Neonomicon #2

I don’t know if you feel the same, but it seems like Alan Moore gets more extreme as time passes. Though it’s anything but pleasant, Neonomicon #2 involved a scene towards the issue’s end that burned images into my brain that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to remove. It is one of the most horrific sequences I have ever encountered in any medium and is set up masterfully by Moore to really punch you in the face.

Neonomicon started quite softly in issue 1, the horror was creepy but not too grotesque, it certainly didn’t lead me to suspect anything like the events in issue 2. Two FBI agents go undercover in a H.P. Lovecraft sex cult thing, and are led into a basement dungeon that leads to a sewer. Some weird sex stuff starts, one of the agents is shot and then EVERYTHING GOES TO HELL.

The art and the writing are so matter-of-fact that it makes the horror of the following events all the more horrific. The main character has eye-sight issues, so some of the frames are in a blurry first person view. This is an incredible tool in showing us an unknown terror, and altogether it has the effect of making you want to burn the issue after reading it. Even though it nearly made me sick, the fact that I had such a reaction to it shows how well crafted it is as a horror piece.

Come back next week for more Alan Moore stuff!

Rorshach’s Death

The Alan Moore moment that really comes to my mind for me is Rorschach’s death at the end of Watchmen; so many issues that are integral to the book and the sheer complexity of Rorschach’s character are wrapped up in this one gripping scene. Moore rips apart the hero/villain stereotype as ‘a hero’ (and I use that term lightly) has to die at the hand of another hero to let a ‘would be’ villain’s plans go un-exposed, try getting your head around that after a few!

Dr Manhattan’s final action in this scene really shows his character, his lack of emotion leads him to make the most informed decision regardless of human life, consequence, or ‘what is right’ – but that phrase drowns in deep murky waters all the way through Watchmen. Even though Rorschach is a deranged and violent killer I would still dare anyone to read this scene and not feel even a little choked up, this is the skill and brilliance of Moore’s writing. Rorschach may be all the things I listed above but he still stood for what he believed in and made a memorable last stand in front of Dr Manhattan, accepting he didn’t have a chance of surviving.

Join us again tomorrow! Editor Joe Innes will tell you ALL about how utterly horrified he was by Neonomicon #2 (and why that was a good thing).

The Death of the Invisible Man

There are so many magical moments of innocence in the second volume of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but this one from issue five really pushes the envelope. You will be hard pressed to find a sequence of such horrific violence executed in such a sophisticated and stylish manner. To set the scene; Griffin, after betraying mankind to Martian invaders, is discovered by Mister Hyde, who is more upset over an attack on his crush Miss Wilhelmina Murray.

The prolonged and savage attack that follows is a brilliant example of a creator using what the reader can’t see to disturb them. But the real unpleasantness follows during dinner with Hyde and Captain Nemo, as a deceased Griffin’s blood finally materializes on Hyde’s person. Hyde’s blasé reaction and Nemo’s tirade upon discovering the body turn this ghastly moment into pure black comedy.

Come back tomorrow for the second part, Watchmen will be mentioned!

To say Kevin O’Neill’s artwork contains a fair amount of sexual imagery would be an understatement; hardly a frame goes by without a quick nipple slip or worse. This is then equally reflected in Moore’s writing; who else would have made the 3 principle members of the League a love triangle? Both of the creators also take full advantage of the late 1960’s setting; the book is vibrant and full of colour, the detail in the panels is exceptional and sometimes it feels as if O’Neill’s landscapes stretch off into infinity. In the books out of body conclusion, I almost had to check that nothing had slipped into my own drink, O’Neill warps and distorts the usually geometric panels and basically displays an out of body experience as one long acid trip, it’s nuts!

Moore nicely sets up a number of different narrative strands which slowly come together as the plot progresses. I particularly liked Carter from Get Carter tracking down the satanic sect at the same time as the League, played completely for laughs with a hammy Michael Caine-esque cockney accent. The characters have moved on and developed in the 59 years since we last met them, Mina is now very different from the Victorian prude of the first two volumes, her hair has been cut short and the skirt she wears really leaves nothing to the imagination.

In the book’s final few pages, a particular character (I’m not giving anything away here!) walks through a wall next to platform ten in London’s King’s Cross Station, could this possibly mean there will be a bespectacled new member in the League’s next incarnation? Although as ace as this does sound, I can only imagine how JK Rowling would feel about it… and what Alan Moore would do with Harry’s magic wand!

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1969 is released on 28/07/2011

Will Pond.