21 replies to this topic

[TheSaint]

God, I hate being the guinea pig.

I borrowed LXG:Black Dossier from a co-worker to judge for myself. I only read the parts with this ersatz Bond present. Alan Moore turns Bond into a pathetic figure. Even "M" puts Bond down. Unless you are an Alan Moore fan, stay the hell away from this. It costs $30. Even if it was a flattering pastiche I would have a tough time paying that much for it. You're better off saving your pennies for the next Titan comic strip collection.

Now I have to purge this excrement from my memory.

[spynovelfan]

Well, one man's meat is another man's poison. A critical take on Bond interests me.

[OmarB]

Bond is in it now, not just implied? That's great, I'll have to get back into LXG.

[marktmurphy]

Is this out yet? Amazon says they don't have any. Can't wait to see it.

I love to see a Bond fan describing the latest installment in a hugely celebrated series as 'excrement' simply because it presents a challenging view of his favourite character! Rather ridiculous!

[TheSaint]

I love to see a Bond fan describing the latest installment in a hugely celebrated series as 'excrement' simply because it presents a challenging view of his favourite character! Rather ridiculous!

It will be interesting to see if you feel the same way after reading it.

[Mr. Blofeld]

Well, Alan Moore's always been known for being a little... well, grumpy.

[Skudor]

Wouldn't he need permission to use the character?

[Qwerty]

I'll have to be on the look out for this in Borders.

[TheSaint]

Wouldn't he need permission to use the character?

Well, he's probably on safe ground because of fair use rules for parody. He's never referred to as James Bond, only Jimmy. His "grandfather", Campion Bond, is mentioned. Add the two together, Jimmy + Campion Bond's grandson, and you get James Bond. He's drawn like the literary version. He's a British secret agent. His boss is "M". There are other clues. I don't know if Glidrose would have a legal leg to stand on but I'm no expert.

[blackjack60]

From Alan Moore's introdution to Frank Miller's The dark Knight Returns:

The fictional heroes of the past, while still retaining all of their charm and power and magic, have had some of their credibility stripped away forever as a result of the new sophistication in their audience. . . . As our political and social consciousness continues to evolve, Alan Quartermain stands revealed as just another white imperialist out to exploit the natives, and we begin to see that the overriding factor in James Bond's psychological makeup is his utter hatred and contempt for women.

Moore is one of the great comics writers, but it's hard to think of any anyone who believes that Bond is primarily driven by misogyny as being "sophisticated" in their thinking, rather than grossly simplistic. Of course, if your political and social consciousness has "evolved" sufficiently enough then it's easy to look down upon heroes from the past, though why Moore has softened on Quartermain and hardened on Bond is a further mystery...

[Mr. Blofeld]

Moore is one of the great comics writers, but it's hard to think of any anyone who believes that Bond is primarily driven by misogyny as being "sophisticated" in their thinking, rather than grossly simplistic. Of course, if your political and social consciousness has "evolved" sufficiently enough then it's easy to look down upon heroes from the past, though why Moore has softened on Quartermain and hardened on Bond is a further mystery...

Perhaps Moore is just grumpy because he thinks Sean Connery ruined Quartermain in the TLOEG movie.

[marktmurphy]

I love to see a Bond fan describing the latest installment in a hugely celebrated series as 'excrement' simply because it presents a challenging view of his favourite character! Rather ridiculous!

It will be interesting to see if you feel the same way after reading it.

Trust me; I really won't get upset and throw a hissy fit because someone's taken the mick out of a character I like! I think I can take it, somehow!

The only thing that would upset me is if this book isn't as good as the last two.

[TheSaint]

From Alan Moore's introdution to Frank Miller's The dark Knight Returns:

The fictional heroes of the past, while still retaining all of their charm and power and magic, have had some of their credibility stripped away forever as a result of the new sophistication in their audience. . . . As our political and social consciousness continues to evolve, Alan Quartermain stands revealed as just another white imperialist out to exploit the natives, and we begin to see that the overriding factor in James Bond's psychological makeup is his utter hatred and contempt for women.

Moore is one of the great comics writers, but it's hard to think of any anyone who believes that Bond is primarily driven by misogyny as being "sophisticated" in their thinking, rather than grossly simplistic. Of course, if your political and social consciousness has "evolved" sufficiently enough then it's easy to look down upon heroes from the past, though why Moore has softened on Quartermain and hardened on Bond is a further mystery...

That's quite telling.

