Extraordinary Gentlemen Battle Familiar Boy Wizard in New Comic

[Karloff]

Extraordinary Gentlemen Battle Familiar Boy Wizard in New Comic

Watchmen Author turns (totally not) Harry Potter into Antichrist in Century 2009.

They've battled against Martian invaders, fought Professor Moriarty aboard an airship, contended against Bulldog Drummond and James Bond, and met the Rolling Stones - or at any rate, the Stones' acid-fuelled fictional doubles. Now the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - at least, the Gentlemen still left standing, being Mina Murray, Alan Quartermain and Orlando - face off against the Antichrist in Century 2009, Alan Moore's latest graphic novel. Some of you may think you know who Moore's Antichrist is; after all, he's a boy wizard with a scar and a mentor named Riddle, and he's learning the trade in a magical school which you can only get to by means of a train that leaves from a special platform at King's Cross. However the truly magic words - 'Harry Potter' - never get mentioned.

Laura Sneddon, reviewer for the Observer, is one of the few who have had access to an advance copy. "As with the opera of 1910 and the cinematic references of 1969," she writes, "the world of the League is open to all fiction...references to previous instalments show the grand scale of Moore's meticulous planning." To her, the obvious reference - "Alan Moore says Harry Potter is the Antichrist!" - misses the point. It's not about Potter as the boy wizard but about the current trend of replacing story with franchise, where story counts for less than the marketing dollar to be wrung from it.

It's not as though Moore isn't already known for borrowing other people's characters. Half the fun of reading something like Top Ten is playing spot-the-cameo, picking out glimpses of favorites like Tintin and Bob the Angry Flower. It's not even the first time someone suspiciously like Harry Potter has popped up; he appeared not once but twice in Smax, though that was more of a blink-and-you-miss-it moment rather than the climax to an extended storyline.

If anything, there's a danger of overthinking the concept. Moore might just be having fun with an idea, and having fun with ideas is pretty much his job description.

Century 2009 is due for simultaneous release in the UK and US on 27th June.

Sources: Guardian [http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen-century-2009-by-alan-moore-and-kevin-oneill-7856395.html]


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[Scorched_Cascade]

Inb4inb4....wait, is that stuff contagious?

Huh, so you can take someone else's IP and use it to sell your own stuff as long as you don't directly reference the title?

Personally I love works that reference other works (the in-joke feel is fun, for example see Supernatural), that said, this sounds like a fanfiction story premise rather than a professional writer's work :/

All he needs to do now is ship some of the character arbitrarily and he's golden.

 

[idodo35]

harry poter is the anti christ and he is batelling the league of extraordinary gentelmen?

moore i love you you crazy bustard!

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Inb4inb4....wait, is that stuff contagious?

Huh, so you can take someone else's IP and use it to sell your own stuff as long as you don't directly reference the title?

Rowling owns the names of the Harry Potter characters and locations, as well as the story lines, but she can't own a lot of other things, such as "boy wizard with scar who goes to school at a magic castle."

You can't very easily sue a series for only having characters that are similar to yours, unless that combines with the fact the story is extremely similar. This isn't the first time Extraordinary Gentlemen had to use a carbon copy, for example they didn't use "James Bond" but very similar character with a very similar name due to copyright reasons.

As for your statement that this is just cross over fanfiction, well it kind of is I guess, but being fanfiction doesn't automatically make a work bad. The fact most fanfiction writing have no artistic talents is to blame for that.

 

[itsthesheppy]

I wonder who he'll be having rape/get raped in this new installment. Because let's face it, he can't resist a good ol' rape scene.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

It's not about Potter as the boy wizard but about the current trend of replacing story with franchise, where story counts for less than the marketing dollar to be wrung from it.

Now that's a concept I can get behind because I hate it when they do that.

 

[Jonny49]

I had no idea LOEG: Century 2009 was so damn close! This makes me happy.

 

[SacremPyrobolum]

.....

Why....?
I see no advantage in potentially antagonizing a group of people like this.

I am sure that the author of both Watchman and LoEG could, if not come up with a totally original antagonist, at least keep the references from being extremely blatant.

