Nemo: Heart of Ice

Janni knows that her father cast quite the long shadow. Being the daughter of Captain Nemo could make you feel like you can never quite measure up, especially when following in dad's footsteps pillaging different lands.

Nemo: Heart of Ice is like a summer action flick: full of action, fast-paced, full of amazing things to look at. Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill have shown that at this point the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen stories can and will be about anything that they please. That being said, I found Nemo to be much more immediately enjoyable than the wild ride that was LXG: Century. Whereas that series was so ambitious and wide ranging, it was really nice to see everything so settled down for this latest graphic novel. This is not Alan Moore writing in the way that he usually does. You could almost suspect him of dialing it in but it still is a grand adventure story. 

Janni has a crew on the Nautilus just as her father once did. She is obviously full of ambition and decides that it is time to do something amazing. "It's about finding some purpose that's more than just piracy," she says. "Ready, the Nautilus...she's going back to the South Pole."

Unfortunately for Janni, others are chasing the Nautilus into Antarctica in order to sabotage them. What follows is a game of cat and mouse in a wondrous and newly discovered location in Antarctica. Some particularly nonhuman ancient buildings and artifacts are uncovered, but that doesn't mean that there are any concrete answers given.

Janni's mission of exploration does not end particularly well. Lives are lost, dangers are met, and by the end of it all it seems that Nemo's daughter is too rattled to try it all again. Sure, it is a realistic outcome, but I wish that Janni was stronger and that she could pick herself up again by the last page. I don't know what the next phase of plans is for the LXG tapestry, or if one even exists at this point, but I sincerely hope that we get to see more of the exploits of Janni. I really liked her character and her strength up until everything went awry toward the end.

Alan Moore let his artistic partner show off even more than in any previous LXG outing. I think it is safe to say that there were never more splash pages in one of their earlier books. Moore provides the space for O'Neill to dazzle with his great landscapes and dizzying alien monuments. Heart of Ice is a book that is thrilling just to look at, and if it is in fact a quick read, it is well worth the price to go back and pore over the illustrations.

Of course there are always some "guest appearances" in any book in the series, and this one sees a visit from none other than "She" from H. Rider Haggard's novel. It's probably just because I have fond memories of the novel that I was so glad the character was included in this comic.

Overall I found myself really hoping that there is more LXG in this style coming down the pike. This was a straightforward adventure yarn, and all of the excesses of Century have been whittled down.

The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen--Century 1969

It’s 1969. Right in the height of that era that everyone knows by three things, and three things only: sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Well, this latest edition of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen certainly has all of those things in spades.

First of all, there are some major reasons for a little bit of beginning grumblings. This is the second part in a trilogy entitled The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century. It’s a prestige format book. I haven’t checked but it must be about 80 or so pages. Well, this just came out in July 2011, and can anyone remember when part one was published? I had to check the indicia on the previous volume...1910 came out in April 2009. Whaaaaaat was the holdup, guys. I can’t remember what kind of a release schedule was promised for this series two years ago, but I want to take a guess that they said six months between installments. ****I just had to look this up...the original schedule was for one book a year. They’re only one year behind schedule at this point.**** So this is just craziness. It’s been so long between the two books that the price went up from $7.95 for 1910 to $9.95 for 1969.

So anyway, maybe it would be good to move on to the actual comic. Mina Harker, Allan Quartermain, and Orlando make up the League in this story. As usual, the book is full of characters who will be significant to you if you can remember another story in which you might have already encountered them. In this edition of LXG, we have an analogue for the Rolling Stones in the Purple Orchestra. There is a free concert in Hyde Park for their dead bandmate. He was killed in a pool by some hooded occultists, but the general populace doesn't hear about things like that. 

The League is trying to stop Oliver Haddo (a stand-in for Aleister Crowley) from taking over the body of a rock star. This will apparently be a good next step for the man who wants to bring about the Antichrist. I guess it makes sense. The stuff is sometimes referred to as devil music, I suppose.

There is no shortage of reasons to keep this book far, far out of the reach of children. Maybe one of them involves the fact that the story's climactic battle between Mina and Haddo on the astral plane really makes it seem like drugs might just be the answer after all.

I feel like I enjoyed this volume a lot more than I liked 1910. I say this while being pretty fuzzy on just what happened when I read that comic two years ago, so maybe my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt. I feel like part of the reason is that I was able to catch some references. 

Things like "oh, this is like when Brian Jones died and the Stones had to carry on without him."

"That guy is just like Mick Jagger, and the song he's singing is just a slightly more nefarious version of Sympathy For The Devil."

This makes me wonder about the exact merit of Alan Moore's work here. Does someone with a familiarity with Michael Moorcock's novels have a better time reading this stuff? If I had no idea about the Rolling Stones would I be able to get into 1969? I know that the idea is to create a story that is totally enjoyable on its own, but does this really work? Let's get somebody who doesn't know a lot about anything and plop this book in his or her lap. Or wait, let's not...there's a lot of "details" in this book that would probably scare away somebody who hasn't had ample preparation. 

Favorite character whom I recognized from another work of fiction? Well, I was quite surprised to see that Lord Voldemort himself had a significant role, albeit in his early days as Tom Marvolo Riddle.

Kevin O'Neill's artwork is at all times a joy. He has that admirable combination of cartoonishness and complexity to his pages that just makes the whole book worthwhile. It's almost too bad that this page featuring the Nautilus winds up being just a tease since it isn't seen anywhere else in 1969.

