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Moogi A Mediocre Khan from everywhy Since: Jan, 2001
A Mediocre Khan
#1: Aug 9th 2011 at 5:42:26 AM

League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen is definitely one of my favourite comics ever, and I was distressed to find that there wasn't a thread here for it. This issue has now been resolved.

I love the series, though I sometimes disagree with the directions it has gone in. For example, most of the stuff in Black Dossier would have been more interesting in comic form than the way it was presented. That said, even the disappointing aspects of the series are still excellent reads (except the Jack Kerouac pastiche in BD, which was completely unreadable).

So, I just read 1969 last night, and I've had a couple thoughts about it (I won't post any spoilers in my first post):

  • Overall, quite solid, if completely fucked up. It was definitely worth the wait.

  • My biggest complaint is that if it weren't for the title, I would have a lot of difficulty recognizing it as part of the same series as the first two volumes. Century is shaping up to be a very different beast from its predecessors, but this isn't exactly a bad thing.

  • I dug the references to the Rutles and the Purple Orchestra.

  • Holy Lawyer-Friendly Cameo, Batman! There's some very clever writing around trademarks in this book, but I hope Moore doesn't overdo it when it comes to part 3, since I'd rather not have him sued. Especially given where I think the next book is heading...

  • Mina remains one of my favourite comic heroines, and this volume brings out a lot more depth in her than in previous installments.

  • The Moonchild/Haddo plot is getting very interesting. I approve.

  • We get (due to this post's lack of spoilers, I won't say under what circumstances) a brief glimpse of the Leagueverse's depiction of Dracula, at long last. I was very happy to note that the comic portrays him as the mustachioed old man from the novel, rather than Bela Lugosi.

  • Lots of sex, as has become the norm for the series. This bugs me, not because I'm prudish or anything, but because I simply don't enjoy reading about sex, especially in comics. Just a preference on my part. Also, it makes me self-conscious reading it around other people (especially my parents!).

  • Seriously fucked up psychedelic bits. Can you say Mind Screw? I'm not sure whether I liked or disliked those sections yet.

  • Fourth wall violations are becoming somewhat more common, thanks to Andrew Norton. I'm starting to suspect that 2009 is going to end up being very metafictional.

  • I haven't read the short story in the back yet. I'm going to re-read the one in 1910 first before I start.

So, yeah. I hope that 2009 isn't as delay-ridden as 1969 was, since I really want to see how this story ends sooner rather than later. Still, I'm content for now; though I may have some other thoughts in the near future.

https://www.facebook.com/emileunmedicatedanduncut
AndyDyslexia Andy Dyslexia from the inside of your head Since: Feb, 2010
Andy Dyslexia
#2: Aug 11th 2011 at 6:26:55 PM

I loved the fact that it wasn't recognisable as part of the same series! It's a great reflection on how the culture in Britain changed over the 59 years since the last volume.

edited 11th Aug '11 6:27:39 PM by AndyDyslexia

Moogi A Mediocre Khan from everywhy Since: Jan, 2001
A Mediocre Khan
#3: Aug 12th 2011 at 9:25:27 AM

[up] Great point! I hadn't really thought of it that way before.

https://www.facebook.com/emileunmedicatedanduncut
AndyDyslexia Andy Dyslexia from the inside of your head Since: Feb, 2010
Andy Dyslexia
#4: Aug 17th 2011 at 7:31:14 PM

So I re-read it again (man, I love his take on Sympathy for the Devil!), and I had the craziest thought! Judging by the ending, does this mean the Moonchild will turn out to be Harry Potter?

Moogi A Mediocre Khan from everywhy Since: Jan, 2001
A Mediocre Khan
#5: Aug 19th 2011 at 9:11:26 AM

[up] That is a horrifying thought... I wouldn't put it past Alan Moore. [lol]

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AliceMacher (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#6: Aug 23rd 2011 at 9:21:16 AM

I very much enjoyed it, much more so than 1910 because this time, the chapter wasn't dominated by a single work, and a musical at that. (I too liked the "Sympathy for the Devil" pastiche, but I was less keen on so much of 1910 consisting of lyrics from The Threepenny Opera. Music lyrics, in that quantity, are meant to be listened to, not read.)

O'Neill's art really shines in 1969, especially, but not exclusively, in the psychedelic freakout portion.

