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Product Description
Product Description
The second volume detailing the exploits of Miss Wilhelmina Murray and her extraordinary colleagues. Volume two takes place almost 60 years after the events of Century 1910, in the psychedelic haze of Swinging London in 1969 - a place where Tadukic Acid Diethylamide 26 is the drug of choice and where different underworlds are starting to overlap dangerously to an accompaniment of sit-ins and sitars.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's been well over a year since The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century: 1910 appeared, so it's been a fair old wait for part 2 (1969), which has finally appeared in shops as a disappointingly slim volume both in terms of content and narrative.
So we have the remaining three members of the League - Allan, Mina and Orlando - wandering round swinging sixties London making what seems to be a fairly vague and disinterested attempt to prevent series villain Oliver Haddo creating the AntiChrist. Given that our lead characters don't appear to be overly fussed whether or not they succeed there's not much dramatic tension to the story, and what there is comes from Jack Carter (of Get Carter fame) pursuing Haddo for his own reasons. Most of the story seems to happen solely so Kev O'Neill can cram characters from 60's British pop-culture into every frame. Another reviewer describes this as being like Where's Wally in a Nudist camp and I can't describe it better than that. Yes, Alan, we know you've immersed yourself in the period to get every possible reference you can into the fifty pages, but a little more time telling an actual story would have been appreciated for my seven pound fifty, if it's all the same to you. What story there is appears to have been `inspired' by Nick Roeg's film Performance in the same way that Gus van Sant's Psycho was `inspired' by Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.
It seems to be that artists with a devoted and loyal fanbase enter a phase where they feel they can do pretty much anything and get away with it and Century: 1969 is Alan Moore hitting that point. I'd compare it to Robbie Williams producing Rudebox, but a better comparison is Guns 'N' Roses producing Chinese Democracy: a heck of a long wait for a dense, richly layered, and utterly self-indulgent piece of work of the sort which was interesting and exciting in about 1998 but which now just feels uninspired and samey.
At the start of every League book there's a picture of Moore drawn by Kev O'Neill in the style of the era of that book. To remain true to this theme I can only expect that the portrait of the author at the start of Century: 2009 will show him wearing a KFC bucket on his head.
So we have the remaining three members of the League - Allan, Mina and Orlando - wandering round swinging sixties London making what seems to be a fairly vague and disinterested attempt to prevent series villain Oliver Haddo creating the AntiChrist. Given that our lead characters don't appear to be overly fussed whether or not they succeed there's not much dramatic tension to the story, and what there is comes from Jack Carter (of Get Carter fame) pursuing Haddo for his own reasons. Most of the story seems to happen solely so Kev O'Neill can cram characters from 60's British pop-culture into every frame. Another reviewer describes this as being like Where's Wally in a Nudist camp and I can't describe it better than that. Yes, Alan, we know you've immersed yourself in the period to get every possible reference you can into the fifty pages, but a little more time telling an actual story would have been appreciated for my seven pound fifty, if it's all the same to you. What story there is appears to have been `inspired' by Nick Roeg's film Performance in the same way that Gus van Sant's Psycho was `inspired' by Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.
It seems to be that artists with a devoted and loyal fanbase enter a phase where they feel they can do pretty much anything and get away with it and Century: 1969 is Alan Moore hitting that point. I'd compare it to Robbie Williams producing Rudebox, but a better comparison is Guns 'N' Roses producing Chinese Democracy: a heck of a long wait for a dense, richly layered, and utterly self-indulgent piece of work of the sort which was interesting and exciting in about 1998 but which now just feels uninspired and samey.
At the start of every League book there's a picture of Moore drawn by Kev O'Neill in the style of the era of that book. To remain true to this theme I can only expect that the portrait of the author at the start of Century: 2009 will show him wearing a KFC bucket on his head.
24 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's not even literature any more really, is it? More like Where's Wally in a knocking shop with the reader playing the game of "spot the obscure character in the background and feel clever." Is that Flook I see? Barry Mackenzie? Scorpio Murtlock? It's hinted that the next book will take place in 2009, by which time presumably the Moon will have been blasted out of orbit in 1999, Enoch Soames will have appeared in the British Museum in 1997, and possibly Kevin O'Neill will draw someone flogging a dead horse in the background.
