Alan Moore earned his reputation as a maestro of comic book storytelling across the span of a roughly 40-year career. Only a real iconoclast, or a serious contrarian, would try to argue that Moore isn’t one of the all-time greats, and the argument wouldn’t go well. Because the author’s defenders can cite practically any one of his major works as a masterpiece operating on a higher level than basically anyone else in the game.
Watchmen is the obvious go-to, but there’s also V for Vendetta, and From Hell, his work for DC like Batman: The Killing Joke and Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? and Swamp Thing, plus deeper cuts like Tom Strong and Promethea, and yes, even The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Actually, especially League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, because it is his most underrated series, and the one he ended his career with.
The series, which was published sporadically over the course of 20 years, was a huge creative achievement for Alan Moore, one that led directly into the prose fiction he’s been writing since retiring from comics. Unfortunately, it has a sour reputation, thanks entirely to the misguided 2003 film adaptation, which was the one that made Moore reject all subsequent screen translations of his work.
Alan Moore Blended Centuries Of Literary Lore In His Last Comic Masterpiece
Think about the term “shared universe.” It is almost played out now. The G.I. Joe and Transformers franchises have shared a universe for years now, and the novelty is starting to wear off. Back in 1999, that wasn’t the case. DC and Marvel were notable for their characters co-existing in the same continuity, and in other mediums, it was satisfying to trace the connections in, say, the movies of Quentin Tarantino, or the novels of James Ellroy.
Which is what made Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen an audacious project when it debuted in 1999. A story that brought together protagonists (and antagonists) from throughout literary history and weaved their lore into one intricate, unified reality. Mina from Dracula teaming up with Virginia Woolf’s Orlando and pulp action hero Allan Quartermain and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, and more. As the project progressed, up to Moore’s retirement in 2019, the author took readers deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole into a world that embodied practically the entire Western literary canon.
And not just literature, but also movies and television, all of which Moore possesses a prodigious knowledge of. It is hard to convey the scope of this project, which was continually expanded by the “New Traveller’s Almanac” sections of the early League of Extraordinary Gentlemen issues. Stylistically, The League was a direct evolution of what Alan Moore had done with Watchmen in 1986, and it really was just as groundbreaking, but it never developed quite the same reputation.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, published in four volumes and the Nemo spin-off series, garnered plenty of praise from critics, and like any of Alan Moore’s works, it has its devoted fanbase. There is difference, though, between an “IYKYK” masterpiece, and a widely recognized work of genius. One like Watchmen or V for Vendetta which is on the average reader’s radar as a masterpiece, even if they haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. There are a few possible explanations for that, but one of them, above all else, is the unavoidable elephant in the room.
The bad taste of the film’s failure still lingers in pop culture’s collective mouth, even more than 20 years later.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is an epic in the literal, literary sense. It is about a group of heroes who come together to protect the world from existential threats. The parallels to Marvel’s Avengers, especially, are intentional. Check the group shot above, with Jeckyll “Hulked out,” or “Hyded Out.” Without spoiling too much for unfamiliar readers, one character’s heel turn echoes the original Ant-Man’s controversial ’80s storyline, as well as the Comedian’s actions in Watchmen.
In most cases, it is true that a movie adaptation can’t “ruin” its source material. The book or comic it came from still exists, independent of even the most terrible movie. Yet it really is fair to accuse the 2003 League movie of doing serious damage to the comic’s reputation. If nothing else, it tarnished the title. The bad taste of the film’s failure still lingers in pop culture’s collective mouth, even more than 20 years later.
Bring up the comic to someone who has seen the movie, or has even just heard that it is notoriously bad, and the conversation is immediately on the wrong foot. That’s due to change, and it shouldn’t take a critically acclaimed TV or film reboot to redeem The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Readers who have been avoiding it should pick up the first volume of the series and find out for themselves that it is Alan Moore’s most underrated masterpiece.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