My one criticism is that I really don't see why Moore feels the need to include a drawn-out sexual assault scene in nearly every chapter. Yes, such things happen, all too often, in Real Life, but Moore's overuse of Rape as Drama makes LoEG come dangerously close at times to Misery Lit.

AndyDyslexia Andy Dyslexia from the inside of your head Since: Feb, 2010
Andy Dyslexia
#7: Aug 24th 2011 at 8:06:00 PM

This seems to be the criticism that most reviewers raise, and to be honest, I'm not sure where i sit with this. On the one hand, Rape as Drama seems far too prevalent in Moore's work; enough so that it's becoming a crutch for him. On the other hand, it's hard to imagine that scene without it. After all, the juxtaposition of the free love of the 60s and the sexual magic practiced by Crowley is just too good an opportunity to pass up.

edited 24th Aug '11 8:06:15 PM by AndyDyslexia

AndyDyslexia Andy Dyslexia from the inside of your head Since: Feb, 2010
Andy Dyslexia
#8: Aug 24th 2011 at 8:09:05 PM

Also, I don't think Threepenny Opera dominated 1910 any more than Performance dominated 1969.

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#9: Aug 25th 2011 at 10:12:27 AM

I've always thought The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen was one of the best literary/storytelling ideas in the past long while, which was both helped and suffered by being created by Alan Moore.

Helped, because an alternate history shared universe in which all characters and concepts of fictional literature and legend may have a part is a concept that downright requires a good author to pull it together and do it right, and there are few better for it than Alan Moore, who formed the idea so well the book isn't just great, it's downright inspirationally amazing.

Suffered, as because it's Alan Moore it's unlikely that it would ever be continued: he wouldn't continue it and others respect him too much to do it themselves - I feel that as long as there is literature to interpret, the League could conceivably go on as a serial series - you could hit time periods in eras all over, from modern to antiquity.

Moogi A Mediocre Khan from everywhy Since: Jan, 2001
A Mediocre Khan
#10: Aug 26th 2011 at 2:41:55 AM

[up][up][up][up] I agree with your criticism. For some reason, I've always disliked reading about sex, especially in comics, so Moore fixation on fictional characters fucking each other is somewhat frustrating to me.

Still, I can't help but love this series. I just hope that the final chapter is going to be able to conclude this story satisfyingly.

Also, did anyone else nearly (or actually, for that matter) cry at the end? I got damn close, what with Mina being locked away and the team falling apart. I mean, these are characters that I've become quite attached to over the years (especially Mina, who is easily my favourite female character in comics), and to see them in such a predicament is downright heart wrenching.

Judging by the ending, I'm starting to think of 1969 as being Century's equivalent to The Empire Strikes Back. Stretching this analogy further, this bodes well for the final chapter, since Return Of The Jedi happens to be my favourite movie ever.

I can't believe I just managed to compare this to Star Wars.

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AndyDyslexia Andy Dyslexia from the inside of your head Since: Feb, 2010
Andy Dyslexia
#11: Jul 3rd 2012 at 11:52:25 PM

Iwasright!Iwasright!Iwasright!Iwasright!Iwasright!Iwasright!Iwasright!Iwasright!Iwasright!Iwasright!

On the other hand, the rotting corpse of Thomas The Tank Engine is going to stay with me for the rest of my days...

Moogi A Mediocre Khan from everywhy Since: Jan, 2001
A Mediocre Khan
#12: Sep 1st 2012 at 8:31:53 AM

Okay. I read 2009 when it came out this summer, but since I was working at a summer camp with poor internet, I was unable to post my thoughts on the book for a while. To be honest, I was putting off writing my review of it, for reasons that will soon be apparent.

I, on the whole, tend to like just about everything. It is extremely hard for me to dislike a work of fiction. With that and my long-standing appreciation of the League series, I need to be upfront about this: 2009 was far and away the single most disappointing work of fiction I have ever encountered. It promised much and gave very little in return, to the point where I frankly feel cheated. It is not entirely without merit, but the good qualities of the book only serve to highlight the flaws that permeate the rest of it. Moreover, 2009 weakens the previous installments of Century by being such an unsatisfying conclusion. I'm going to explain my reasons in more detail. Unmarked spoilers will follow.

