Victorian-Era Mondays: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (the COMIC)

Let's just get this out of the way right off the bat - if you enjoy the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film, that's great. But you should definitely read the source material. It's like watching the film version of The Watchmen but never having read the graphic novel.

However, if you strongly disliked the film (I fall into this camp), you should definitely read the comic. It's so different as to practically be a completely different story.

With that said, let's get onto looking at this work of graphic fiction as a source of inspiration for some Victorian-era influences in your games.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is set in Victorian London and brings together a disparate set of Victorian-era fictional characters into one cohesive story, led by Mina Murray (of Bram Stoker's Dracula). Unlike the film version, the American Tom Sawyer is nowhere to be found in the story.

Mina is hired by a gentleman named Campion Bond, a member of a British Intelligence agency to put together a team (described by author Alan Moore as "a Justice League of Victorian England") in order to stop a "gang war" (to put it mildly) between two major villains of Victoria-era fiction. This type of situation is one of the true bright spots of the series - major Victorian characters who never interacted in the fiction of the time are brought together into one very well-written story so that it seems completely natural that they would know each other. There are characters from Gothic fiction (Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) alongside characters from mysteries and crime fiction (such as Sherlock Holmes) and adventure fiction (King Solomon's Mines).

All of this fantastic story-telling is coupled with beautiful artwork by artist Kevin O'Neill, including some really neat pseudo-steampunk designs and period advertisements to really help convey a sense of the world in which the characters live. The artistic style of the character designs is perfect for the story, and O'Neill is a master at facial expressions, but also excels at background and architectural work.

As I mentioned before in my post on Gotham by Gaslight (another Victoria-era inspirational resource), one of the things I really enjoy about the Victorian-era for gaming purposes is that it combines some more "modern" inventions and things like travel and exploration alongside more "antiquated" ideas like superstition and globe-spanning empires. All of these types of ideas are used to full effect in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics.

There are actually several books in the series - Volume II involves many of the same main characters but brings in ideas of Victorian space exploration via inspiration from works by the likes of H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs (with an artistic sensibility not too dissimilar from the Space: 1889 game). The third volume of the series, entitled "Century" is actually three stories that take place in 1910, 1969, and 2009.  There's also a spin-off series, the Nemo Trilogy and a Black Dossier (which came out between Volume II and Volume III) that is more of a source book for the world of the League.

All of the volumes, but especially Volumes I, II and the Black Dossier, are fantastic, imagination-inspiring resources for a Victorian-type role-playing. There are tons of ideas for character backgrounds and personalities, equipment, architecture, and more to be found in these comics. On top of all that, they're great stories. Alan Moore is one of the masters of modern comic fiction and combined with the images of artist Kevin O'Neill, they create a world full of fun, adventure, and fantasy that can inspire any role-playing gamer. 


THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN
Format: Available in a variety of formats. The first two volumes have been collected in a 416 omnibus edition, but there's also a 176 page edition of just the first edition for about half the price.
Where To Buy: I am strongly in favor of buying comics at your local comics shop, if you have one. If you're not sure, visit the Comic Shop Locator, where you can enter your ZIP Code and see if there's a shop nearby. You can also of course order online at sources like Amazon. Lastly, if you're into digital comics instead of paper, here's a link to where you can download a copy at Comixology.
Price: Prices vary depending on the edition you get (e.g., the omnibus or just a single trade paperback). Currently, Volume I is available on Amazon for $11.68.
Rated: Comixology rates this as "Ages 15+ only" which is probably just about right. There are some real adult situations in here that could be confusing or inappropriate for younger readers. As always, my suggestion is that you read it first before deciding if it's appropriate for your kids.
More Information: It's a bit tough to find a "true" website for the series, because the publishers have changed over the years (Alan Moore has a bit of a bad history with DC Comics, who purchased the original publisher, Wildstorm Comics, and so he later moved it to another publisher, Top Shelf). Your best bet is probably just a Wiki type page, such as this one.


Hanging: Home office (laptop)
Drinking: A Scofflaw (with Orphan Barrel Rhetoric bourbon)
Listening: Happy-Go-Lucky Local (Live) by Duke Ellington