 | In late 1890s London, Mina Murray, ex-wife of Jonathan Harker (from Stoker's Dracula), Captain Nemo (Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea/The Mysterious Island), Alan Quatermain (Ryder-Haggard's King Solomon's Mines etc), Dr Griffen (Wells' Invisible Man) and Dr Jekyll (Stevenson's Jekyll & Hyde) are bought together by Campion Bond on behalf of his employer "M", presumed to be Mycroft (brother of Sherlock) Holmes, to undertake a secret mission for Her Majesty's government. (Sherlock himself is largely absent from the proceedings as the story is set during the period where in the Holmes continuity he is presumed dead to all but Mycroft, following his fight with Moriarty above the Reichenbach falls in Doyle's "The Final Problem" short story.)
The mission involves retriving some cavorite which has been stolen from Professor Selwyn Cavor (Wells' The First Men In the Moon), by and oriental East End of London crimelord obviously meant to be Fu Manchu (though not referred to as such, presumably for copyright reasons).
Along the way, the League members interact with a variety of other figures from 19th century literature - far too many to list here - in many cases for no more than a single panel. Then, with the cavorite retrieved, More and his fellow authors throw in one beauty of a plot twist, and the League get to fight some more bad guys!
What a riot!!!
(Volume 2 followed, seemingly concerning the League's activities during Wells' War of The Worlds. I'll review that when I've finished it.)
|
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, volume 1 by Alan Moore
