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ARTICLE
Primer: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
by R.J. Carter Published: July 7, 2003
It was in the March of 1999, and America's Best Comics (an offshoot of Wildstorm made especially to be the laboratory of that mad genius, Alan Moore) was introducing the first issue of its newest six-issue series: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Alan Moore's idea was both simple and complex: he would take characters from Victorian literature--almost all of which were public domain and available for use--and put them all in one book. Together, they would form a sort of 19th century Justice League.
The league would fall under the auspices of the British Secret Service, headed up by the mysterious "M" (whom many thought to be Mycroft Holmes; and since Mycroft Holmes is credited in the movie, played by Richard Roxburgh, we can probably assume the directors are deviating from the revelation that "M" was none other than the notorious James Moriarty), who gave his orders through a man named Campion Bond (a tip of the hat and a possible forerunner to 007.) In their first adventure, the League was to retrieve the stolen anti-gravity element, cavorite (first seen in The First Men In The Men), from a Chinese doctor who planned to use it to mount an aerial assault on London (although apparently Fu Manchu wasn't as quite public domain as expected, and thus the character went unnamed.)
Woven into the background of a seemingly straightforward adventure story were myriad elements from other pieces of the age--some obvious, many obscure. But you didn't have to "get" all the aside bits to enjoy the tale--and if you did, you enjoyed it even more, once you overcame the whole awe-inspiring audacity of it.
It was a hit. And like all hits in comics these days, it seems that a movie must (must, I say!) be made from the idea. And with all such ideas, there comes the general worries and concerns from the fans of the book about how faithful the movie adaptation will be.
And so as we find ourselves approaching the debut of Fox's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, let me allay those concerns as best as I can. The movie version of the League is as much like the book version in much the same way that a coconut is like an automobile: they both have a hard shell that's difficult to crack without effort. The movie does contain all the characters from the book, but adds some additional ones. And the plot is its own creation entirely: Rather than sending the League after Fu Manchu, their target is The Fantom. And those are only the most glaringly obvious differences. Here are a few more as we explore...
vs.
Mina Murray
Mina is a strong female character, divorced from her husband Jonathan Harker after a tragic confrontation with Count Dracula. She's the only one tough enough to stand up to Hyde, and is frequently considered an outcast from society because of her rumoured despoiling.
She is never without her neck scarf--ever.
The remade Mina didn't fully fend off the bloodsucking Count, and is now a vampiress herself. Portrayed by La Femme Nikita's Peta Wilson, Mina seems to have kept her married name of Harker in this rendering of the character, who shows far more cleavage than a proper woman of the period might have dared.
Allen Quatermain
Allen Quatermain is an old man whom Mina Murray finds strung out on opium when she recruits him for Campion Bond's league.
At first trepidatious and frightened at the things the League encounters during its formation, Allen eventually finds his courage.
In the movie, Quatermain is the leader, a far more dashing man of action than presented by Moore and O'Neill. Not that I'd ever knock Sean Connery or suggest he be placed into a secondary role (although The Avengers rather did that to him already), but it would have been a nice change to have the lead be a strong female role. Hey, if it worked well enough for Tomb Raider to merit a sequel...
The Invisible Man
Hawley Griffin is a right immoral bastard. When initially found by Mina and Allen, he's at a school for wayward girls and in the middle of invisibly raping Pollyanna Harrington! Always one to be watched (ironically), Griffin will not waste his first opportunity to betray the League. He's quite mad.
While a man named Griffin was the protagonist of the H.G. Wells classic, this see-through adventurer is Rodney Skinner.
In the first League adventure, Griffin claims that the dead body found at the end of Wells's story was actually that of an assistant he had tried the formula on, named Skinner. It will be interesting to note if Skinner makes a reference to Griffin, and if so one wonders why the positions needed to be reversed.
Dr. Henry Jekyll
Doctor Jekyll is a waspish man, timid and slow to action. His counterpart, Edward Hyde, however, is a brute who is ruled by his whims, almost completely given over to his id and the physical manifestation of all that is evil in Jekyll. Ironically, Jekyll intended that his formula would purge his evil aspects from him, but over time, the Jekyll persona has grown physically smaller, while Hyde becomes larger and stays around longer.
Still a man who shifts between bodies and personalities, the Jekyll half of the equation is more roguish than his comic book counterpart, exhibiting a showmanship that Moore's Jekyll would never have the nerve to demonstrate.
Captain Nemo
Alan Moore hit upon an obscure reference in Verne's work marking Nemo as an Indian man who used his keen intellect to wage war against British rule. Nemo agrees to join the League, but only as it suits his purposes. And a good thing it is, for the League would find transportation much more difficult without the services of the mighty Nautilus.
Taking a cue from the books, producers cast Naseeruddin Shah as the brilliant scientist. This is possibly the closest the entire casting process comes to matching the characters in the books (aside from Quatermain having a white beard.)
