Thursday, December 27, 2007

Weird.
I don't think I read all that less of my precious comics, books, manga & so on, but it's odd that, when I sit down to consider a new entry, I'm racking my brain to recall what I've recently read. I don't think this means I enjoy it less. On the contrary, I'm getting a lot from them and there's a great deal of quality around.
It's my memory that's the problem. That, and laziness. I have to go check up on the titles & such of what I've read, and that's a big task.
Seriously.

Anyhow, I went and checked this time -_^
I took almost all of last week to finish (and I mean really finish) the newest League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The Black Dossier has received plenty of press:
It's over a year late, it's had shipping restrictions outside of USA etc. etc. Hasn't stopped me from getting a copy (on the contrary, Amazon, Borders et al. must be quite pleased).
I won't be discussing all those fringes, there's plenty of places to catch up, if you want.



The book itself then. Moore's always been out to experiment with his ABC creations in general and LoEG in particular (remember the tourist guides, the mock ads etc. in the previous two volumes) to enhace the world-building he's doing and creating a kind of parallel culture which, though clearly based on our own, and using the paradigms of fiction and so on, but there's unmistakable joy and fun locked in every single page.
And there's plenty of them!
The framing story (I suppose) is the chase scene: we're in the '50s of the LoEG continuity, and the Big Brother phase has just run its course. Mina & Allan stole a Black Dossier containing all kinds of info on the previous incarnations of the League, harking back a long time.
It also reads as a dossier: different snippets and details on different, colourful characters in all sorts of media: files, reports, old cartoons, short stories, all in the style of whatever they are based on, with among them, a particulary hilarious diary-style story by a Brit ponce who's witness to a Ctulhu-invasion (or Cool Lulu, as he calls it) utterly ignorant to what is really going on as a version of the League dispatches the Elder Gods.
Good stuff.
The actual comics narrative has Moore's usual casual air, while still very much delivering a framework for all the supplements and a bridge (I assume) for the true vol 3 of LoEG, to be published by Top Shelf.
There's quite some new (and retro-actively new) characters introduced (or maybe they aren't, you'll understand) in those files, and a lot of ground covered, and you have to pace it.
If you do, it's more than a fun book, it's a rich source of all kinds of odd and wonderful titbits that take some figuring out.
This may help.

Be seeing you
--nout

2 comments:

Koen C said...

nog 's bedankt voor het boek, noutie !!

Vilt og vakkert said...

Heisann!

I had to look to see what kind of a person the only one but me who said with blur......, is!
Have a nice Sunday;:OD)