Status
Available
Call number
Publication
DC Comics (2004), Edition: 2nd printing, 228 pages
Description
The second collection of one of the most beloved comics miniseries of our time is here! This story immediately follows the events of The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume I! The distinguished cast of Victorian heroes-Allan Quatermain, Mina Harker, Captain Nemo, The Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde-once again answers the call of mother England to face the most unimaginable and fearsome foes ever: invaders from Mars! As London is attacked, leaving the Thames aglow from burning husks of tenements, mass hysteria seizes the nation. But now is the time for courage, for self-sacrifice, for valor ... and for treachery!.
User reviews
LibraryThing member MeditationesMartini
Moore duplicates, elaborates, and produces what, depending on my mood, I consider his best work (yeah, maybe better than Watchmen. This has all the easter-egg fun and plain superheroics of the first League, and also going for it, the pleasure of seeing the characters get a history together and mean
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as much because of their League exploits as much as their first appearances (now mere origin stories); the horror of the first alien landing and the burning babies, which is undiminished (less thorough, more visceral) than in Wells' book (although admittedly less disco than in the Jeff Wayne musical version); and a host of just ass-kicking moments that bring it alive in a way that never really happened with the first, which always felt like an equation, a bloodless exercise on the best premise in literary history. This one has blood, though, in spades. Wait till you see whose. Show Less
LibraryThing member edgeworth
Volume II of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has the advantage that all such sequels have, namely that it begins with the team already assembled and can jump direcly into a story. This volume opens on Mars, where various imagined inhabitants are fighting for control of the red planet, and the
And so Volume II is largely a retelling of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, with the disparate League being tasked with defending England from a Martian invasion. Moore continues to inject his universe with fictional characters drawn from the collective imagination of mankind, often with a diabolical twist - one particular appearance, in issue five, was simultaneously horrifying and hilarious.
Moore has more space to explore the characters in this issue, and Hyde in particular is more well-developed, yet on the whole I still felt like both characters and plot were far too fleeting. Perhaps it's one of the constraints of the comic book's short format, or perhaps it's Moore's own fault. I had a similar problem with Watchmen, which despite being magnificent, had only a few truly grand characters; Rorschach, Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan dominated that novel, while Nite Owl and the Silk Spectre felt stunted. Similarly, the two main characters in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Allan Quatermain and Mina Murray - feel less developed than Hyde and to a lesser extent Griffin (whose betrayal seems forced in simply for the sake of it).
The appendix of Volume I contained a pulp fiction short story featuring Allan Quatermain, which I felt was tedious and not worth mentioning in my review, but the appendix for Volume II features a more intriguing "Traveller's Alamanac" to the fictional world of the League. Since it is populated by fictional characters, it is likewise a world cobbled together from the vast work of human mythology and fiction. This turned out to be rather less interesting than I thought it would be. While Moore draws from sources ranging from The Odyssey to House of Leaves, the simple equation of history means that the vast majority of fictional realms are drawn from works at least several centuries old, and sometimes dating back to antiquity. And so the reader is typically drawn across a series of islands and archipelagos dreamt up as a simple fantasy or allegory by writers and poets of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and unless the reader happens to be an English Literature major, they're unlikely to recognise most of the references. A sampling:
"We find an island called Lanternland by some, where great Demosthenes burned midnight oil, and putting in to shore upon my command upon its soil saw men to glow-worms turn: each Lord and Lady dressed with glass and gem that caught the shine of wanton candleflame. Jewelled crest and diamond hem, blazing they pass, no two the same, their radiance divine.
"Not far away an oracle is found: a bottle in a crypt upon an isle where did sweet Bacchus make a vineyard grow. The bottle speaketh with a crackling sound, and I did like its augurs not at all. We sailed south, past the Lotus-eater's land of yellow sand and endless afternoon. A fellow there his care will soon forget in fragrant blooms, where hides worse slavery yet. Ogygia too we passed and left behind, where fair Calypso walked in violet meads, and so we came to find instead a place, a curious atoll by an island near..."
And so on. Moore's breadth of literature is astonishing - he appears to not only be aware of the entire human canon, but to have actually read it all - but crafting as fictional traveller's guide in which the reader is strung from brief description to brief description is not a valuable use of this knowledge. I actually had trouble finishing the appendices in both volumes, and it made me suspect that without the visual aid of the graphic novel, Moore would not be a particularly good writer.
