The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The first mini series of the LoEG was six issues in length, which were later collected into a single volume. The first series dealt with threats to Britain from diverse individuals and reasons, and featured six individual covers all drawn by Kevin O'Neill in a different style. A second six issue miniseries began publication in 2002.

The title could well be a play upon that of The League of Gentlemen, or yet The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, or have many other influences.

The story takes place in 1898 in a fictional world where all of the characters and events from Victorian era literature actually existed. Thus, the world the characters inhabit is one far more technologically advanced than our own was in the same year (see steampunk). This setting allows Mr Moore and Mr O'Neill to insert 'in-jokes' and cameos from many of the great works of Victorian Literature and fiction, while also making contemporary references and jibes. (In issue 1, there is a half-finished Bridge to link Britain and France, as an aside to the problems encountered while building the Channel Tunnel).

The League is assembled by the British government to protect the empire from various menaces including the criminal genius Professor Moriarty (Vol. 1) and the Martians from H.G. Wells' novel War of the Worlds (Vol. 2).

The individual members of the League are:

• Mina Murray of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula
• Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's novels 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island
• Allan Quatermain[?], the hero of H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines and its various sequels and prequels
• Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde, from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Dr. Hawley Griffin, the Invisible Man from the 1897 novel by H.G. Wells (Mr Moore gave Dr. Griffin his first name, that of legendary murderer Dr Crippen[?])

The League are recruited for the Government by one Campion Bond, an original creation of Mr Moore.

A film starring Sean Connery and directed by Stephen Norrington[?] is scheduled for release on July 7, 2003 in America. It reportedly adds the additional characters, Tom Sawyer (from the novel by Mark Twain) and Dorian Gray (from the novel by Oscar Wilde). Sundry other 'changes' include the fact that Mina Murray will still be Mina Harker, and a Vampire.

Leagues juxtaposition of characters from different sources in the same story is similar to science fiction writer Philip Jose Farmer's works centering around the Wold Newton family.

External links

• Article at FilmForce about the upcoming film (http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/317/317027p1)
• Annotations to the League (http://www.geocities.com/ratmmjess/league1) (Notes and annotations in a page-by-page commentry to the comics.)
• A mirror site for the Commentary. (http://www.enjolrasworld.com/Jess%20Nevins/League%20of%20Extraordinary%20Gentlemen/Notes%20on%20League%20of%20Extraordinary%20Gentlemen%201.htm)
• A fansite, which includes pictoral representations of the Leagues throughout the ages. (http://www.comp.dit.ie/dgordon/League/loeg0001)
• The DC Comics Message Board for the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. (http://www.comp.dit.ie/dgordon/League/loeg0001)
• A Marvellous fansite dedicated to Mina Murray. (http://www.pagerealm.com/minamurray)