How many LOEG readers went on to read the sources?

[Stony]

I was just modding the other board I do here, the ULTIMATE MARVEL board and there's a thread where someone asks how many people got into comics through the Ultimates line. One guy mentioned ultimately coming into comics through the LXG movie

And it got me wondering... how many people here, who have read League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, have gone on from there to read the original books featuring the characters? Like the Quartermain books, Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, HG Wells, etc?

For myself, I think I've read most of the the works before I had read LOEG

Anyone think Moore improved on any of the characters? Or did worse by the characters in your eyes? I think Moore did a great job with Moriarty, but then I also think he had a lot of room to manoeveur there to flesh the character out. I also really wasn't expecting Moore to give Holmes that sense of quiet nobility, given how borderline he treated some of the other characters, it was nice

[Babylon23]

I'd already read most of the source material for League before I read the comic, with the exception of the Alan Quatermain stuff. I got into most of those books by seeing the classic movie versions when I was young. Overall, I think Moore did a good job of translating the characters into comics.

[Pól Rua]

Same pretty much.
I had some problems with Moore's Nemo, but I've always been a big fan of the character.

[The Shadow]

I tracked down King Solomon's Mine and read it... and re-read Dracula

[i_mmmchocolate]

Does anyone own or has browsed through this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193226504X/ref=wl_it_dp/103-5758576-0271013?%5Fencoding=UTF8&colid=8U37U7LHL8IP&coliid=IBQ6QFJN0LJRP&v=glance&n=283155)?

I'm curious to know if it's any good.

[unkiedev]

Yes, i_mmmchocolate, I read that and the blazing world and I found them both to be a biggity-blast. I think LOEG is Moore's finest hero work, and that is saying something. Both Heroes and Mosters and the Blazing World are detailed descriptions of the in-jokes, with back up essays to put stuff in context and quips throughout from Moore and O'neil themselves. If yer a LOEG junkie, these are indespensible....Plus, if you are mearly curious about things, it's arranged by page, so you can use it as an appendix. I.E. sitting and reading it in one go is NOT REQUIRED.

After League I went out and read Jeckle and Hyde and Invisible man. Both were so super. I had previously read 20,000 leagues, Dracula and all of Holmes. Pól Rua, I too was a little ...concerned... at Moore's Nemo. Ah well, he works great in the comic, so no biggie!

Haven't read Solomon's mines. Is it worth it?

[Stony]

So what was it you guys didn't like about how Nemo was treated? Too bloodthirsty? Not scientific enough?

[unkiedev]

Nemo rejects the land and swears he will never step foot on it ever again. Also his entire motivation is to destroy the British crown, and any other fascist regimes.

He is a proud warrior prince who calls the Sea his only home. He was bad-ass as all get out. He was the original batman.

So now imagine Batman leaving Gotham city to go work for the Soviet government to help track down petty criminals. That kinda sums up why it doesn't quite jibe.

At the same time, he's my favorite character in the LOEG, and I wouldn't really want to read it without him.

[jadehorde]

Does anyone own or has browsed through this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193226504X/ref=wl_it_dp/103-5758576-0271013?%5Fencoding=UTF8&colid=8U37U7LHL8IP&coliid=IBQ6QFJN0LJRP&v=glance&n=283155)?

I'm curious to know if it's any good.

It's pretty good. Got it signed at Comic-Con, so I geeekd out, but it's not bad if you want to know where some of the things in the comics came from.

[Sheldon]

Jess Nevins used to post his annotations here if I remember correctly.

[jessnevins]

i_mmmchocolate: I think it's pretty good. Of course, I'm biased. :-)

But I'll tell you what I've told others: money-back guarantee from me. If you don't like it or feel you didn't get your money's worth, let me know and I'll buy it back from you for what you paid for it.

[sheets]

Does anyone own or has browsed through this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193226504X/ref=wl_it_dp/103-5758576-0271013?%5Fencoding=UTF8&colid=8U37U7LHL8IP&coliid=IBQ6QFJN0LJRP&v=glance&n=283155)?

I'm curious to know if it's any good.

Yes, it's very good, as is the other volume and Nevins's Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana is even better :)

[Kid Kyoto]

I got the encyclopedia too.

LXG got me into some retro hero stuff, I tracked down Philip Jose Farmer's Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage bios and Kim Newman's excellent Anno Dracula.

I read Dracula but that was more because of Newman than Moore.

[BeastieRunner]

I had already read all the source material. Crazy. Classic lit rocks.

[jessnevins]

For those of you who bought the encyclopedia--thank you!

[matt levin]

I'd also read most of the source material, with the bit of a twist that my 'source material' for the Alan Q stories was old time radio!

source book sounds like a good thing to have~!
thanks--
Matt

[unkiedev]

For those of you who bought the encyclopedia--thank you!
No man, Thank you! It's great stuff. When (and if ever) Moore & O'neil get the Dark Dossier on the shelves you'll have to do a third Encyclopedia and I'll buy that one as well.

