LOEG Century: 1969 (SPOILERS!)

[Arkwright99]

You're right to like the epilogue more than I did. What happened to Mina was too much of a downer for me, and also I didn't enjoy Zuki and the Tawdries' performance much, probably because I have always been such a fan of Siouxsie and the Banshees. The LoEG analogue for the group doesn't sound like it's up to much, but, to be be fair, Siouxsie and the Banshees didn't have very good material themselves in 1977. Perhaps if I were familiar with the Threepenny Opera source material I'd have liked the punk version more (or at all).

You know, when I first read the epilogue I was half-convinced that Zuki was actually Mina, post-mental breakdown, probably suffering from amnesia due to all the drugs and ECT therapy she (presumably) received in whatever loony bin she was dumped in, singing in front of Allen and Orlando who are too wrapped up in their own problems to recognise her. That would have been a darkly ironic ending but it looks like Moore & O'Neil didn't go there. Pshaw! 

[Dandontdare]

when I first read the epilogue I was half-convinced that Zuki was actually Mina, post-mental breakdown,

heh, I had the same thought!

can someone post a link to these annotations? Sounds like just what I need!

http://jessnevins.com/annotations/1969annotations.html

I thankew

[Art]

I'm wondering if it would have felt quite as flat and pointless if I'd have known who the guy assaulting Mina in the park was, and not had to have people tell me about it afterwards.

[House of Usher]

I'm wondering if it would have felt quite as flat and pointless if I'd have known who the guy assaulting Mina in the park was, and not had to have people tell me about it afterwards.

Fair comment, which links back to the comicsalliance review you posted a link to on the other thread:

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/07/29/league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen-century-1969-the-story-is/

[Steve Green]

Although I miss the Victoriana, I don't think it's necessarily always been bound by that, since I think the first volume it's talked about previous leagues, so it's not a massive leap to go forward.

I'd already read about the identity of 'him' so I don't know if I would have picked it up, although the Kings Cross scene is a pretty big clue for someone with a passing knowledge of the films (I've only seen a few)

[House of Usher]

Fair comment, which links back to the comicsalliance review you posted a link to on the other thread

Specifically, this:

the references only get more distracting as the book moves into a time frame where he's no longer working in the public domain. The verbal gymnastics Moore has to do in order to introduce characters that are under copyright verge on the ridiculous. And in the case of characters that are actually relevant to the plot -- like Lord Voldemort, whose introduction is complicated even for a guy who named himself after an anagram -- the obfuscation of those tricky copyrights is so obvious as to be distracting from what's going on.

I haven't read any of those books or watched any of the films, so I didn't get it either.*


*but now I've been told, it all makes sense to me through details I've picked up on the grapevine: you absorb stuff when other people are talking about it and they show clips on television.

[The Adventurer]

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

I was actually wondering if we'd see any Philip K. Dick influences in the next installment, since he wrote quite a few books set in the 'near future' (from when they were written) that would take place before 2009.

[House of Usher]

The anticipation of just how dystopian Moore's LoEG 1969 is going to be is quite exciting.

[Adrian Bamforth]

Copyright: I hadn't thought of that - for those who have read ahead of me, is there any point to continuing the story far into the era when the source material is still under copyright? If everything becomes coded it becomes more of a game than the original open use and celebration of the characters and stories of the era. And that's aside from the strange ethics that allows Alan to mine others' work but protest non-ownership/control his own creations - surely the justification of the earlier LOAG was that the copyright period had at least been respected. Aren't the creators of 1960s fiction going to be consulted before he turns them into rapists (probably)?

[The Adventurer]

In my mind the entire series has been privy to that 'game', copyright or no. There have always been thinly veiled references to things Moore couldn't name out right. The first and second series were a little more open due to the wide use of public domain characters, but there were definitely characters that didn't get fully named (John Carter of Mars springs to mind). Packing it with references and winks has been

Tom Riddle being an actual speaking role who will have ramifications rolling into the next installment is a bit new though, but honestly I 'Ah-HA!'ed Riddle the moment he appeared. I personally had no prior knowlege to much of the rest of the cast, for example I had no idea who Jack Carter was, or knew about the parallels with the Rolling Stones/Purple Orchestra. But I understood the context of those characters just fine.


