Heroes & Monsters: The Unofficial Companion to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

A friend of my wife's gave her a copy of the LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN a few years back, but I wound up reading it during a long airplane flight, so captured by the book's wild wit and invention that I completely forgot where I was for hours on end. I'd read Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, H G Wells, Allan Quartermain, most of the boys book that Alan Moore is referencing, but reading the LEG I felt, as probably everyone feels, that I was missing something. I can't make out in my mind whether this nagging feeling subtracts from the pleasure one gets from reading Moore, or somehow, perversely, adds to the fun, for it's like therapy: one doesn't want to go to a therapist one suspects is dumber than one is--you want to feel you're in the hands of someone a little smarter than you are. Thus Jess Nevins' book came as a balm to my pride. I picked it up some months afterwards and I could see instantly that I had only scratched the surface of Moore's reference. Oddly enough, I did not feel enthusiastic enough to pick up any of the books I didn't know (The Scarlet Pimpernel for example). I wonder if any of Moore's readers have actually turned to Virginia Woolf's ORLANDO after getting through The BLACK DOSSIER? Or have we had enough of Orlando from the comic? Oh well, more power to you, Jess Nevins, and congratulations on taking on the master at his own infernal chess table.

No matter one's area of expertise - there is always someone better. I thought I was expert on Sherlock Holmes. Jess makes me look like a piker.And later on in the Alan Moore Interview - Jess gets Alan Moore to demolish my Nemo theory.Ouch! The essays are also worth reading.Buy this book for those who must own the DVD.

The great comic book The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was packed with references to literature from the Victorian era. Some of these books are famous, some of them are obscure. Jess Nevins has done an excellent job of tracking down the books, so now you can know the history of these characters, many of which have been forgotten one hundred years later. For instance, I don't think too many people knew who "Rose Coote", the headmistress of the girl's school, was. Well, in this book, you can learn the history of that character, as well as every other character who is so much as mentioned in the comic. By the way, I met Jess at the San Diego Comic Con, and he said he is working on an Encyclopedia about the League. From what he said, it will be around a thousand pages long, so start saving your money now.

For any true fan of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (the comics, not the film), this is the book to purchase. The League is not only a wonderful story, but is also filled to the brim with references and images from other Victorian fictions of the same era. Some references are quite obvious, many are obscure, but all test your intelligence and literary know-how. There is a certain satisfaction in identifying a character on a page from a book you read years ago. Jess Nevins has collected all the annotations of these reference points contained in the first volume of LOEG. Reading it is a great enhancement to the already considerable enjoyment to be found in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen!