I've been wanting to read the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen stories for some time now, both because I'd heard they contained a number of tropes I...moreI've been wanting to read the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen stories for some time now, both because I'd heard they contained a number of tropes I like (intertextuality, steampunk, obscure pop culture references) and because I'd enjoyed a couple of other Alan Moore graphic novels, most especially Watchmen. I finally got to them this past month after receiving volumes 1 and 2 as Christmas presents (thanks, gang!), and they did not disappoint. While the stories themselves are rather simple, the premise of turning protagonists of Victorian popular literature into a league of superheroes is quite inventive. But the real pleasure here is watching Moore create a single world in which seemingly all of the 19th- and early 20th-centuries' fantasy and science fiction narratives co-exist -- and in seeing how Kevin O'Neill renders that world, cramming nearly every panel with mutiple allusions (not that these are all obvious to a reader not steeped in the source material; I found myself turning to Google more than once to make sense of all I was seeing). A good read if you like this kind of thing, and an astonishing tour de force regardless. Lastly, I should note that each volume also contains a Victoriana prose pastiche by Moore, and I have found these frankly impenetrable.(less)
I've been wanting to read the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen stories for some time now, both because I'd heard they contained a number of tropes I...moreI've been wanting to read the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen stories for some time now, both because I'd heard they contained a number of tropes I like (intertextuality, steampunk, obscure pop culture references) and because I'd enjoyed a couple of other Alan Moore graphic novels, most especially Watchmen. I finally got to them this past month after receiving volumes 1 and 2 as Christmas presents (thanks, gang!), and they did not disappoint. While the stories themselves are rather simple, the premise of turning protagonists of Victorian popular literature into a league of superheroes is quite inventive. But the real pleasure here is watching Moore create a single world in which seemingly all of the 19th- and early 20th-centuries' fantasy and science fiction narratives co-exist -- and in seeing how Kevin O'Neill renders that world, cramming nearly every panel with mutiple allusions (not that these are all obvious to a reader not steeped in the source material; I found myself turning to Google more than once to make sense of all I was seeing). A good read if you like this kind of thing, and an astonishing tour de force regardless. Lastly, I should note that each volume also contains a Victoriana prose pastiche by Moore, and I have found these frankly impenetrable.(less)
No where near as provocative, insightful, or amusing as the first volume. I think the reason is that the first volume was as much about Iran as Satrap...moreNo where near as provocative, insightful, or amusing as the first volume. I think the reason is that the first volume was as much about Iran as Satrapi. This second volume is almost entirely about Satrapi and, while her personal story is compelling, it's almost too personal to work well as a graphic novel; it's panel after panel of her as angst-y teen, with all the usual minimal growth and wisdom of angst-y teens the world over, and it's just not enough. I actually thought I might respond that way after seeing the movie a few years back, but I was hoping the parts of the movie that fell flat were doing the book a disservice. No such luck.(less)
This graphic-novel depiction of the author’s young life during the Iranian revolution is just wonderful: funny, moving, informative, and simply but en...moreThis graphic-novel depiction of the author’s young life during the Iranian revolution is just wonderful: funny, moving, informative, and simply but engagingly drawn. The obvious comparison is to Art Spiegelman’s Maus and/or In the Shadow of No Towers, but the childhood memoir aspects of it give it a different spin -- as if Lynda Barry’s or Alison Bechdel’s young life had been marked by a world-historical event. My daughter, from whom I borrowed it, only has volume 1; I suspect volume 2 will be the very next book I buy.(less)
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