-Do you have any inside word from The Boys re: Dark Dossier, Or do you have to get the book like ther rest of us?

[jessnevins]

I'll of course be doing a book of annotations for the Black Dossier.

But I can't talk about it until it hits the shelves, sorry. :-)

[kertap]

Although he's only in the movie (although the picture is in the comic), I tried to read the Legend of Dorean(sp?) Gray. Tried being the operable word. Damn Irish Authors.

[unkiedev]

I'll of course be doing a book of annotations for the Black Dossier.

But I can't talk about it until it hits the shelves, sorry. :-)
You're a big meenie. Just for that I'm going to NOT buy yer third Volume...*sigh*. That's an empty threat.

I've read very little Wilde. I've always wanted to read Dorien Grey.

[Pól Rua]

Nemo rejects the land and swears he will never step foot on it ever again. Also his entire motivation is to destroy the British crown, and any other fascist regimes.

He is a proud warrior prince who calls the Sea his only home. He was bad-ass as all get out. He was the original batman.

So now imagine Batman leaving Gotham city to go work for the Soviet government to help track down petty criminals. That kinda sums up why it doesn't quite jibe.

At the same time, he's my favorite character in the LOEG, and I wouldn't really want to read it without him.

Not a bad summation, but I see him as a little more Ra's al Ghul than Batman.
The main thing that kind of got to me was that while Nemo was indeed Indian, he had adopted the 'Nemo' name, meaning 'No Man' and had renounced all countries.
Alan's making him an ultranationalistic Sikh struck me as a little odd.
I mean, I still dug the character, but it was different to Nemo as I'd always seen him.

[unkiedev]

I mean, I still dug the character, but it was different to Nemo as I'd always seen him.
My thoughts exactly!

[Slam_Bradley]

For those of you who bought the encyclopedia--thank you!


Nice to see you posting, Jess.

[Slam_Bradley]

I'd read (or tried to read) most of Moore's main source material long before LoEG came out. On the "tried" front, I find it virtually impossible to read anything written by H.G. Wells. His writing style just kills me.

Overall, I had not real problems with any of Moore's changes or characterizations. It had been a good 15 years since I'd read 20,000 Leagues or The Mysterious Island, so Nemo caused me no problems.

I did, as a result of League, go back and re-read a number of Fu Manchu novels. I love Yellow Peril literature.

[Agentum]

No i have not but of course i have read some Verne books, but that was not because of LoEG, they are good books.

[Hellstone]

And it got me wondering... how many people here, who have read League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, have gone on from there to read the original books featuring the characters? Like the Quartermain books, Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, HG Wells, etc?

I have read most of the greater Victorian and post-Victorian works before (Wells, Poe, Doyle, Shelley, Stoker, Stevenson, Verne, Carroll).

But LxG, and particularly the almanac in v2, promted me to read more odd stuff like "The Third Policeman", "The Water Babies", the works of Jorge Luis Borges, and Philip José Farmers "Wold Newton" books.


/ola

[Web of Fear]

I've read some of the original sourcework before the comic (Invisible Man, War of the Worlds, Dracula). The comic encouraged me to go off and read other books. Like Hellstone, I've really enjoyed some of the stuff that the Alamanac comes from (H P Lovecraft and Wind in the Willows in particular).

Oh, and Jess Nevins - you rock! (When's Dark Dossier going to be published?)

[jessnevins]

Thanks for the kind words, everybody.

I honestly don't know when the Dossier is going to be released--I'm assuming that Amazon has the release date right, but I'm going to call Mr. Moore to find out for sure.

[unkiedev]

WOW! Not only is jess nevins an ultra cool writer guy who penned the fantabulous appendices to LOEG, he's also a bad-mamma-jamma who is ONE PHONE CALL removed from Alan Moore.

I feel good about myslef being a cat who is one message board post away from a guy who is one phone call away from Alan Moore.

Hey Jess, Call im up and ask him if he has "Prince Albert" in a can!

[zilch]

Funny story.

When the movie was coming out, i said to my son "Lets go see it. Its got Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde in it." He had just got done reading the book for school.

"Well, Dad, he died at the end of the story, how can he be in another story?"

"They kind of explain it in the movie. It was a cover-up."

"I DID NOT read a 200 pg book just to find out he didn't really die. No thanks."

[WoodenDummy]

Ha kids seem to be able to say what we're all thinking!

[Kelly Tindall]

A couple of things...

1) It's very unlikely that anyone here, Jess excluded, has read ALL of the source material. Especially for volume two. Bravo to all those who try, and I envy you who get to read "Gormenghast" for the first time.

2) Nemo's not too far off character... he says he'll never set foot on land again but does so quite vigorously in "The Mysterious Island". I think he explains himself very well in volume one, and freaks out appropriately in volume two.

3) Jess' books are magnificent; required reading for both "League" volumes, and not just because I'm a contributor to both. The second volume has a sneaky dedication to Jess, but you have to read Martian to get it.

-K.