Chris K. :: LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN

O'Neill, Kevin - League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Absolute HC Slipcase 2, cover (August 2005)

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Artwork Details

Title:	O'Neill, Kevin - League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Absolute HC Slipcase 2, cover (August 2005)
Artist:	Kevin O'Neill (All)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Cover
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	5,200
Likes on CAF:	4 5
Favorited on CAF:	2
Comments:	17
Added to Site:	3/9/2010
Comic Art Archive:	League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume Two: The Absolute Edition Issue: [nn] Page: cover View

Description

Love this one - full team shot of the League is something special - almost as special as Kevin O'Neill's brilliant work.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was created by Alan Moore (author) and Kevin O'Neill (artist), publication of which began in March 1999. The series spans two six-issue limited series and a graphic novel from the America's Best Comics imprint of Wildstorm/DC, and a third miniseries published by Top Shelf and Knockabout Comics. According to Moore, the concept behind the series was initially a ‘Justice League of Victorian England’ – namely the super-grouping of historical fantasy fiction characters Mina Harker (the protagonist from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula), Allan Quatermain (the protagonist from H. Rider’s 1885 novel, King Solomon’s Mines), Captain Nemo (from Jules Verne’s 1870 novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea), Dr. Thomas Jekyll (from Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) and Hawley Griffin (the Invisible Man from H.G. Wells’s 1897 novella of the same name). In a 1997 interview with Andy Diggle for the now defunct Comics World website, Alan Moore gave the title of the work as ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlefolk’. Moore changed the name to ‘Gentlemen’ to better reflect the Victorian era.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume I (comprised of 6 issues published in March, April May and November of 1999 and June & September of 2000) begins in the aftermath of the events of the novel Dracula. A now disgraced and divorced Mina Harker (née Murray) is recruited by Campion Bond on behalf of British Intelligence and asked to assemble a league of other extraordinary individuals to protect the interests of the Empire. She recruits Captain Nemo, Allan Quatermain, Dr. Jekyll and, finally Hawley Griffin, who completes the League. Their first mission is to confront British enemy Fu Manchu in his Limehouse lair as he plans to build an airship with cavorite against which Britain would have little defense. Having eventually retrieved the cavorite, the League delivers it into the hands of their employer — none other than Professor Moriarty (arch nemesis of Sherlock Holmes), who plans to use it in an airship of his own, with which he will bomb his adversary's Limehouse lair flat, taking large parts of London and the League itself with it. An aerial battle above London commences, and the League eventually triumphs. Mycroft Holmes replaces Moriarty as the League's employer, and the extraordinary individuals are given the task of remaining in the service of the Crown, awaiting England's call.

Volume II (comprised of 6 issues published in September, October & November of 2002 and April, July & November 2003) is placed during the events of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds and opens on Mars, where John Carter and Lt. Gulliver Jones (of Edwin L. Arnold's 1905 novel, Gulliver of Mars) have assembled an alliance to fight against Martian invaders. When the invaders are forced off Mars they head to invade Earth. Griffin leaves the League under cover of invisibility to form an alliance with the invaders before betraying it outright, stealing plans for the defense of London as well as assaulting Mina. Mycroft Holmes deploys Nemo and Hyde to defend the capital by patrolling London's rivers in the Nautilus. Meanwhile Murray and Quatermain meet up with Dr. Moreau in his secret hideout in the forest, and tell him that MI5 has asked for something known as H-142. Hyde returns to the British Museum and tortures Griffin before murdering him. Hyde dies fighting a tripod, allowing time for MI5 to launch H-142. MI5 then launches H-142: a hybrid bacterium, made up of anthrax and streptococcus. Angered by the British government's heartless use of biological weaponry (it does not kill just the aliens, but citizens as well), Nemo leaves in the Nautilus and tells Quatermain and Murray to "never seek [him] again", mistakenly believing that they knew the details of the British plan.

Most characters in the series, from the dominatrix schoolmistress Rosa Coote to minor characters such as Inspector Dick Donovan, are either an established character from an existing work of hostorial fiction or an ancestor of the same. However, Sherlock Holmes and Dracula are notably absent from the League's adventures due to their assumed deaths prior to the events of the series. The former is presented in a flashback sequence, and the latter is given connections to Wilhelmina Murray. Moore has also noted that he felt these two seminal characters would overwhelm the rest of the cast.

This piece is the cover art to the collected Absolute edition released in August 2005.

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	Chris K. Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	August 2008
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
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Comments on this Artwork

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Felix Lu
Member Since 2005

Posted on 3/9/2010

Sweet piece! Congrats, Chris!

Ron S
Member Since 2007

Posted on 3/9/2010

Wondered when this was coming out! Excellent!

Peter P
Member Since 2009

Posted on 3/9/2010

Ohhh very nice =) Congrats!!

Jonathan H
Member Since 2005

Posted on 3/10/2010

Wow -- very very cool!

Sven-Hendrik M
Member Since 2006

Posted on 3/10/2010

Unbelievable. Great piece. Thanks for sharing

MIKE SHARPE
Member Since 2008

Posted on 3/11/2010

WOW! Just an amazing piece of art. Congratulations

Doctor Fantastic
Member Since 2007

Posted on 3/18/2010

Amazing piece of art from one of the best series of all time!

Mike W
Member Since 2007

Posted on 3/29/2010

OH! MY! GOD!

A.A.A._Art_Vax! A
Member Since 2006

Posted on 4/7/2010

wow How did you find it? I need for one!

Keith Veronese
Member Since 2005

Posted on 6/25/2010

Great piece!

J L
Member Since 2005

Posted on 2/5/2011

Oh my!!!! That is so rare and cool to see!!!! Congrats. 8 )

Eric Seffinga
Member Since 2005

Posted on 4/15/2011

Holy smokes, you gallery is a treasure trove.

S S
Member Since 2005

Posted on 8/10/2011

Just beautiful Chris !! This one is really really special. Congrats!

bob fish
Member Since 2011

Posted on 12/4/2011

the full team...just amazing artwork !!

Adam Ianbarry
Member Since 2010

Posted on 3/22/2012

A real gem.... Beautiful linework!

comicinkking. com
Member Since 2004

Posted on 11/26/2012

Awesome!! Such a great series!!

Carmine Gawain
Member Since 2010

1 - Posted on 12/18/2022

Love it!

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