Wednesday, August 22, 2012

League - 88

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - America: 1988

When war-hero-turned-handyman Kesuke Miyagi is found drained of blood, it becomes clear that the occult gang known as the Lost Boys are targeting the only individuals that can stop them from complete domination of America. It's the perfect case for the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen--except that their government contact, Oscar Goldman, disbanded the team in 1979 after they defeated Mr. Han's army of the living dead.

Now, disgraced scientist Emmet Brown has to put together a new team to combat the growing threat of the Lost Boys and their leader, a newly resurrected vampire kingpin Tony Montana: Transportation specialist Jack Burton, ex-commando B.A. Baracus, tech wizard Angus MacGyver and the mysteriously powerful femme fatale known only as "Lisa." But will Brown be able to stop the Lost Boys before time runs out?

 
Thanks to Brother Erik for pointing this version to me. This one is an actual comic book that I now much hunt down to read. I so hope it is Alan Moore-free. I find his brand of balloon juice to be most tiresome. Of course I cannot find this comic because it does not exist. It was an April Fool's day hoax a few years back. Too bad. I would have read the hell out of this one. It's a better idea than most of what is published today. Way to make my point DC/Marvel Comics.

11 comments:

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

It would be really fun to put together of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by the Decade:

The 70s: Bruce Lee (martial arts) Virgil Tibbs (highly observant detective) Jaime Sommers (enhanced skills plus espionage experience) maybe Harry Callahan (expert shot) but he'd be a volatile addition. I'd throw in Willy Wonka (Near Magical Wild Card and looking for something to do in his retirement years). Add Rocky Balboa and Dr. Sam Loomis as an adviser on the lunatics they would be bringing in and you might have something.

Kal said...

Now that you got me thinking about the 70s, what about Logan 5, Bionic Bigfoot, Buck Rodgers, Starbuck and Apollo or maybe Athena.

Jordan said...

Alan Moore "tiresome?" SACRILEGE!

Kal, you take that back right now. I just finished reading The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century and it's mind-blowing in the extreme. Yes, you need footnotes and annotations (available online) from literary scholars to follow it all and catch the allusions, but if that's good enough for James Joyce it's good enough for Alan Moore.

Not to mention V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Miracleman (especially brilliant) and even his "Whatever Happened to the Man of Steel?" two-issue conclusion to the pre-crisis Superman mythos.

I mean, too each his own; whatever. But being a comic book fan and not liking Alan Moore is like being a movie fan and not liking Kubrick.

Jordan said...

Also, League (the real one) has complex overarching themes about Victorian and Edwardian culture, philosophy and society as compared to today, which give the whole project a melancholy fixation on elements of the human imagination (and its literary manifestations) that are irrevocably vanished with the progress of technology, computers, mass culture and the industrial age. These elements in the League story reach their fruition in the "Century" storyline, which shows the tragic, entropic decay of humanism and the rise of commercialism over the course of the last hundred years.

To simply juxtapose the most superficial elements of Moore's idea into the recent past, preserving just the fun "mashup" elements and ignoring the rest, is to defeat the entire purpose of what Moore did.

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

A '60s League would be though to diversify a lineup given all the spy-centric shows and movies that were out at the time. Also, I feel like choosing characters from "the future" is kind of cheating unless they exist within the time period in question. Otherwise I'd have Kirk and Spock hanging out with James Bond, Emma Peel and Rollin Hand under the watchful eye of the enigmatic George Kaplan.

Kal said...

Damn Jordan. I just never make you happy do I. Maybe I am not smart enough for Moore, or Joyce. I know I am not smart enough for Morrison either. I should just stick with Tiny Titans and those Baby Archie books.

In the 60s I would like to see Napolean Solo, a demon possessed Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and Yul Bryner without a shirt but wearing those parachute pants.

Kal said...

I loved the first two League comics that Moore did but then he lost me in that way he does - the way no one wants to admit. Tolkien did it too as did Herman Melville. All are great writers but they are hardly the most accessible. Those guys are readers you STUDY, not ones you just read and enjoy.

Dune was like that for me but I was so into it that I made time to research all the extra things I needed to know to fully enjoy the series.

Moore will always be overrated in that way for me. He doesn't make me want to do the extra research because what story he is telling me isn't all that interesting to begin with.

There. Now I can burn in hell with a clear conscience. I also love Mike Mignola but hate Rob Leifeld. Can we find some agreement there?

Have you read The Umbrella Academy? Now that is the comic that Alan Moore never wrote - thank god.

Jordan said...

Kal, you always make me happy! I love your site and everything you do, damn it. Consider this a friendly disagreement between friends (who've never met face to face).

Jordan said...

At least with Tolkien the "glue trap" is in the front of the book, not the back. If you can make it through Book I (first half of The Fellowship of the Ring) you're home free.

Melville's a different story. Nobody can make it through that thing without a bottle of aspirin.

M. D. Jackson said...

I was so turned off by the movie version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that I have never sought out Moore's originals. Jordan's comments (and comparing Alan Moore to James Joyce!) have intrigued me to the point where I'm thinking I should seek him out.

As for the 80's League, it is incomplete without Buckaroo Banzai.

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

Trust me, the first two volumes are head and shoulders above most other "hero team" books. The movie is just an "in name only" adaptation in the same vein as Halle Berry's Catwoman movie or the 1998 American Godzilla flick.