But then, one can't review a graphic novel and not fairly take into balance its visual aspect, and Volume II is marvellous, with some lovingly rendered scenes of chaos and terror as Martian tripods stalk the land. Incidentally, Steven Spielberg would appear to have closely copied Kevin O'Neill's visual interpretation of the Martian tripods for his 2005 film. (Also, was it just me, or is the scene where Hyde tears open the casing of a fallen tripod and tells the Martian inside "Welcome to England!" a direct homage to Will Smith's "Welcome to Earth!" in Independence Day?)
Despite its flaws, Volume II is still a good read, and more entertaining than Volume I - though I suspect this is simply because The War of the Worlds is a timeless classic, and a better story than the fairly generic outing Moore came up with for Volume I. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a solid set of graphic novels, but still doesn't even begin to compare to Moore's magnum opus, Watchmen.
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first chapter ends with the "molluscs" being routed, and invading Earth - beginning with a space capsule landing at Woking, Surrey.And so Volume II is largely a retelling of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, with the disparate League being tasked with defending England from a Martian invasion. Moore continues to inject his universe with fictional characters drawn from the collective imagination of mankind, often with a diabolical twist - one particular appearance, in issue five, was simultaneously horrifying and hilarious.
Moore has more space to explore the characters in this issue, and Hyde in particular is more well-developed, yet on the whole I still felt like both characters and plot were far too fleeting. Perhaps it's one of the constraints of the comic book's short format, or perhaps it's Moore's own fault. I had a similar problem with Watchmen, which despite being magnificent, had only a few truly grand characters; Rorschach, Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan dominated that novel, while Nite Owl and the Silk Spectre felt stunted. Similarly, the two main characters in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Allan Quatermain and Mina Murray - feel less developed than Hyde and to a lesser extent Griffin (whose betrayal seems forced in simply for the sake of it).
The appendix of Volume I contained a pulp fiction short story featuring Allan Quatermain, which I felt was tedious and not worth mentioning in my review, but the appendix for Volume II features a more intriguing "Traveller's Alamanac" to the fictional world of the League. Since it is populated by fictional characters, it is likewise a world cobbled together from the vast work of human mythology and fiction. This turned out to be rather less interesting than I thought it would be. While Moore draws from sources ranging from The Odyssey to House of Leaves, the simple equation of history means that the vast majority of fictional realms are drawn from works at least several centuries old, and sometimes dating back to antiquity. And so the reader is typically drawn across a series of islands and archipelagos dreamt up as a simple fantasy or allegory by writers and poets of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and unless the reader happens to be an English Literature major, they're unlikely to recognise most of the references. A sampling:
"We find an island called Lanternland by some, where great Demosthenes burned midnight oil, and putting in to shore upon my command upon its soil saw men to glow-worms turn: each Lord and Lady dressed with glass and gem that caught the shine of wanton candleflame. Jewelled crest and diamond hem, blazing they pass, no two the same, their radiance divine.
"Not far away an oracle is found: a bottle in a crypt upon an isle where did sweet Bacchus make a vineyard grow. The bottle speaketh with a crackling sound, and I did like its augurs not at all. We sailed south, past the Lotus-eater's land of yellow sand and endless afternoon. A fellow there his care will soon forget in fragrant blooms, where hides worse slavery yet. Ogygia too we passed and left behind, where fair Calypso walked in violet meads, and so we came to find instead a place, a curious atoll by an island near..."
And so on. Moore's breadth of literature is astonishing - he appears to not only be aware of the entire human canon, but to have actually read it all - but crafting as fictional traveller's guide in which the reader is strung from brief description to brief description is not a valuable use of this knowledge. I actually had trouble finishing the appendices in both volumes, and it made me suspect that without the visual aid of the graphic novel, Moore would not be a particularly good writer.
But then, one can't review a graphic novel and not fairly take into balance its visual aspect, and Volume II is marvellous, with some lovingly rendered scenes of chaos and terror as Martian tripods stalk the land. Incidentally, Steven Spielberg would appear to have closely copied Kevin O'Neill's visual interpretation of the Martian tripods for his 2005 film. (Also, was it just me, or is the scene where Hyde tears open the casing of a fallen tripod and tells the Martian inside "Welcome to England!" a direct homage to Will Smith's "Welcome to Earth!" in Independence Day?)
