Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Uncategorized League does justice to lit history
Posted by Curt Holman @Curt_Holman on Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 5:07 PM
Anyone familiar with the dense, dizzying work of Watchmen writer Alan Moore, especially the two prior chapters of his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novels, shouldn't have a problem with the basic premise of the third volume, Century. In the LXG series (to borrow the name of the misbegotten film adaptation), Moore and illustrator Kevin O’Neill envision a superhero team comprised of characters from classic literature such as Captain Nemo and the Invisible Man. Published by Marietta’s Top Shelf Productions, the three-part Century leaps forward to 1910 and draws on 20th-century literary creations. The subsequent volumes take place in 1968 and 2008.
The fact that Century: 1910 presents a supernatural historical thriller in which Edwardian antiheroes tangle with pirates, satanists and serial killers is business as usual for the series. The fact that Moore conceives the graphic novel partially as a musical is harder to get your head around.
Moore crafts 1910’s major subplot as an elaborate homage to Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera and the book’s supporting roles croon new lyrics to the German composer’s most famous songs. The murderous Macheath, for instance, sings a pastiche of “The Ballad of Mack the Knife” that scans perfectly with the original. Moore seems especially inspired by Weill’s musical moralizing, and the numbers condemn the cruelty of the haves and have-nots alike.
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