By Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill
Publisher: Knockabout
ISBN: 978-0861661626
If your only experience of the League of Extraordinary Gentleman is that flaming awful movie then expunge it from your memory and start again. The LOEG series is a fantastic journey through history and literature, bringing together characters from countless tales and stories into one world where they interact together. Lately, due to copyright issues, that has become a trickier task, so often it's left up to the reader to connect the dots and identify the character, such as Michael Caine's Carter from Get Carter in this issue.
Alan Moore's adept abilities as a writer should need no introduction, and in this on-going series he continues to pull references, plots, characters and situations from his exceptionally well read mental library. This, added to the glorious angular detail of Kev O'Neill, makes for a book that takes a deliciously long time to consume as each page demands your full attention as you soak up the hidden details.
As the title suggests, it is now the swinging sixties, and Mina Murray, Allan Quartermaine and Orlando are returning to England on the Nautilus. They're soon on the trail of the murder that they believe is an attempt by cult members to bring the antichrist to Earth. The trail leads them to Haddo Oliver who appears to have a rich and lengthy past worthy of further investigation.
The world that our heroes inhabit is slightly off kilter to our own, with the Rutles being the big name in music and repercussions of past conflicts (such as the shell of a tripod from the Mars invasion) still visible. There are countless references to look out for throughout the pages, including tiny appearances by Nemesis and Torquemada, which must have put a wry smile on Kev O'Neill's face as he drew them.
At the back of the book is a continuation of a prose piece that is densely packed and really needs you to have read what has gone on before. In fact, I'd go as far to say that you should absolutely not buy this if you've not read the previous books as your experience will be greatly diminished because of it. Possibly fair to say that you won't get this much depth of enjoyment for your money from any other series on the market.
And if you liked that: You've probably got a looooong wait until the next part
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