Speaking of mid-80s/late 90s fictional events that could lead to far future 2009 being a British Dystopia... a certain Soviet invasion of mainland England in 1999 (or 1977).

[The Adventurer]

Here's a CBR review in 1969's favor that I found myself agreeing with being my experience with the book. (scroll down a bit)

[JamesC]

I really enjoyed 1969. I didn't know who Tom Riddle was either but it certainly didn't spoil my enjoyment or even make me think that I had to research it right away.
One thing the League has always been about for me is that it's a window into a whole world of fiction and alternate histories that I would otherwise probably never get around to finding out about.

For example - in League vol 1 - I knew who Captain Nemo was but I thought he looked like James Mason. I had no idea about his Indian background.

In 1969 I would definitely have wanted to find out more about the gangster character if I didn't know who Jack Carter was. People will now be watching Get Carter for the first time after reading this and that's no bad thing.

As far as I'm concerned you can take as much or as little as you want from the League. As long as you find the central story entertaining (which I do) you've got your money's worth and everything else is just gravy.

People seem to be critcising this version of the League - I think mainly because they know that the characters are supposed to be references and they find this distracting or frustrating. I've read plenty of scenes in comics with villains (probably even rapists) who weren't even half as fleshed out as Tom Riddle is in this.

[Mikey]

Read it last night...

Thought it was great and like Ush I enjoyed it much more than 1910 as a first read. Mina's trip was superbly visualised in particular and made me a bit queasy. Loved the downbeat ending, but feel that showing the nascent punk scene as a negative seemed a bit unfair. But it works as contrast to the 1969 vibe, dude, and I suppose it's just a reflection of almost a decade's worth of change in society. Love/Anger know what I mean?

Regarding the cameos and references;

As far as I'm concerned you can take as much or as little as you want from the League. As long as you find the central story entertaining (which I do) you've got your money's worth and everything else is just gravy.

However, I found with this volume I spotted or understood a lot more of them.

And I'm disppointed no one has mentioned Torquemada on this thread yet! Nothing wrong with bigging it up again...

M.

[House of Usher]

If all of fiction is canon in the LoEG world, then the task remains of somehow integrating such sources as Dr Strangelove, The Bed-sitting Room, Planet of the Apes, Judge Dredd, The Silver Locusts, On the Beach, The Kraken Wakes, The Drowned World and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

That said, I've now realized that there is no imperative to integrate all of those dystopian stories into a single universe. The multiverse is a staple of much fantasy fiction, not least the work of Michael Moorcock, which gets drawn upon frequently in the C20th League books. Inter-dimensional travel may turn out to be the plot device for future LoEG adventures Alan Moore has alluded to in interviews: if all fiction is canon in the LoEG world, then other dimensions must exist for interdimensional travellers to travel to. How else can the League's world co-exist with a Day of the Triffids, the Planet of the Apes and the detonation of world-ending doomsday devices? The three possible solutions are: 1) the End of the World as depicted in those fictions didn't happen; 2) they happened, but it wasn't as bad as it first appeared; and 3) they happened elsewhere.

Solution 1 is the worst cheat of all; solution 2 is a slightly less bad cheat but would be a devil of a job to pull off successfully or at all convincingly; solution 3 is the only solution that isn't really a cheat because it involves no contradiction: anything that doesn't fit in the LoEG world simply happened on a parallel world still within the LoEG universe (multiverse).

[The Adventurer]

If the world doesn't end with a Vogon Fleet Vaporizing the Earth to make way for a hyperspace by-pass, I'll be very disappointed.

In 1969 I would definitely have wanted to find out more about the gangster character if I didn't know who Jack Carter was. People will now be watching Get Carter for the first time after reading this and that's no bad thing.

I'm actually considering watching (the 1971 version, natch) Get Carter, or maybe even reading Jack's Return Home, thanks to 1969.