[OmarB]

Hey, did you guys see The Simpsons last night? Alan Moore was on it doing a comic signing and talking crap about the adaptations of his books. Then Millhouse pulls out a "Baby Watchmen" DVD with all the Watchmen and V as babies on the cover ... then Moore freaks out again.

Gotta love that crazy guy. Last night's episode as worth it jjust for hearing Moore, Bart and Millhouse talk comics.

[marktmurphy]

From Alan Moore's introdution to Frank Miller's The dark Knight Returns:

The fictional heroes of the past, while still retaining all of their charm and power and magic, have had some of their credibility stripped away forever as a result of the new sophistication in their audience. . . . As our political and social consciousness continues to evolve, Alan Quartermain stands revealed as just another white imperialist out to exploit the natives, and we begin to see that the overriding factor in James Bond's psychological makeup is his utter hatred and contempt for women.

Moore is one of the great comics writers, but it's hard to think of any anyone who believes that Bond is primarily driven by misogyny as being "sophisticated" in their thinking, rather than grossly simplistic. Of course, if your political and social consciousness has "evolved" sufficiently enough then it's easy to look down upon heroes from the past, though why Moore has softened on Quartermain and hardened on Bond is a further mystery...

That's quite telling.

That's right- it tells what he thinks!

And Omar- that sounds great! Baby Watchmen sounds fantastic!

[Mike00spy]

So now Sean Connery can star in the LXG sequel- as Bond!!!! They can even get that director back- I heard they made quite a team.

[TheSaint]

Jeff Jensen of EW reviewed it-gave it a B. He summarizes the plot as "James Bond chases a mysteriously young Mina Murray and Allain Quatermain through post-Big Brother Britain in a yarn weaving through the 'Black Dossier', a compendium of secret lore". Not referring to him as a pastiche or parody of Bond might get Glidrose's attention.

[TheSaint]

Here's an interesting factoid-in an interview with Moore in the latest issue of Wizard, #195, he says that this graphic novel isn't available in the UK. Future LXG novels will be published by Top Shelf.

[wattenscheid09]

Just finished reading BLACK DOSSIER. Moore obviously thrashes and humiliates Bond thoroughly. He appears all through the book as one of the evil guys. Some stuff is vintage Bond: the Martini quote is done very intelligently, his boss is M, he just fought a evil asian in the caribbean, he has the black comma of hair over his eyes, is used to women with outlandish names ("Oodles O'Quim"), and M's office even has a green/red lamp in front of it!!! But on the other hand "Jimmy" swears all the time, is brutally-rapist misogynist and without any moral scruples. That's probably not Bond's fault, as his grandfather was a weak fat opportunist in the other two League comics.

Don't buy it for completeness of collection - this one is just for League fanatics (errrm, like me).

[operator5]

Haven't read it yet myself, so I can't directly comment, BUT anybody who likes the idea of Bond in a "League" type world would have a lot of fun with a fan fiction novella by DarkMark called "The League Extraordinaire". Set at the end of the 60s, 007 must reluctantly work with a group of other special agents -- Derek Flint, Napoleon Solo, Ilya Kuryakin, Mrs. Emma Peel, and headed by John Steed -- to deal with the resurgent threat of Dr. Fu Manchu, whose plot is so audacious that just about every other popular super-spy picks up on it on one level or another. Interestingly, the Bond seen here is most definitely the 007 of the novels, not the films, and his interactions with the spies who followed him, who seem to him to be treating the secret agent business as a ridiculous, frivolous game, make the whole thing work. In fact, the fractious Bond/Peel interplay alone is worth reading it for. Although DarkMark, who largely does comics-related fan fiction, has a website for most of his work, "The League Extraordinaire" is available in a pdf e-book in the files of his Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo....arkmark_fanfic/

[MHazard]

I was a big fan of The League before this came out and was incredibly disappointed with it. Putting aside that Moore turns Bond, Emma Peel and Bulldog Drummond into villains, it's just not a very good story,with way to many story killing digressions. And, of course, he makes what is clearly James Bond "there was no doctor" a villain. I give it a D, regardless of Bond, and that's charitable.

[minder125]

I was a big fan of The League before this came out and was incredibly disappointed with it. Putting aside that Moore turns Bond, Emma Peel and Bulldog Drummond into villains, it's just not a very good story,with way to many story killing digressions. And, of course, he makes what is clearly James Bond "there was no doctor" a villain. I give it a D, regardless of Bond, and that's charitable.

I agree with you totally it was such a cluster of a read. When my editor got a review copy he even warned me about keeping my expectations really low with this one. Stick with with the first two collections.