What I Did Like:

  • The art is better than ever. Kevin O'Neil's art was good to begin with, and it has only improved with every installment. Pity that it could not have been paired with better writing.

  • The plot itself actually did have some legitimately interesting ideas, which really should have been developed better.

  • The background gags made me very happy. To be honest, I think more care was put into these gags then the actual plot. The Drive/Shaft poster in particular made me grin like a madman, as did the Doctor's cameos.

  • The first three pages, with Orlando in Q'mar, were nothing short of amazing. I have honestly never really liked Orlando very much, but the short scene of him talking to Colonel Cuckoo was brilliant. I felt that the scene gave Orlando some much needed depth, since I've always found him/her to be a pretty shallow character most of the time.

  • The bit in MI 6 was awesome, too. I've always been fond of the Legacy Character interpretation of James Bond, and it was nice to see it used here. I was also kind of pleased to see a more positive portrayal of the Bond series after Black Dossier.

  • There was a brief moment during the otherwise gratuitously disgusting Hogwarts scene when Mina and Orlando ponder the connection between fantasy and reality, and how when one such world becomes darker, the other follows suit. I've always been fascinated by this topic, and I was seriously hoping that this line of thought would continue. This being 2009, of course, that topic of inquiry was quickly discarded after all of one panel so that Alan Moore could get back to Gorn and gratuitous sex. This, for me, was the biggest disappointment in the entire book: a series bringing together all of fiction is the perfect place to make some kind of profound statement about the nature of storytelling, and to discard what could have been a perfect setup for such statements in favour of Dark Age-style schlock is nothing short of criminal. Is my bitterness showing? I'm not being too subtle about this, right?

  • Moore's Mina is still one of my favourite characters in comics. She only had a few good character moments in this book (in contrast to 1969, which was an excellent character study for her), but those few were pretty great. Despite my growing discomfort with the book on my first reading, I couldn't help but nearly cry when I saw her in the asylum. I often sympathize with fictional characters, but it is very rare that I want to reach through the fourth wall, give them hugs, and try to take them away from it all. That panel of Mina at the mirror was powerful. Other great Mina moments were her encounter with Allan (despite the incredibly Narmful singing portion), the desperate sex with Orlando before the final battle (it says something that I liked this bit, since I really don't enjoy sex in my fiction, thank you very much), and the whole "My hero" line at the end. Moore's Mina truly is a great character (to be honest, she is far more interesting than Stoker's original), and she really shines in this book, both in spite of and even because of the book's numerous deficiencies.

  • Despite the... inglorious nature of his passing, Allan Quatermain's burial was quite poignant. It came as a bit of Mood Whiplash for me to read such a touching scene after, well, the trainwreck that passed for the climax. Still, that last panel of the tombstones was very moving.

What I Didn't Like:

  • Years from now, I hope that writing classes use 2009 as an example of how not to write an ending. To refer to this book as an anticlimax would be a grave insult to anticlimaxes everywhere. The problem I had is that there was a lot of buildup- both in this book and in the two before- in several connected plotlines, none of which reached a satisfying conclusion. Indeed, the only major plotline (aside from the character arcs for the three protagonists) that was actually wrapped up was the whole Antichrist thing, and that sure as hell wasn't satisfying. I'm no expert on apocalyptic traditions, but I'm pretty sure the Antichrist is supposed to do something more than just grow big and piss on people.

  • So, let's talk about the elephant in the room: Harry Potter. In the last book, I was quite giddy when I discovered that Moore intended to use Harry Potter for the finale. Even after I connected the dots and deduced that Harry was going to be the Moonchild, I was still excited, if a little nervous. Harry Potter was a big part of my youth, but I was actually pretty intrigued to see what inevitably dark twists Moore would put on the story. Oh, what little I knew. First of all, I don't actually have a problem with the idea of Harry being the Antichrist; the struggle between an individual and their fate was one of the primary themes of Rowling's novels, and adding the Antichrist element could have been an excellent way to extrapolate that theme. My problem, therefore, lies in the execution. Moore was obviously imperfectly familiar with the Potter mythos. And by 'imperfectly familiar', I mean that 'They Just Didn't Care does not even begin to describe it'. Now, I did not expect him to slavishly obey every detail from Rowling. But because Harry was made into such an integral part of 2009, I at least expected Moore to actually, y'know, read the damn book. Seriously, not a single character from Harry Potter was anywhere close to their original characterization. It just felt so... shallow on Moore's part. Let's be honest, here: when My Immortal can be considered a more accurate portrayal of the characters, then you know that you have a problem. This isn't just me leaving a gratuitous Take That!, by the way; I genuinely believe that Tara Gillespie has a better understanding of the Harry Potter universe than Alan Moore. At least there's convincing evidence to suggest that Tara was just a Troll; Moore seems to genuinely want to be taken seriously. Looking back, I'm wondering if Moore was only doing this to snipe at JK Rowling. I want to believe that such pettiness is beneath him, but this is 2009 we're talking about.

