The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 2, #5
Story:
Art:

Written by Alan Moore
Art by Kevin O'Neill

Published by America's Best Comics/Wildstorm/DC Comics.
Price: $3.50

My Verdict: Tremendous letdown.

The Martian invasion continues and nobody really is doing much about it. Quatermain and Murray are up trying to seek out a character that should be able to aid them in the defense of England and they're rutting whenever possible. Griffin has defected, taking some secrets of the English defenses with him and basically pissing everyone off. Hyde owes the invisible bloke something for humiliating Mina, the only team member that he actually respects. That's about all I can remember to bring you up to speed, the book was months late in coming out. Anyway.

I'm a little bitter about this. Let's deal with these things one at a time: first, there's a lot of sex going on. Three ruttings in two issues. I have no problem with this actually, not even--shall we call it to spare spoilers--The Incident at the Museum. Trouble is, if I had wanted a Garth Ennis story, I would have picked one up. In the hands of Alan Moore, and with these charactrers, I feel like I've blundering into some bad erotic fan fiction. Why bad?

Well, because the characterization has gone out the bloody window. The fact that Quatermain and Mina don't seem to be working very hard to protect England--they being the two most responsible one in the League--is fairly ludicrous. Granted, they've made a new ally, but it feels like a setup for a deus ex machina and nothing else. The fact that Nemo, at the end of the issue, reacts to the Incident in the way that he does--makes no sense. This is the guy who threatened to kill a particular person anyway--and now he's pissed when said person is gone? And don't tell me that the crime was that shocking--this is Nemo, for God's sake. The fact that the victim of said crime was even around--makes no sense.

Certainly, there are some merits to the issue: the new ally in question and the plethora of literary references that he brings about are choice. And Hyde's little trick at dinner--but other than that, it's a wash. If I wasn't positive that the issue had been written and in the can months upon months ago, I would have to assume that Moore was doing this to give the finger to the League feature film adaptation, which is going to be atrocious. But I don't see how that would be possible, unless of course he was basing that on one of the iterations of the screenplay. But we'll never know. Regardless, it seems a shame that the series seems to be going downhill like this. Perhaps the last issue can really wrap it up in a pleasing fashion--but that would be a feat and a half at this stage.

Quote: "Do you know, I can't remember the last time I felt so chipper."