Despite its flaws, Volume II is still a good read, and more entertaining than Volume I - though I suspect this is simply because The War of the Worlds is a timeless classic, and a better story than the fairly generic outing Moore came up with for Volume I. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a solid set of graphic novels, but still doesn't even begin to compare to Moore's magnum opus, Watchmen.
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LibraryThing member Black_samvara
Much more entertaining than the movie and a lot darker.
LibraryThing member -Eva-
I was a bit wary of this - some Alan Moore I love, and some I just don't get. Also, I've seen the movie based on this and, let's be honest, it's rather painful to watch. Fortunately, I found League quite a fun read. It's not as thought-provoking as Moore's work normally is, more an homage to
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literary heroes, but quite exciting nonetheless. The art really enhances the story and brings places to life. Especially London's underbelly and the English countryside are very well depicted. Show Less
LibraryThing member tiamatq
I liked the second volume of LXG, but not nearly as much as I enjoyed the first. Mostly I enjoyed the development between Mina, Allan, and Hyde. This volume is not for the squeamish... but are there many Alan Moore books that are? What really irks me about this volume is the same thing that I tend
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to enjoy about the series as a whole; I love the literary/pop culture references strewn about, and I want to sit with Wikipedia or one of the sites dedicated to deconstructing the comic series, so I'm getting it all. But the walls of text making up the "atlas" at the end of the book are just plain aggravating. It felt more like an attempt to cram in every possible allusion and then some, with Moore checking off a giant list of novels, short stories, and movies. It's really more worth your time to skim to the journal entries, particularly Mina's and Orlando's. Of course, I'm sure in the next two volumes these references will pop up and then I'll be sorry I recommended to skim. I will say that the description of the Wonderland expedition left me with goosebumps... eep! Show Less
LibraryThing member AlCracka
Just as good as the first. Maybe better.
LibraryThing member skyekat
Another great installment of the League from Moore. This time he takes the conceit of using characters from literature to a new level, and uses "War of the World" as the scaffolding or this story. I love the twist of incorporating Dr. Moreau as well. I wish some of the stuff that happens on Mars at
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the beginning of the story was fleshed out more, as I found it fascinating. The story-telling is quirky and fun, and it's a very enjoyable ride. The encyclopedia-like almanac at the end has some interesting tidbits in it, and does contain some explanations useful if you plan on reading the Black Dossier, but otherwise I found that section a bit dry. Show Less
LibraryThing member euang
Could do better- see me after class: Not Moores finest but O'Neill on tip-top form. Mild eroticism, Dr Moreau and Hyde demise aside, a rather straight forward retelling of Wells plot. Feels like a single volume story that's been stretched to fit; extras at the end of hardback version usual trite,
Hopefully the third series will be a return to form.
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poor mans 'Haggard-meets-Lovecraft' nonsense. Hopefully the third series will be a return to form.
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LibraryThing member kagan
The writing in here is very good. The art is good but kinda boring. It could have been longer as it is a little shorter than I would have liked. The extras in the back of the book are very entertaining. The travelers almanac thingy is interested, but if you dont have a good knowledge of literature
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you probably wont understand the references. Show Less
LibraryThing member Girl_Detective
The team of irregulars–Mina Murray, the Invisible Man, Edward Hyde, Captain Nemo and Allan Quatermain–are under new leadership, after the events in volume 1 and are dispatched to the site of what appears to be a meteor crater. The monsters from Mars soon reveal themselves, and begin traipsing
In addition to the Sherlock Holmes and Quatermain stories, Dracula, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, volume 2 references other Victorian literature, including Gulliver’s Travels, Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars, War of the Worlds, and The Island of Dr. Moreau.
This is an adventure–sometimes tragic, sometime comic, but always engaging. I found it great fun, once I stopped reading the backmatter.
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about in distinctive-looking vehicles. It’s up to the team of misfits to save the day, and they’re aided by a reclusive and mysterious doctor.In addition to the Sherlock Holmes and Quatermain stories, Dracula, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, volume 2 references other Victorian literature, including Gulliver’s Travels, Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars, War of the Worlds, and The Island of Dr. Moreau.
This is an adventure–sometimes tragic, sometime comic, but always engaging. I found it great fun, once I stopped reading the backmatter.
