Product Description

Critically-acclaimed writer Alan Moore (Watchmen, V For Vendetta) and award-winning artist Kevin O'Neill (Marshal Law) once more work their alchemy, mixing legend, myth, literature and pulp fantasy into the volatile cocktail that is the fantastic second volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen! When alien invaders find they no longer have use for Mars, they set their many eyes upon a new blue-green prize: Earth, Soon, giant cylinders are falling across the planet, from which emerges an invasion force of unstoppable tripodal nightmares! Also included is an almanac of fantastic places that spans the entire globe, as well as special supplemental material not found in the original comics. Warning: Adult content!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13159 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 228 pages

Review
San Francisco Chronicle, January 18th 2004: " Moore's script always works on multiple levels...O'Neill's art captures the humour, horror and spectacle of one of the best-known extraterrestrial invasions."- Michael Berry. Essex Chronicle, Thursday October 4th 2004, review by Matt Adams: " This is the War of the Worlds as you've never seen it before! A phenomenal fusion of literary giants, mixing legend, myth and pulp fantasy into a triumphant cocktail illustrated with style and aplomb by the great Kevin O'Neill." The Times Supplement December 2004: "Even more decadently filthy, gothic and thrilling than its predecessor...a ripping yarn"; Sunday Mercury (Birmingham) 6 February 2005: " ...even if you've never read H.G Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson or Jules Verne, theres much to be enjoyed."

The Times Supplement December 2004
"Even more decadently filthy, gothic and thrilling than its predecessor...a ripping yarn"

The Times, Saturday December 11, 2004
Even more decadently filthy, gothic and thilling than its predecessor.

Customer Reviews

Not as Good as Vol 1, but Still Very Very Good!
Like the first brilliant volume in the series, this installment will appeal to fans of both Victorian genre literature and modern comics. While it doesn't quite reach the heights of Volume 1, it's still an entertaining concept with a decent story and great art. Following a rather bizarre opening battle scene on Mars (featuring John Carter of Mars and Gulliver), Moore's public-domain "heroes" of the 19th-century British Secret Service (Ms. Murray, the widowed wife of Mr. Harker from Dracula, gaunt ex-adventurer Allan Quartermain, Captain Nemo, the terrifying Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Hawley Griffin, aka The Invisible Man) are assembled to investigate mysterious meteors which have struck outside of London.

These meteors turn out to be invaders from Mars, and a "War of the Worlds" plotline unfolds, as the tripod aliens start incinerating everyone with their death rays and march on a steampunky Victorian London. As in the first volume, much of the storytelling revolves around the characters' relationships with one another, and here we're treated to a dreadful betrayal, a rather shocking (and graphically gross) affair, vengeance, and sacrifice. It's wonderfully written and the visual attention to detail is outstanding -- both story and art are packed with 19th-century literary inside jokes that will reward repeated reading. Especially prominent is the no longer isle-bound Dr. Moreau and his creations, who live sequestered in a British forest.

The artwork is once again pitch perfect throughout, with straightforward paneling jam-packed with detail. For example, a nice piece of dark character-based humor is found in the background of one early panel. The heroes survey the landscape just after a host of innocent citizens have been burned to cinders by the aliens, and while some talk in the foreground, Hawley Griffin is nonchalantly lighting a cigarette from a burning branch. For the Dr. Moreau part, the art is flatter and much more vividly colored, reminiscent of an old-fashioned children's book, albeit one with a good measure of weirdness.

The book comes with plenty of extras, including an amusing "Chutes and Ladders" type game, a lengthy gazetteer of lost worlds, original cover art, and other such tidbits. On the whole, while not quite as amazing as Volume I, this is still much much better than most stuff on the market, both in terms of writing and artwork. A word of caution, the book is not intended for young children. The violence can be rather graphic and there is graphic sexual material.

It's not the film, honest!
For those who've arrived at this page having seen the film let me just say, this is better. In fact it's not even in the same league (pardon the pun).

For those who bought the first book, let me also say (not that you'll likely need much persuasion), this is better. The characters and relationships are far more complex (as ever with Moore, nobody draws characters as fascinating and believeable - even Neil Gaiman). The action is more convincing, the in-jokes far, far more detailed (not least in the appendices where Moore and O'Neill present us with a gazetteer of the world which seems to encompass every 'lost world' or 'shangri-la' type story ever written, from pre-Christian tales to the 1930s pulp stories).

A treat.

Another classic tale from the master
This volume follows on straight after volume one and is Alan Moore's version of War of the Worlds. One again the level of detail in this story is quite astounding as once again Moore paints a darkly seductive tale of war, betrayal and revenge. Quite simply anyone who values strong stories and characters should read this, don't let the film put you off this is the real thing.