Yeah! This week marks the return of Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neill’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with “Century: 1910”, and once again, it made my eyes pop out of my skull with the sheer joy of figuring out who’s who from all the fictional characters of the period. This time around, we’re treated to Aleister Crowley (or “Haddo”, from his novel Moonchild), Captain Universe (the British one, not the sparkly blue Marvel character) and the cast of the Threepenny Opera, among others. In fact, a good chunk of this issue is sung to Mack The Knife and other Kurt Weill songs — and haven’t you always wanted people to just burst into song like that Buffy episode? Even better when it’s about hangings, prostitution and murder… We also get to see returning favorites Mina Murray, Allan Quatermain, Orlando, Nemo, etc. as the League struggles to stay together in this new century.
For all my praise, I have to admit that the storyarc about Haddo creating a “moonchild” to bring about the apocalypse is scant and somewhat vague. What child? How will this ritual work? I can’t complain about the focus on Nemo’s or Mack the Knife’s stories, but knowing Moore’s fascination with the occult, I was hoping for more detail on the creation of this new magical era. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed this issue and can’t wait for the next installment!
In other news, the Ultimatum storyline is wreaking havoc as it takes down the entire Ultimate line of Marvel comics. While I can’t say I was a fan of all of them, or most of them (alright, I only read Ultimate Spider-Man, but it’s damn good), I must admit that it was a good attempt on Marvel’s part to bring in new readers with comics that were more accessible for today’s audiences. Brian Michael Bendis has been as prolific a writer as Kirby was an artist, and his run on Ultimate Spider-Man is a highlight of his career. Good luck with the relaunch, Marvel!
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