  • On that note: the 'pissing lightning' thing? What the hemorrhaging fuck was that about? Seriously? I had to re-read that page about four times to make sure that I wasn't dreaming (and when I woke up the following morning, the first thing I did was open the comic to check that it wasn't some bizarre stress-induced nightmare). Given time and good debating techniques, I'm sure that some clever chap could find a way to defend and even excuse many of the gaping flaws in 2009. But I am confident that this scene is completely indefensible. It added nothing of value to the story, it was puerile at best, and it served as little more than a flat-out insult to Haggard, Rowling, and the intelligence of the reader. When I was five years old, I would have felt immature if I came up with that scene. That said, the scene has two bits of value: 1) if you listen carefully when you look at the panels, you can hear Alan Moore shooting his artistic integrity in the face. 2) some minor and petty pleasure can be derived from imagining the scene as a metaphor, with !Harry and Quatermain standing in for whatever childish Take Thats you want to make toward the book. These are literally the only ways that I can make that scene seem even vaguely positive.

  • To be honest, Moore's handling of other writer's creations really makes him look bad with this book, especially after the brouhaha earlier this year over Before Watchmen. Though I do not like the idea of Before Watchmen at all, Moore really doesn't have a leg to stand on anymore with his complaints about other writers using his characters after 2009. It's fucking hypocritical. While I still have no intention of buying or reading Before Watchmen, I can at least say in its favour that, unless they do some really weird stuff with Dr Manhattan, none of its writers stooped to having a character piss lightning.

  • To less raging and more textual concerns, the Jack Dakkar bit was completely pointless. The first two books made it look like Jack was going to be important later on, and the news broadcasts in 2009' also implied as such. This being 2009'', this plot thread 'climaxes' in about two panels of Jack saying something about going back to Lincoln Island and that his whole 'threaten the world with a nuclear strike' thing was a distraction from his real agenda. First of all, why was this even necessary? This adds nothing to the story at all, and if it was, couldn't Moore have put it into another one of his prose shorts so that he could have used that page space to actually make the main plot more satisfying? Second of all, what the fuck kind of distraction is this? Look, I don't care what your secret plan is, threatening nuclear war is a pretty dumb distraction. Way to put yourself out into the spotlight for the entire damn planet to see you and follow you back to your island base, genius. Thirdly, while I'm not quite offended by it, this whole subplot seems to trivialize the whole issue of religious conflict in South Asia. I might be overreacting here, but something about that just rubbed me the wrong way.

  • Mary Poppins. Okay, the idea of Mary Poppins being God is actually hilariously awesome. In any other work, I would have loved this bit. The problem here is fivefold: 1) it was a big Deus ex Machina that came right the fuck out of nowhere with no foreshadowing at all; 2) Poppins' intervention basically rendered the protagonists' efforts useless, lleaving the entirety of Century as something of a "Shaggy Dog" Story (Shaggy God Story?); 3) this is supposed to be a serious work, and I simply cannot take the idea of Mary Poppins as God as anything but farcical; 4) the whole affair smacked of Alan Moore being petty by having a character from children's literature from 1934 kill a character from 1997 as part of some 'things were so much better back in my day' routine; and 5) the sheer absurdity of Poppins' appearance strikes me as being something of a self-parody. I approve of self-parody as a rule, and maybe this is just me feeling bitter about the whole comic, but I couldn't help but feel that Moore is making fun of the League series' fans in a sort of "You want crossovers? Here! It's Mary fucking Poppins! And she's God now!" thing. As before, I want to think that Moore is above this, but if 2009 is any indication, the man has absolutely no shame.