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LibraryThing member tapestry100
The second volume in Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's Victorian superhero drama, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, takes everything that made the first volume so enjoyable and made it better. Better villains, even more ingenious literary references and all the elements that make for a good
I look forward to reading the future releases in this series.
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sequel (sabotage, traitors, relationships that weren't there before, teases of things before and yet to come) all made for a great read.I look forward to reading the future releases in this series.
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LibraryThing member aethercowboy
Alan Moore wasn't content enough to give us just one volume of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (thank goodness!), so he and Illustrator Kevin O'Neill brought us this sequel, which followed immediately after the events of Volume One.
The evil doctor has been subdued, but what's this? An alien
Follow your favorite characters (and those that you hated!) from the previous volume, as well as new ones, as they stop the invading tripods, discover terrible secrets, and even learn valuable lessons along the way (for some, though, it's a bit too late!).
This is a perfect sequel to League, Volume One, and will nicely wrap up story lines, and make you hungry to more. Included is an amazing appendix that, while very hard to read, pays off immensely in the end, if your goal is to better understand the world of League. Be wary, though, that the "New Traveler's Almanack" is full of subtle hints that unseasoned readers may overlook.
This volume is a definite for anybody who enjoyed the first.
The evil doctor has been subdued, but what's this? An alien
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invasion!? Looks like the league's work is never done, and they must now work to try to stop this war of the worlds!Follow your favorite characters (and those that you hated!) from the previous volume, as well as new ones, as they stop the invading tripods, discover terrible secrets, and even learn valuable lessons along the way (for some, though, it's a bit too late!).
This is a perfect sequel to League, Volume One, and will nicely wrap up story lines, and make you hungry to more. Included is an amazing appendix that, while very hard to read, pays off immensely in the end, if your goal is to better understand the world of League. Be wary, though, that the "New Traveler's Almanack" is full of subtle hints that unseasoned readers may overlook.
This volume is a definite for anybody who enjoyed the first.
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LibraryThing member iftyzaidi
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. After the discovering that 'M', the head of British Military Intelligence, for whom they worked, was actually Dr. Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime, and disposing of him, the League may believe that their employers are now on the up and up. But when 'The War
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of the Worlds' begins with an invasion from Mars, the League is sent to contact another MI asset - Doctor Moreau, who has been hidden away in the 'Wild Woods' (from Wind in the Willows) by MI and collect one of his 'experiments' for use against the alien tripods. The use of this experimental hybrid to stop the Tripods who have amassed in London, despite the presence of thousands of civilians shows that for MI (under its new leader, Mycroft Holmes - Sherlock's elder brother), the ends always justifies the means. Highly entertaining stuff, though I have to say it is not for the faint of heart with a quotient of sex and violence that would probably give Richard Morgan a run for his money. This is Edwardian Boys' Own Adventures updated for the new millennium. Show Less
LibraryThing member oybon
In isolation a fun read, with several clever twistings of classical literature and myth. Certainly worth the reading time and fully enjoyed. It is though not up to the level of Vol.1 which has a much stronger narrative and a feel of greater progression and excitement.
LibraryThing member polarbear123
Another great Moore book - I like the quirky humour of the League and ther is plenty of it here. Great illustrations too. I want more of the League but all of the other books appear to be one off specials. Are they worth it?
LibraryThing member swampygirl
I actually kind of liked this one better than the first.
LibraryThing member ragwaine
There are actually 3 parts to this graphic novel so I'll talk about each of them separately.
The comic. I thought the story was a cool idea and I LOVE the art. BUT... The aliens were super powerful and I really feel like the League was kind of useless against them except for Nemos advanced weaponry.
The extras. These were hilarious. I'm very glad they were included.
The travel log. This is the part I couldn't finish. It was basically an almanac of fantastic places and peoples. It must have taken a LOT of research because it was really long. My problem is that even with the amount of reading I've done (a lot) I was unfamiliar with many of the 1-2 line entries. As a result it was really boring.
So overall it was fun and the art was great but I could have done without the travel log thingy.
The comic. I thought the story was a cool idea and I LOVE the art. BUT... The aliens were super powerful and I really feel like the League was kind of useless against them except for Nemos advanced weaponry.
