More porn than yarn
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I found the first 2 installments OK, but have to say I was dissapointed with this. I know Moore is'nt a 1 trick pony but it sure feels like it sometimes. I dont know how many stories I've read now of his that seem to be old characters given a modern 'Moore' twist and chucked out of the production line. It was sort of amusing seeing the different characters and thinking 'oh yeah, he's from that film or that story' but I got tired of that very early on.
The 3D section was amazing on the first page, but even that got tired by the last page and I just wanted to take the uncomfortable glasses off.
And all the sex! Was that really necessary?
On the whole I was'nt very impressed. Despite all it's 'cleverness' it is the least involving and interesting story I've read this year.
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A challenge for the reader - or a chore...?
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I'll keep this short, as RA Monk has pretty much summed up exactly how I feel about this book. I didn't dislike it as such, but I was massively frustrated by it. It's a ridiculous self-indulgence on the part of Moore and O'Neill - and I say that as someone who loved 'From Hell' and the entire run of 'Promethea.' What I loved about the first two 'League' books was, while they are overflowing with literary and historical references, at heart they're just great, straightfoward adventure stories that everyone can relate to. With 'The Black Dossier,' if you don't get the reference points, you're up the proverbial creek.
As always, Moore's writing is alive with his drive to challenge his readers and push forward the boundaries of comic books, and fiction in general. I wouldn't have it any other way; it's that attitude that has made him the legend he rightly is today. But 'The Black Dossier' may be a bridge too far. Recommended for completists only.
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My Quest Is Over
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After having waded through lakes of lava and duelled with a menagerie of many-headed beasts to get my hands on this comic (well, not quite, but you get my drift), I can say here and now that I am not disappointed.
The most common complaint I heard about this book was "Too many words, not enough pictures"... well yes, there are more words; but is it not said that "A picture is worth a thousand words, unless it is drawn by Kevin O'Neill, in which case it's worth at least a million"?
It's another awesome adventure for Allan and Mina, and the only thing I would complain about is the loss of Griffin and Hyde- though with more great new characters (such as Orlando, Miss Hill and the slimy Jimmy Bond) this was more than made up for.
Any serious League fan will enjoy this book immensely. Though it would've been nice to have a pocket to keep the glasses in...
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And with a mighty clang, the wheels fell off ...
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Being long-awaited is no guarantee of quality alas, and what was announced as an original League 'graphic novel' actually turns out to be a set of footnotes with the occasional drawing. I fear Alan Moore has started believing his own publicity and now thinks he's Merlin. If you know Volume II of the LoEG's adventures, you'll have seen therein 'The New Traveller's Almanac' prose pieces. Well, too much of "Black Dossier" is an extended retreading of all that wearingly tiresome 'New Traveller's Almanac' stuff. If you find the laborious name-checking of every British fictional character there ever was a complete hoot, then this is probably the comic you've been waiting for. If however you find such a box-ticking approach to constructing a fictional world tiresome and self-indulgent then be assured it's no better tricked out in hard covers over 200+ pages. Some of 'Black Dossier' is okay but too much is just instantly forgettable. Insufficient comic, dare I say. To which I might add: too much Moore and not enough O'Neill. Moore can't do prose, basically - whether it's spoof William Burroughs / Jack Kerouac or pastiche Ian Fleming, Moore just hasn't got the ear or the talent to bring off extended text that isn't supported by pictures. His attempts at cod Shakespearean blank verse won't win prizes either. The earlier League volumes showed some care in selecting which fictional characters to include and combine - this one seems to have been assembled from reference-books in no discernible order. A story that tries to have everyone in it may as well have no one in it for all the actual story-telling you can do.
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Too clever by half?
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I don't know, maybe sheer quality of LoEG volumes 1 and 2, and the length of time I'd been waiting to finally read this latest entry to the series meant that it was never going to live up to expectations.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's all terribly clever - and I'm sure many readers will experience the same "in-joke" thrill that I had as I worked out which book/film/tv show was being referenced - but the plot seems rather limp.
All the things you'ld expect from Moore & O'Neil are there, but I got the feeling that story development was somewhat secondary to the need to fit in as many literary and pop culture references as was physically possible; whether in the denizens of the alternate 1950's that our two protagonists encounter, or the text sections lifted from the eponymous "black dossier" itself.
The book seems somehow less inventive than the previous two LoEG tomes, but is certainly cleverly done, with some very funny bits thrown in along the way - Mina's pricelessly Fleming-esque alias and how Fireball XL-5 gets it's name are particularly fun - and it merits it's rating on that alone, but certainly not a classic.
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