Okay, so there are some good things about this book. The "Get Carter" dialogue is spot on, so is the alternative universe "Sympathy for the Devil." But you have to get past a lot of, frankly, porn, to read them, & in the end I'm not sure it's worth it.
Okay, so there are some good things about this book. The "Get Carter" dialogue is spot on, so is the alternative universe "Sympathy for the Devil." But you have to get past a lot of, frankly, porn, to read them, & in the end I'm not sure it's worth it.
Format:Paperback
It's very unfair of me to post up a poor review for this since I would consider giving every other volume except "1910" a full 5 stars. But I'm compelled to do so because I know Moore and O'Neill can clearly do so much better than this lightweight, self-indulgent bore-draw.
LOEG:1969 suffers badly from the weaker, mainly TV and music inspired supporting cast, and the fact that the League as we know it simply doesn't exist anymore. Obviously, many of Victorian superstars are long-gone along with the the well-known 19th Century riffs, but least The Black Dossier had stong hooks such as James Bond and the 39 Steps for the characters to latch-on to. Here, the references to films like Get Carter and Performance simply don't make the grade. And because our heros aren't given anything to do, they behave like bored tourists, constantly complaining and moaning, seemingly fed-up with each other after spending decades as friends and lovers.
There is another in-joke cameo from Moore's mate Iain Sinclair, which they just about got away with in 1910, but twice seems a self-indulgence too far.
Despite all this, I will still buy LOEG: 2009. There are bright glimpses towards the end of '69, such as the move into the punk era, and I am looking forward to a return to form.
LOEG:1969 suffers badly from the weaker, mainly TV and music inspired supporting cast, and the fact that the League as we know it simply doesn't exist anymore. Obviously, many of Victorian superstars are long-gone along with the the well-known 19th Century riffs, but least The Black Dossier had stong hooks such as James Bond and the 39 Steps for the characters to latch-on to. Here, the references to films like Get Carter and Performance simply don't make the grade. And because our heros aren't given anything to do, they behave like bored tourists, constantly complaining and moaning, seemingly fed-up with each other after spending decades as friends and lovers.
There is another in-joke cameo from Moore's mate Iain Sinclair, which they just about got away with in 1910, but twice seems a self-indulgence too far.
Despite all this, I will still buy LOEG: 2009. There are bright glimpses towards the end of '69, such as the move into the punk era, and I am looking forward to a return to form.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
By the Shagadelic Hosts of Hoggoth ..... I fear my Mystic Mojo has...
When Alan Moore started his career as a comics writer his main strength was that he updated the genre and made it a little more 'serious' . Read more
Published 3 months ago by John
Somebody, stop him!
Can somebody do a public service by compelling Alan Moore to stop his psychedelic fantasies, and to concentrate on story-telling, something that he used to do in a truly top-notch... Read more
Published 3 months ago by RIJU GANGULY
Dont start here
The most recent in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series but if you have only seen the film dont start with this one. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Lord Of All He Surveys
Tripping!
LOEXG:1969 is not as good as previous installments, it takes a long time to get going and there's not much momentum in the story. Read more
Published 7 months ago by j.r
Utter rubbish
The good ol' days of The League seems so long ago now. Century 1969 follows on from a pretty dire 1910 and is a pathetic attempt at a story that had nothing to interest this... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Holy Smoke
Groovy Pilot
The weakest link in 'The League' saga but even Alan Moore on the back-burner is a zillions times more interesting than his contemporaries. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Dm Taylor
Disappointment
Really enjoyed the first two, but then it all got a bit self indulgent. Tight narrative and purpose have been lost and it just lacks in every department. Read more
Published 8 months ago by A. J. Parker
dissapointed
Really quite dissapointing. I would not recommend this to anyone. maybe Alan Moore remembers London in the 60s too fondly, or worse still does not remember it at all. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Tapp
Good but not the best League story
Moore does it again with the League fighting occult foes in swinging 1960s London. We open as dissolute rock god Baz is murdered by black hooded figures. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Jo Bennie
The League continues its greatness!
Brilliant once again! If you have all the other League's this is a must buy. Make sure you buy 1910 if you haven't got already. Read more
Published 9 months ago by ell85
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