If he is doing this just to take a shot at the Harry Potter franchise I ask again.

Why?

 

[Jacques le Page]

allan more has hormonie rape her lego counterpart

 

[lobster1077]

Clever way to drum up some publicity. I'll probably check this out for it's own merits anyway, Moore's writing is usually quality.

 

[RandV80]

When I first opened the article I thought I was looking at Hagrid, not Allan Moore.

 

[maninahat]

Inb4inb4....wait, is that stuff contagious?

Huh, so you can take someone else's IP and use it to sell your own stuff as long as you don't directly reference the title?

Basically. It's much more annoying for lawyers to prove outright copyright infringement if the thing doesn't share the same name. That's why guns and cars in games tend to have fictional names, but look exactly like their real counterparts. It's quite cheeky, really.

I kind of prefered it when Moore stuck with the old Victorian and 50s characters. That worked because those literary figures were well established and memorable. Besides a few fantasy novels, there isn't anywhere near as many iconic characters in modern literature (yet). By virtue of being modern, they haven't yet stood the test of time, so it'll be harder to find interesting figures. Suppose Moore references a load of Dan Brown characters - do you think people looking back on his comics in 50 years time, will recognise a Robert Langdon stand in?

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

To her, the obvious reference - "Alan Moore says Harry Potter is the Antichrist!" - misses the point. It's not about Potter as the boy wizard but about the current trend of replacing story with franchise, where story counts for less than the marketing dollar to be wrung from it.

Of course it is. And all those times Mina gets sexually assaulted or lovingly strips right in the readers face is just highlighting the inequality of women's rights.

I won't deny Moore is a good writer, but he has become awfully self-indulgent of late. Not to mention hypocritical. Its alright for him to use Harry Potter but its not alright for other people to use his Watchmen characters (who are expys of other characters to begin with)? He'll criticise franchises for being money-grabbing and soulless before asking we shell out to buy the latest in his comic franchise. Take a break Moore, your starting to go mad(der than usual)

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

WELL THAT'S A RELIEF, because otherwise it would seem like sour grapes. After all, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen bombed like the stinking turd it was at the box office, while the far superior Harry Potter movies broke records left and right. And that's not even mentioning the book sales. So it's good to know that it's just an "artistic statement" about current marketing trends, and not a sad and desperate attempt to get attention.

Mr. Moore, no disrespect to you as a writer (what I know of your work is solid), but bro....let it go. Please. Don't embarrass yourself.

You know Moore hates movie adaptions of his work right? V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Watchmen...he's disapproved of them all. He's hardly going to be bitter that one failed. Probably laugh about it, seeing his point being proved, I know I would

 

[GloatingSwine]

.....

Why....?
I see no advantage in potentially antagonizing a group of people like this.

I am sure that the author of both Watchman and LoEG could, if not come up with a totally original antagonist, at least keep the references from being extremely blatant.

If he is doing this just to take a shot at the Harry Potter franchise I ask again.

Why?

You haven't read League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, have you? It's all about references to fiction, many of them incredibly blatant.

Having an "original" antagonist would be quite contrary to the entire point of the exercise.

 

[Bleedingskye]

I won't deny Moore is a good writer, but he has become awfully self-indulgent of late. Not to mention hypocritical. Its alright for him to use Harry Potter but its not alright for other people to use his Watchmen characters (who are expys of other characters to begin with)? He'll criticise franchises for being money-grabbing and soulless before asking we shell out to buy the latest in his comic franchise. Take a break Moore, your starting to go mad(der than usual)

Totally f-ing agree man, I've been a loyal fan of his for a damn long time, I've idolized his writing but now its just sick and twisted for sick and twisted's sake in my opinion. I really hated Century 1969, thought it was boring ass plot, useless sex scenes that seemed to be in there just because he likes writing awful sex/rape stuff.

I love that he pushes boundaries but ya he's getting pretty hypocritical, crazy, and obsessed with himself (and his wife)

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Alan Moore, the best goddamned fanfiction writer on the planet.