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Besides one fight scene they spent the entire story running or investigating. That said, there were some "interesting" things that happened between league members.The extras. These were hilarious. I'm very glad they were included.
The travel log. This is the part I couldn't finish. It was basically an almanac of fantastic places and peoples. It must have taken a LOT of research because it was really long. My problem is that even with the amount of reading I've done (a lot) I was unfamiliar with many of the 1-2 line entries. As a result it was really boring.
So overall it was fun and the art was great but I could have done without the travel log thingy.
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LibraryThing member renrav
I did see the movie years ago so I had a general knowledge of the characters which is pretty much all the two had in common. It was okay. I liked the art style but couldn't get into the story.
LibraryThing member regularguy5mb
Here we have the second tale of Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. This is for the hardcover collected edition of Volume II.
The second volume picks up almost directly after the events of the first in July 1898. However, this time the story begins on Mars. We have the meeting of two
The events from there follow the basic invasion story from Wells, exploring the League's involvement and once again filling the story with myriad references to other works, including the Island of Dr. Moreau. Moreau, as it turns out, holds the key to defeating the alien invaders.
Moore and O'Neill bring another solid piece of crossover fiction with the second volume of the League, and with such large-scale stakes on the line, not everyone is coming out of this one unscathed.
Along with the main story, Moore and O'Neill create a backup feature which explores the world in which the League exists. Through "The New Traveler's Almanac," we see the various incarnations of the League (from "Prospero's Men," to Gulliver's League, and Mina Murray's current version) travel the world and visit the strange, exotic locales within it.
The second volume picks up almost directly after the events of the first in July 1898. However, this time the story begins on Mars. We have the meeting of two
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famous human adventurers on Mars, Gulliver and John Carter, planning a final battle against a common foe. This common foe turns out to be the "Martians" from H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.The events from there follow the basic invasion story from Wells, exploring the League's involvement and once again filling the story with myriad references to other works, including the Island of Dr. Moreau. Moreau, as it turns out, holds the key to defeating the alien invaders.
Moore and O'Neill bring another solid piece of crossover fiction with the second volume of the League, and with such large-scale stakes on the line, not everyone is coming out of this one unscathed.
Along with the main story, Moore and O'Neill create a backup feature which explores the world in which the League exists. Through "The New Traveler's Almanac," we see the various incarnations of the League (from "Prospero's Men," to Gulliver's League, and Mina Murray's current version) travel the world and visit the strange, exotic locales within it.
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LibraryThing member benuathanasia
The last one was a bit high on itself. This one was downright snotty in its high opinion of itself. I feel as though characters I have loved for years were cornered in a dark alley, beaten into submission, and black-bagged into this boring, pretentious, crap.
LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
This book seemed almost anticlimactic after the first one. The aliens were exciting but the group split apart at the end and with the death of Hyde and the invisible man, I just found it disappointing.
LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
This book seemed almost anticlimactic after the first one. The aliens were exciting but the group split apart at the end and with the death of Hyde and the invisible man, I just found it disappointing.
LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
This book seemed almost anticlimactic after the first one. The aliens were exciting but the group split apart at the end and with the death of Hyde and the invisible man, I just found it disappointing.
LibraryThing member rickklaw
The second League of Extraordinary Gentleman adventure picked up immediately where the first volume ended. Martians are invading the Earth and it’s up to Mina Harker, Allan Quartermain, Captain Nemo, Mr. Hyde, and the Invisible Man to stop them. More Victorian madness and fun from Alan Moore and
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Kevin O’Neill. This sequel is actually better than it’s predecessor. Show Less
LibraryThing member bdgamer
Just like its predecessor, volume 2 has an interesting premise that's executed quite well. This time around, the characters interact far more easily and they are explored more thoroughly in terms of their personalities and motivations.
I especially loved the way Hyde was used to do a certain
All in all, it's a great book with a good story, brilliant art, and a lot of supplementary material. It was a good - if not great - read!
I especially loved the way Hyde was used to do a certain
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*something* that I was absolutely rooting for. All the other characters were written well, too, though I felt Nemo was brushed aside for the others this time.All in all, it's a great book with a good story, brilliant art, and a lot of supplementary material. It was a good - if not great - read!
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Subjects
Awards
Bram Stoker Award (Nominee — 2003)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2000
Physical description
228 p.; 6.61 inches
ISBN
1401201180 / 9781401201180