News & Blog

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 2009 by Alan Moore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Now this is more like it. After the wheel-spinning of Century’s second installment, the third and final volume, 2009, rockets forward to the finish line. Mostly due to the fact that it’s the final volume, so Moore actually has to pay attention to the plot instead of going off on his frequent masturbation-fantasy tangents. The turn of the previous century spawned far more indelible literary/pop culture characters to choose from than the turn of this century, but Moore makes due in some very amusing ways. Keep an eye out for references to 30 Rock, Doctor Who, numerous James Bonds, John Steed’s multiple partners from The Avengers, even Harry Potter. Plot-wise, Moore wraps up the trilogy in a way that is mostly satisfying, although after three volumes I wanted more from (and more to happen to) Aleister Crowley stand-in Oliver Haddo. All in all, though, I found 2009 to be the most enjoyable of Century’s three volumes.

View all my reviews

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1969 by Alan Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The second volume in the Century trilogy, 1969, is disappointingly lightweight. The plot doesn’t advance much, and Moore’s obsession with sex and nudity is now completely intruding on the narrative, shoehorned in at every opportunity and derailing the story. It’s not a terrible book, Moore’s mad genius is still clearly at work in the details, and I did kind of love the Rolling Stones and “Sympathy for the Devil” homages. The ending is interesting, too, setting up an unexpected roadblock for the conclusion. But the whole thing felt like Moore spinning his wheels. Here’s hoping the third and final volume in the trilogy, 2009, is a return to form.

View all my reviews

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910 by Alan Moore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alan Moore is still a mad genius, even this far along in his ongoing League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series. The first in a three-part, decades-spanning adventure, 1910 is light on plot (it’s all setup, basically) but still jam-packed with all the literary references and characters you’ve come to expect. Read it with Google nearby so you can look up all the names, especially the cast of literary magicians and occult detectives who show up or get name-checked, there are some great surprises there. Unfortunately, as with The Black Dossier, Moore’s obsession with nudity and sex has become somewhat intrusive to the narrative, but not enough to diminish my enjoyment of the story. Looking forward to the next volume, 1969!

View all my reviews

Brian Keene’s out of print, four-issue miniseries for Marvel, Dead of Night: Devil-Slayer, which resurrects the old horror-tinged superhero Devil-Slayer for a new generation, has risen from the grave once again in digital form.

Not only is it a very good story, but it features a shout out to me in the form of a character named Isaac Kaufmann. Years later, I was able to get Brian back by naming a character Isaac Keene in Dying Is My Business. In case you were wondering where the name came from. (There’s a related story behind Underwood’s henchmen’s names Tomo and Big Joe — they’re the nicknames of two of Brian’s friends in real life.)

Fred Van Lente’s comics series The Mocking Dead also features a Kaufmann shout out (you have to look closely to spot it), which I suspect is reprisal for my naming Dying Is My Business‘s Van Lente Box after him.

And now you know!