit] Awards
- 2007: Won the "Favourite Original Graphic Novel" Eagle Award
[edit] Notes
- ^ "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier (solicitation)". Graphic Novels: Wildstorm. http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=5977. Retrieved 2007-03-06.
- ^ News on Upcoming Volumes.
- ^ http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=9047
- ^ LoEG: The Black Dossier to Only be Published in The U.S., Newsarama, August 7, 2007
- ^ Winter, Andrew; Moore, Alan (2007). "Northampton's Finest: Alan Moore Interview". Tripwire Annual 2007 (Tripwire Publishing): pp. 12–17.
- ^ Grossman, Lev; Top 10 Graphic Novels, Time
[edit] References
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier at the Comic Book DB
[edit] External links
- About Black Dossier
- The DC Comics Message Board for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
- Preview of Black Dossier, Entertainment Weekly
[edit] Interviews
- Alan Moore: Inside "The Black Dossier", Comic Book Resources, November 14, 2007
- Kevin O'Neill Talks "The Black Dossier", Comic Book Resources, November 20, 2007
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