5 out of 5

I don’t need to tell you that this is fantastic, right?  No, no I don’t.  But I do need to clarify it to myself, because I think I’m guilty of giving our more celebrated writers a lot of leeway, and Moore certainly qualifies for that.  So I’ll forgive indulgences and experiments as part of an oeuvre; I’ll nod with praise in regards to elements that I might question from others.  Even something like Watchmen falls under this spell at points, with its artistry maybe sometimes overwhelming its intent.  Rereading Moore’s stuff, trying to bear this all in mind, can draw out possible criticisms in sharper relief, and so I was expecting the same thing to happen with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Instead, this might be one of the most holistically satisfying things Moore has written, and entirely because of its laidback execution: neither Moore nor artist Kevin O’Neill seek to flaunt all of their creativity and world building in your faces, instead reveling in the goodness of a fun idea.  That idea: that several names you are maybe vaguely familiar with – The Invisible Man; Allan Quatermain; Captain Nemo; Jeckyll and Hyde; Mina Murray – would be recruited by a turn-of-the-19th-century MI-5 for… well, something.  Not that telling you that ‘something’ would ruin it, necessarily, but the great joy I had while reading LXG was how naturalistic it was; how the setup allows for things to be blown out of proportion with ‘aren’t we clever’ punctuations, but how Moore avoids that, and just writes it as a fun action romp featuring yer regular pack of unlikely heroes.  Of course, any given named character can be wikipediaed to discover that they have some literary antecedent of which Moore was clearly aware… but the series’ sense of mirth and thrills can be fully felt without a lick of that knowledge.  The six issues collected in this trade are also one of the rare instances of a buildup to a big fight not resulting in a giant letdown.  Moore’s issue by issue breakdown is very purposeful, giving us a sense of need for going through each page, as opposed to tossing out what came before once we’ve gotten to some final splash pages.  It’s incredibly rewarding.

A massive contributor to that sensibility is, undeniably, artist Kevin O’Neill.  O’Neill’s ability to crowd a page with unique faces, and to craft a bustling London street and steampunk-tinged environs that are packed to the gills with details, without it ever being overwhelming, is, quite frankly, unmatched.  He then adds all of these little mannerisms throughout, always in the background, but registering in important ways that add character, or that carry a movement or feeling from scene to scene in a very “real” way.  This lends itself to some great comedic beats, where nuance in Moore’s script can be appreciated thanks to O’Neill’s capture of a particular glance or tic.

Colorist Ben Dimagmaliw ‘s massive but consistent color palette is another inestimable contribution to this, as is letterer Bill Oakley’s work (which also stuck out to me, recently, when reading a Punisher issue he lettered); in the former case, anyone who can work within O’Neill’s lines to keep the images fluid and still Earthy is quite a talent, and to the latter, Moore’s wordy scripts require someone with a keen sense of page flow, as well as typography to maintain tone, and Oakley’s narration placement and precise letters / bubbles proves he has that.

Within this $14.99 trade, you also get the text pieces from the original issues (‘Allan and The Sundered Veil’, something of a prequel to the main story and appreciably bundled together in the back), as well as covers, and some extras – like a jocular paint-by-numbers – that may have been in the original issues as well.