Comics

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Century: 1910 by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill
1: What Keeps Mankind Alive?
Minions of the Moon Chapter One: Into The Limbus

I've been waiting years to read this: I read (and reviewed in six parts) the third League title, Black Dossier, four years ago this month; I've had this opening book of Century since it came out in 2009; but the third (and final) part came out this week, and turned up in my post today, so I'm finally settling down to read it (over three days is my plan).

It takes a different structural form for League: whereas the first two were traditional six-issue miniseries, and the third a mixed-format book, Century exists as three standalone-but-connected books. This first is 72 pages, or the equivalent of three 24-page issues, so I guess that makes it three three-parters or one nine-parter. It's nice to mix things up.

It's a form that works here: without spoiling anything, there's a definite story that begins and concludes within the book itself, while events are set in motion that will obviously continue through the next two volumes. It's as entertaining as the rest of the League stories too, for my money, with the usual heady mix of horror, violence, humour, adventure, and some song now too. There's a new League, one that has obviously been working together for a little while, and that keeps things moving and entertaining for the reader. While Moore does mix in a few cultural reference points and a bit of filling-the-gaps-in-League-history, it's mostly slotted in around the story, unlike Black Dossier which some criticised for foregrounding it.

Anyway, the important thing is I enjoyed it, and I look forward to seeing it develop over the next two instalments.