  • The usual complaints about gratuitous sexualization of everything. I really do tire of this kind of shit. Again, I'm no prude and I greatly approve of sex in general, but I really don't care for it in my fiction. I understand that this is Moore's story and not mine. However, very little of the sexuality in this book actually does anything. It's just... there. It doesn't titillate, it doesn't advance the plot, and it doesn't really flesh out the setting in any meaningful way. It's just odd and kind of childish (not the good kind of childish, mind you; we're talking 'preteen who has discovered what breasts look like and thinks this makes him cool and edgy' stuff here).

  • Lastly, there is one bit that truly offended me, not as a fan, not as an appreciator of art, but on a personal and moral level. I am an historian, so I am always trying to be mindful of the modern world's relationship with the past. Anyway, there's a bit where Mina and Orlando talk about how crappy the modern world is and how the Victorians were better-motivated or some such bullshit. In fact, the entire book is a showcase for showing off how degenerate modern society is. Um... bitch, please? Look, the modern world isn't perfect- we've got economic disparities, various conflicts, decaying political institutions, and so on-, but it sure as hell is better than it's ever been, in nearly every conceivable category (except probably environmental, but there has been a marked increase in recent years toward improvement in that regard, too). Look at medicine, civil rights, education, and sanitation, to name just a few. Though not available to the entire world (they're getting there, though, however tragically slowly), this shit has absolutely made the world better. Of course, Moore is probably just attacking modern culture. Real fucking original. People like to bitch about modern culture for being shallow and degenerate while contrasting it with some mythical age when everything was great and pink and fluffy and lemon-scented. Modern culture is shallow and degenerate, but no more so than in every other time period in the history of mankind. The much-praised Victorians were very casually racist, chauvinistic, and repressed, and this was reflected in their culture. Even the oft-mythologized Sixties were heinously shallow- how much of the sainted counterculture was just a manufactured product made to piggyback off of whatever was successful at the time? (I don't have an answer to that, but I'm not so naive as to think that the counterculture was anything like the 'pure' and free movement that it's supposed to have been) There's a good reason for this: humans are shallow and degenerate creatures (and I say this in an oddly affectionate way, since I'm something of a humanist at heart), and we always have been. The world is never as pristine as you thought it was growing up (hell, I'm twenty-one and I've already learned this; many of the formative times of my youth happened alongside genocides in Rwanda and the Balkans, September 11, and the escalation of warfare in the Middle East). Deal with it, Alan Moore. My generation and I are not perfect. We're deeply flawed; we're whiny, entitled, cynical, myopic, impatient, and vulgar, despite having it better than every previous generation spawned by this species. But you know what? Every generation has its demons to fight, and those flaws are going to be the ones that mine will have to confront. And I will do so until I lie bleeding on the ground. So, yeah, I don't much appreciate being compared negatively to a Victorian, thank you very much.

Oh goodness gracious me, my Berserk Button is showing.

So, that's what I have to say about 2009. Several good ideas, horrible execution. It's really a stain on the entire League series. I waited three years for this book, and now it is the only book that I've ever purchased that I have seriously considered defacing (specifically, cutting out the panels that I like and re-pasting them together with crudely-drawn filler so that I can tell a more satisfying ending). It's a shame that so much potential was wasted. Alan Moore had a golden opportunity to use the lens of fiction to tell us something beautiful, and he blew it on cheap potshots, tits, gore that would make the Dark Age look restrained and pleasant, and a guy killing a man by pissing lightning. I can't be too mad at him for this book, though. No, I just feel pity. I see 2009 as the bitter ruminations of a tired old man who is fully aware of how out-of-touch with the world he is. I do genuinely like and respect Alan Moore as both an artist and as a person, but I cannot defend 2009, except in small doses. Maybe it's a fluke, and his later work will be better. Maybe. For any future League books, I'll probably have to look at them on an individual basis from now on, rather than buying them all. Unless he goes chronologically forward, in which case, I'm not touching it.

https://www.facebook.com/emileunmedicatedanduncut
mailedbypostman Since: May, 2010
#13: Sep 1st 2012 at 8:35:44 PM

I read Century 2009 after having read nothing since Volume 1 on a whim. Had pretty much no idea what I was walking into.

