After the embarrassment of riches of black dossier, with its myriad of styles and stories, comes a slim volume that begins a new 3 part story arc. As beautiful as ever, the style this time is a Sweeney Todd style musical, with much of the action relayed by two singing side characters. It shouldn't work given there's no music, but somehow it does. Not sure the entire 3 part could work in this style though; I suspect this will just be the introduction, ( )

Moore just can't seem to shake Jack the Ripper, who comes back from hell somewhat anachronistically in this League story, the first of a new series evidently intended to span the 20th century. Best appreciation of this number will be afforded by prior familiarity with the earlier volumes of Extraordinary Gentlemen, as well as some of the sources for Moore's baroque metafictional weave. In particular, Aleister Crowley's novel Moonchild provides critical background.

I found the singing narration from incidental characters--with an interminable Bertolt Brecht riff--a little tiresome, but O'Neill's art is in top form, and the whole piece should be enjoyable to anyone who has liked the earlier comics. (The dismal movie should not be considered an element of the ouvre.) As usual with the League, some of the tastiest material is in the non-comic-book appendix stories. Evidently, Moore can't keep himself from writing more tales than any artist can be expected to keep up with!

After the diffuse "Black Dossier", this is a terrific return to form. There were times when it was so good I gasped out loud.

The title of this first installment (of three) is "What Keeps Mankind Alive?", and if that doesn't excite you--if you don't get that he's taking on The Threepenny Opera--then you probably won't get this book at all. The way Moore's "Jenny Diver" is entangled with that of Brecht is by itself worth the price of admission.

The League, such as it is, now consists of three immortals: Mina Murray, Allan Quartermain, and Orlando; plus Thomas Carnacki, the Ghost Finder, and the Gentleman Burglar, A.J. Raffles.

I can't say more without spoiling things, alas, but I will mention that the "Earl of Gurney" who plays a significant (but unseen) role in the denouement is the protagonist of Peter Barnes's brilliant black comedy "The Ruling Class."

It's not an action comic, and it's not a Hollywood movie. The heroes aren't always central, and they sometimes fail. It's much more like a prose novel, where characters come and go and not everything gets spelled out. Moore's allusions here are less universal than in the first LoEG, but it's worth chasing down the footnotes. (The prose backmatter incorporates parodies of Clarke's "2001" and Reage's "Story of O", among other surprises.)

I need also to say that this is the best work I ever seen from Kevin O'Neill, which is saying something. ( )

http://www.piruett.se/2009/05/20/jaja... ( )

The League is back, newly formed (sort of... if you've read the last three books, particularly The Black Dossier, you know about this version of the League already) and it's ready to defend London. Expect to need to sit down with a wiki after you read this (at least I did) to get all the characters and references. If you're a LoEG fan already, that shouldn't be new! Nemo's daughter, Janni, really makes the story, with her departure from Lincoln Island and transformation working in the Cuttlefish Hotel. I had not expected to dislike Orlando so much, particularly after his/her feature in The Black Dossier made me so much more curious about this character.

The artwork, as always, is awesome. I felt like the story was somewhat lacking, though I felt the same way about The Black Dossier. The last book was a quick chase, with frequent and lengthy interruptions of the League's history. Moore seems to resist the urge in this volume, with a rather short entry at the end called "Minions of the Moon," which explores the League's future. I'm really curious to see more of this iteration of the League, but it sounds like I'll be disappointed, based on Moore's plans for the next two volumes. I suppose, in a way, I've always been more interested in the other members of the League and less so in Allan and Mina. ( )