The Dark Horses
Tom Sawyer is an American spy and man of action, although he's still a little wet behind the ears and needs the occassional assist from the older and more experienced Allen Quatermain. Mark Twain's Mississipi river-rafter, now an adult, appears nowhere in the League's written adventures, and seems to have been added solely to have a younger (and American) character for audiences to relate to.
While the addition of Tom Sawyer may seem unnecessary, the inclusion of Oscar Wilde's immortal portrait owner, Dorian Gray seems such a natural fit one wonders how or why Moore left the fellow out of either volume of the League's adventures. Bravo to the scriptwriters for this one.
Now, just because an adaptation strays so far from the source material in no means should imply that the movie is unenjoyable. In instances like this, I always point to The Running Man. This was a great Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle that had great lines from both the lead character and the main villain (played by Richard Dawson.) And it was a unique concept, a game show in which convicted killers could win their release--if they survived. But if you went to see this movie expecting it to be the same as the source material--a Stephen King short story about a man who is chased all across America in the hopes of winning a race so he can buy a cure for his wife--then you were going to be disappointed.
The comic book League is currently wrapping up their second miniseries, in which they cross paths with the brilliant geneticist Dr. Moreau and an army of invading tripods from the planet Mars. Might this be the basis of a sequel for Fox to develop? Perhaps, but if so, don't look for John Carter, the Warlord of Mars to appear as he (seemingly) does in the books. The Edgar Rice Burroughs estate still keeps the character under close scrutiny, and there's already a movie deal in the works for that property.
It was in the March of 1999, and America's Best Comics (an offshoot of Wildstorm made especially to be the laboratory of that mad genius, Alan Moore) was introducing the first issue of its newest six-issue series: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Alan Moore's idea was both simple and complex: he would take characters from Victorian literature--almost all of which were public domain and available for use--and put them all in one book. Together, they would form a sort of 19th century Justice League.
Now, just because an adaptation strays so far from the source material in no means should imply that the movie is unenjoyable. In instances like this, I always point to The Running Man. This was a great Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle that had great lines from both the lead character and the main villain (played by Richard Dawson.) And it was a unique concept, a game show in which convicted killers could win their release--if they survived. But if you went to see this movie expecting it to be the same as the source material--a Stephen King short story about a man who is chased all across America in the hopes of winning a race so he can buy a cure for his wife--then you were going to be disappointed.
Mina is a strong female character, divorced from her husband Jonathan Harker after a tragic confrontation with Count Dracula. She's the only one tough enough to stand up to Hyde, and is frequently considered an outcast from society because of her rumoured despoiling.
The remade Mina didn't fully fend off the bloodsucking Count, and is now a vampiress herself. Portrayed by La Femme Nikita's Peta Wilson, Mina seems to have kept her married name of Harker in this rendering of the character, who shows far more cleavage than a proper woman of the period might have dared.
Allen Quatermain is an old man whom Mina Murray finds strung out on opium when she recruits him for Campion Bond's league.
In the movie, Quatermain is the leader, a far more dashing man of action than presented by Moore and O'Neill. Not that I'd ever knock Sean Connery or suggest he be placed into a secondary role (although The Avengers rather did that to him already), but it would have been a nice change to have the lead be a strong female role. Hey, if it worked well enough for Tomb Raider to merit a sequel...
Hawley Griffin is a right immoral bastard. When initially found by Mina and Allen, he's at a school for wayward girls and in the middle of invisibly raping Pollyanna Harrington! Always one to be watched (ironically), Griffin will not waste his first opportunity to betray the League. He's quite mad.
While a man named Griffin was the protagonist of the H.G. Wells classic, this see-through adventurer is Rodney Skinner.
Doctor Jekyll is a waspish man, timid and slow to action. His counterpart, Edward Hyde, however, is a brute who is ruled by his whims, almost completely given over to his id and the physical manifestation of all that is evil in Jekyll. Ironically, Jekyll intended that his formula would purge his evil aspects from him, but over time, the Jekyll persona has grown physically smaller, while Hyde becomes larger and stays around longer.
Still a man who shifts between bodies and personalities, the Jekyll half of the equation is more roguish than his comic book counterpart, exhibiting a showmanship that Moore's Jekyll would never have the nerve to demonstrate.
Alan Moore hit upon an obscure reference in Verne's work marking Nemo as an Indian man who used his keen intellect to wage war against British rule. Nemo agrees to join the League, but only as it suits his purposes. And a good thing it is, for the League would find transportation much more difficult without the services of the mighty Nautilus.
Taking a cue from the books, producers cast Naseeruddin Shah as the brilliant scientist. This is possibly the closest the entire casting process comes to matching the characters in the books (aside from Quatermain having a white beard.)