For what it was, I actually enjoyed it on a kind of baser level. I mean, the idea of harry Potter meets Columbine had a sort of "what-if" type intrigue to me. That said, there was definitely a sense that the concept was underused here.

In the end it really did seem that Moore simply used the storyline to do little more than snipe at Potter for being "banal." Shame, because the description of the events sounds much more interesting than the execution.

GreatGodPan Gimmie the sit-rep. from The Woods. Where else? Since: Jan, 2011
Gimmie the sit-rep.
#14: Sep 9th 2012 at 4:45:49 PM

Well, the whole lightning dick (heh heh) thing is apparently Moore continuing the whole Magic is Creation thing. Basically, Harry using his penis was him literally drawing his 'wand'. In some twisted way, it sort of makes sense, seeing as how heavily steeped Haddo's cult was with the sex thing.

Me not being much of an occultist, I'm probably doing a horrible job of explaining it. You should probably just read the Mindless One's analysis. It's quite enlightening.

Spooky.
Moogi A Mediocre Khan from everywhy Since: Jan, 2001
A Mediocre Khan
#15: Sep 12th 2012 at 7:11:34 AM

[up] See, I can understand the 'magic is creation' angle. I just found Moore's use of it to be incredibly crass. I would, I suppose, be more willing to accept that explanation had the rest of the book's treatment of Potter not been such a thinly-veiled Take That!. As such, any attempt at symbolism with that motif has been rendered petty in my view.

I'm actually quite curious to find out if JK Rowling herself knows about any of this, and what her reaction was/would be. She has been very vocal in her support for fan fiction from the beginning, but I'd be interested to know if she has any thoughts on this comic. I'm Googling to see if anything's come up in recent interviews. This is merely to satisfy my curiosity. I'm actually kind of hoping that she likes what Moore did, because that may give me some incentive to look at 2009 again with more sympathy (if nothing else, I ''really' wanted to like this book).

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TheMightyHeptagon Since: Aug, 2011
#16: Jan 13th 2013 at 1:18:19 PM

Not to upstage the OP here, but I actually did make a thread on putting together the perfect LoEG team a while ago.

If you're a League fan (and you probably are, if you're on this thread) it might be worth checking out.

Shiningknight S.E.A captain from Professor Xavier's school for gifted lesbians. Since: Apr, 2010 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
S.E.A captain
#17: Jan 14th 2013 at 12:53:04 PM

posting this way way past relevency

Mary poppins appearance was foreshadowed in the black dossier....and depending on how you read it her appearance there actually leads into the events of century 2009

" I did the right thing, didn't I? It all worked out in the end." "In the end? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends."
Ronnie Respect the Red Right Hand from Surrounded by Idiots Since: Jan, 2001
Respect the Red Right Hand
#18: Jan 14th 2013 at 1:58:27 PM

Just finished Century. It's official. Alan Moore has now gone full-Miller insane.

TheMightyHeptagon Since: Aug, 2011
#19: Jan 16th 2013 at 9:01:43 PM

Also...I've posted this one on a few of the fanfic threads, so I might as well give it a go here.

I admit that Century: 2009, and a pretty good chunk of Century in general, was a massive disappointment to me, but if someone hired me to continue the story on from there (hopefully toning down the Take Thats, the anti-modern sentiment and the gratuitous sex and gore) this is how I would do it.

The Team

In addition to Emma Peel as M, Mina as the field leader, Orlando as Mina's lover and second in command, and (possibly) Jack Nemo as the Gadgeteer Genius, I would add two new members:
  • Fox Mulder. At the start, he uncovers the League's existence after months of investigation, and he tracks down M in a last-ditch effort to bring down the "conspiracy" that she represents. Instead of disposing of him, she takes him under her wing so that he won't become a threat to her, and he accepts a place in the League, knowing that the information that they're privy to could finally give him the answers to the cases that he's been investigating for years. In addition to his research into extraterrestrial life on Earth, he's also worked on cases involving the Great Old Ones and incursions from the Blazing World.
  • Henry Dorsett Case. A burned-out grifter/hacker, he was involved in a job a few years back that gave birth to a truly advanced AI. Now, M recruits him for his skill in dealing with AIs when a new one resurfaces that threatens all of Earth's governments. As events unfold, he discovers that Wintermute and Neuromancer, the two that he encountered before, have become pawns of the supercomputer HAL 9000, which is gradually taking over all the world's computer systems in hopes of creating a technological utopia where machine intelligence can take its rightful place on the world stage.

