Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Comics by Alan Moore

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 1 - a comic that is set in Victoria England in which some of our favorite literary characters are real. Mr. Griffin "the Invisible Man", Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Alan Quatermain, Captain Nemo and the mysterious Ms Murray (recently divorced, hints at a horrible scandle and wears a long scarf tied around her neck at all time hmmmm....)

Recrutied by Campion Bond and the mysterious "M" could it be Mycroft Holmes but ends up being Sherlock Holmes nemephis, Professor Moriarty. Who is secretly controlling England and wants to go to war with a Chinese warlord who controls the East. He has discovered a cavorite that allows anything it resides in to fly.

Will the League be able to discover the truth in time and save England and possibly the world? Of course they will! Very exciting and graphic collection. I am still curious as to what is Ms Murray's special gift and what about Mr. Quatermain? Perhaps Vol. 2 will help me out.

Top 10 Vol 1 & 2
The city of Neopolis is populated by science-heroes and villains, and even the general population have weird powers and traits; there are also aliens, gods and other dimensional beings. Policing the city is a tough job, but somebody's got to do it, so the citizens accept the jurisdiction of a multi-dimensional force of peacekeepers, spread over several alternate Earths. In Neopolis Precinct 10 (Top 10) is the hub and Robyn Slinger (Toybox) is the rookie with a lot to learn, who carries around a crate full of intelligent supertoys who do her bidding. Her new partner is a hulking, sullen, blue dude named Smax who shoots energy beams out of his chest..

Robyn's coworkers include Girl One (whose bioengineered skin constantly changes), Jack Phantom (a lesbian who can phase through solid matter, Hyperdog (a sentient Doberman in a cyborg skeleton), Irma Geddon (a middle-aged housewife with a nuclear battlesuit), King Peacock (worships Satan; punches through solid stone), Synaesthesia (listens to smells, feels colors, sees sounds -- believe it or not, this is a real condition), Janus (a switchboard operator with two faces and two personalities), Alexei (a Communist telepath with a chimanzee for a wife), and a number of others. From giant saurians to weird aliens, from deicides to shark-headed lawyers, not to mention internal affairs, Robyn has her work cut out for her.

Vol. 1 was more fun for me as we got to learn much about the various characters. Especially the relationship between Robyn and her new partner Smax as we see how she deals with her father's decline into Alzheimer's. Vol. 2 started out well then the last section just got weird and preachy. Oh, well.