Saturday, August 16, 2014

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O' Neill.

Finally a sequel to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that lived up to the first two books and wasn't as jumbled a mess as the many other League books being written. 

I'm not saying this book is perfect but it does live up to what Moore wanted to do with the League.  It also doesn't feel as rushed as some of the later League books felt.  Moore seemed more in control of what he was doing here as this story is longer and he gives time to develop characters, which is something that was seriously lacking from later books.  This time he lets scenes play out for pages and not just a page or two - like in most Marvel and DC comics - a good writer knows that pages help to develop characters and story, with the lack of that being something that feels rushed and half full. 

The Black Dossier is anything but half full, as this is a concept comic, which of that they are few and far between in the comic world.  Being a concept comic it largely succeeds on that level and the level of exploring of the world Moore created with the first League book.  Moore has the characters in the book read the titled Black Dossier at very points in the story of which there is a play, a short story, some fliers, a pictorial history of a character Orlando and even a portion of the book in 3-D (glasses are included with the book). 

He really does open up the mythology of the League as he builds upon what he did before, which is something most of the later books failed to do.  The one thing this book does though is starts the weaknesses that has dominated Moore's writing of late, namely that is his obsession with sex and nudity for no reason than he can do it with the comic label he's writing for.  They don't add anything to the story or mythology of the world he's creating  and that has been a failing I've noticed with his books.  This is a shame because I think it really hurts his story as it breaks the flow of what he's doing and turns his story into a typical movie or book that has to have a sex/nudity scene just for the sake of selling more seats or appeasing the audience.  This basically reduces Moore to a typical writer, of which he is not but by doing this he becomes just another writer in the crowd and his work of late has been showcasing this.





  

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