The Plot

In a nutshell: the ultimate war of Magic vs. Technology. After spending over four centuries in the Blazing World, Prospero, the founder of the original League, has gone rogue, and he plans to lead an army into the physical plane to wage war on the forces of technology. In the 17th century, he and Gloriana founded the League because they sensed old Age of Wonders giving way to a new Age of Industrialism and Technology, and they thought that forming a fellowship of extraordinary humans was the only way to stave off the death of Magic. Since then, Prospero has watched his League's successors recruit a slew of technology-obsessed figures including a Sikh prince who lives in a submarine, and a German scientist who helped build an automated metropolis in Berlin and took a robot for a lover. Needless to say, he ain't happy.

Fast-forward to the present day: News of The Moonchild's rampage in England has reached the public. This, combined with the growing fear of The Death Eaters (who masterminded a major terrorist attack in New York around 2001) has led to a major backlash against the culture of magic users, with many world governments pledging to wipe them out. Azkaban has been taken over by the British and American governments, and is now being used as a sort of "magical Guantanamo" where suspected Dark Wizards are secretly detained without trial for years on end.

Around the same time, news breaks that a company has developed a new Heuristic Algorithm computer of unprecedented human-like intelligence, and that this computer is playing a major role in a certain space voyage to Saturn. Learning of this, Prospero realizes that the prophesied end of the Age of Wonders might be upon the world, and decides that the time has come to make his move.

On one side, HAL covertly manipulates a faction of dangerous robots and space patrolmen into serving as his henchmen, while Prospero leads an army of sorcerers and magical creatures from the Blazing World to bring them down. Caught in the middle, the League just tries to stop both sides from destroying the world in the process. At some point, they end up in a race against time to find the mysterious Flux capacitor (this episode's MacGuffin) so that they can use it to travel to the Blazing World and fight Prospero on his home turf.

Other Characters and Factions:

  • The Lensmen: The space patrolmen manipulated into serving as muscle for HAL. In the League 'verse, they're a violent, xenophobic pawns of the Great Old Ones (called "Eddorians" by humans) who want to establish a genetically pure interstellar empire, even if it means wiping out every alien civilization in the galaxy in the process. They represent the dark side of man's expansion into space.
  • The Weird Sisters: Prospero's most feared allies on the "magic" side, known for their ability to use prophecies to manipulate humans into doing their bidding. They fight with Prospero, but as the story goes on, it gradually becomes clear that they have their own agenda, and that they're some of the few spirits that Prospero can't control.
  • Harry Dresden: Something of a Wild Card in the fight, he's a fugitive from Azkaban who's been watching his back since The Moonchild's rampage, and is always ready to help out a fellow sorcerer in need.


I don't know if I'd ever be able to devote enough time to a fanfic like this to make it work, but that's how it looks in my head.

Ideas?

edited 16th Jan '13 9:03:36 PM by TheMightyHeptagon

Ronnie Respect the Red Right Hand from Surrounded by Idiots Since: Jan, 2001
Respect the Red Right Hand
#20: Jan 17th 2013 at 7:11:46 AM

Possibly if you think you could wing it some form of reveal that The Moonchild wasn't Harry, but in fact Neville, perhaps? xD Or some kind of allusion to the prophecy thing. It'd be cool to have SOMEONE from HP show up and be epic good. Just to balance out Moore's episode of Miller's Disease.

TheMightyHeptagon Since: Aug, 2011
#21: Jan 17th 2013 at 11:03:10 AM

Somehow.

Or maybe reveal that Orlando was actually one of the four Hogwarts founders (or some other significant historical figure from the Potterverse) in a previous life, but forgot to mention it to anyone?

Maybe?

edited 17th Jan '13 11:05:37 AM by TheMightyHeptagon

TheMightyHeptagon Since: Aug, 2011
#22: Jan 17th 2013 at 11:04:24 AM

With everyone calling Orlando "Lando" by 2009, I keep thinking eventually he's going to grow up to be Lando Calrissian. But I have no idea how they'd work around those trademarks.

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