Well, at this point all that can be said is that the LXG saga is finally progressing, and it would be really nice if we didn't have to wait another two years to see how the Century trilogy concludes. 

Judge Dredd: Mega-City Masters Volume One

Mega-City One sure does sound like an awful place to live. With a population of 800 million and an unemployment rate of 87%, well, it’s easy to see that things might get a little out of control there. This is the grim future in which Judge Dredd lives. Crime and chaos call for some harsh justice, and Dredd and company are there to make sure that citizens abide the law at all times. 

Running through the streets when you should really only be walking? Say goodbye to your kneecaps.

Holding down multiple jobs when nine out of ten people can’t even get one? You’re holding society back, citizen.

Judge Dredd is just a guy doing his job. He’s great with his gun, maybe a little less great with his people skills. But after reading Mega-City Masters Volume One, I got hooked on  the world that is presented in the 2000 AD stories.

This collection was made to showcase how great these British comics are to an American audience. I’m really glad that 2000 AD is expanding and bringing their stuff across the pond in a more direct fashion than they have in the past. This is just one book out of many that have only recently been printed up for people who might otherwise not have the chance to experience them.

It’s quite the “who’s who” in the credits on this book. That was, of course, a major selling point for Mega-City Masters: it’s an effort to get people in the US to realize “hey, this guy worked on Judge Dredd? And so did this person? Cool.” So it’s tons of fun to see that Steve Dillon drew a story in this collection, as did Alan Davis and Charlie Adlard.

Another thing that I really appreciated about this book was that it took stories from across the different eras of 2000 AD. Dredd has been filling pages for over 30 years now, and it’s amazing that John Wagner, one of the Judge’s creators, is still involved with the writing. Sure, he’s had a lot of help from Alan Grant, but you can tell that there’s a unity to the Judge Dredd saga that’s really lacking in, say, the American superheroes.

I found it interesting that in the older stories, there are two pages in color while the rest is in black and white. I think that manga does this a lot too. I’m on the fence about whether it’s neat or if it’s simply jarring.

The last bullet point I want to touch upon while I’m extolling the virtues of this collection is that I loved the format for the stories. 2000 AD is a weekly anthology and Judge Dredd only makes up a part of it every issue. So the stories in here typically run to 6 or 7 pages. It makes for some tight-paced stories. I remember reading an Alan Moore interview where he said that it was such a great challenge to write concise stories for 2000 AD (sadly I don’t know of any Dredd stories he worked on). There is so much that can be done in such a small amount of page space, and Wagner, Grant, and company prove it over and over throughout Mega-City Masters.

Onwards to a few standout stories:

Steve Dillon draws “The Wreckers,” and it’s a story that is genuinely creepy. A bunch of people hang out around an abandoned war zone. The highway goes right through it, and drivers know that they are taking their lives into their own hands as soon as they enter. A sign reads “MAINTAIN SPEED. CLOSE ALL WINDOWS. DO NOT STOP FOR ANY REASON.” Breaking any of those commandments is like saying that you want to be killed by the wreckers. They’ll have no problem with beating your windows until they break and throwing you out of the car and driving off. It comes to a point where the wreckers are just causing so much damage that the judges can’t afford to ignore the problem any longer. Judge Dredd gets called in with a few of his pals and everything gets cleared up, at least for now.

“The Law According to Dredd”: Kevin O’Neill is the artist here, and he is absolutely perfect for it. An ugly, brutish monster guy claims to be Judge Dredd. He’s ruling a little town all by himself. When the real Dredd comes to pay a visit, he is surprised to be accused of being an impostor. The fake Dredd really, really annoys the Judge. Take a guess who walks away from this fight.

“A Mega-City Primer”: This one really stands out because it is painted by Simon Bisley. The text is almost entirely reprinted from another story in the collection (“Joe Dredd’s Blues”), which is a little strange, but I enjoyed the comparison between this version and the original, which was drawn by John Higgins of Watchmen fame. If only comics could have sound to go with them...the “Primer” is a song about Judge Dredd and his typical day. It’s quite humorous.

“The Rise & Fall of Chair Man Dilbert”: Trevor Hairsine draws what is probably the most messed up tale in Mega-City Masters. A big part of the appeal of the Judge Dredd shorts is their emphasis on satire, and this one is really taking it to the extreme. Dilbert Bowels inadvertently becomes the world’s first-ever human object d’art. He poses as a chair for people to sit on. Famous people are calling him up for his services, he gets his own exhibit in which he poses as a different piece of furniture every day...things are looking pretty good for him. He’s not used to success. Now what happens to priceless works of art? Well, sometimes lowlifes like to steal them. And this is what happens to Dilbert Bowels...he winds up hidden away in a cell forever because he was such a great piece of art.

“Block Out at the Crater Bowl”: John Byrne must have pulled some strings to get to work for 2000 AD at the peak of his career. Dredd is called in to do some crowd control at a riotous sporting event. Thousands of people are all crammed into one place, and the wacky game of Block Out gets their collective blood boiling. Dredd’s final line in this story: “Next year, we use the riot foam before the game starts!” Just classic.

Mega-City Masters Volume One gets the praise that 2000 AD would be pleased to hear: I’m already looking for Volume Two. Consider me the latest person to become a fan of Judge Dredd.

To close things out, a really nice Alan Davis cover.