Campion Bond (an agent of MI5, the grandfather of James Bond) commits Mina Murray On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Its primary mission is to recruit more individuals out of the ordinary for a team of UNCLE: Allan Quatermain (Allan Quatermain) Hawley Griffin (The Invisible Man), Dr. Henry Jekyll (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) and Captain Nemo (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea). The second mission of Mina Murray is investigating a strange reigning Asian Londoners on low funds and recover the ore cavorite his henchmen have stolen.
At the first reading of this book, the reader lets himself be carried away by the fact of finding the characters of literature of the nineteenth century have all remained in the collective unconscious as archetypes of genre fiction (radius "great adventures ") for adolescents prey to hormonal surges (those developing muscles, before those who bring to the fairer sex). Alan Moore followed exactly this sort codes by incorporating feats of arms to force the wrist, really wicked wicked whom oppose the heroes in the eternal struggle of good against evil.
At second reading, the struggle of good against evil appears limited and simplistic, but it also highlights the undercurrents of this literature such as fear of the Yellow Peril (with strong hints of racism directed against Asian), the lack of feminine elements, sexual repression, etc. And the systematic use of characters from novels of action can be nerve-wracking for the reader who can not locate (several sites are devoted to reference all characters, even those that appear only in one case, and original book).
At third reading (and after following that of volumes), the reader is still confused once before the rigorous scenario because Alan Moore inserts from this first volume of what will be included in the following, whether the peculiarity of vision Hyde or the reference to the Whitechapel murderer. And the story of the background theme eventually appear as the emancipation of Mina Murray, so integrating a feminine element in a universe by definition male. Alan Moore inserts underlying comments on gender works. It draws the reader's attention on the more or less hidden meaning of these codes.
For this project out of the ordinary, Alan Moore has required the services of an extraordinary artist Kevin O'Neill (Nemesis the Warlock The Complete Bk 1 and Marshal Law. Fear and Loathing, the 2 with Pat Mills). Moore and O'Neill had worked together, especially on episodes of Green Lantern of which had been refused by the Comics Code Authority which found that the style of O'Neill was inappropriate for magazines aimed at youth. Indeed, we need a fitting time to enjoy its graphics that emphasizes angles to the detriment of curves. In addition, O'Neill chooses this volume sometimes waive the anatomical rules (especially for feminine silhouettes, Mina's hourglass figure, for example). This feature combined with the angles shows individuals as slightly deformed, with a protruding frame that does not flatter the eye. Similarly, he fully embraces this uchronic past to draw fantasized steampunk designs imprinted codes. O'Neill succeeds in giving shape to imagination overdeveloped Alan Moore, which is not an easy task.
Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill deliver both a narrative of adventures rooted in the tradition of literature for young adolescent males and both subverted by the predominance of the feminine element and perversions flush different characters. Each member of the Laeg has something to hide, everyone has their own goals and their own guilty pleasures and this league has a team in name only, without the spirit.
This volume ends with a prose narrative (written as a pastiche of contemporary accounts) featuring Allan Quatermain and John Carter (Warrior of Mars) in an adventure that makes the link between the latest adventures in the Quatermain Feather Ridder Haggard and den in which Mina Murray found him. Reading these pages requires a good English vocabulary level.
This story awakens the young teenager who sleeps in us giving it to discover adventures in which the realities of adult life have been integrated, making these even more exciting adventures. And reading is thereby even more enjoyable thanks to many touches of humor, particularly in spades that are getting the characters.
