Kevin O'Neill (1) (1953–2022)

I did come in from the film, and the film is one of my guilty pleasures: it's awful but I love watching it. I've read "Watchmen" and "V for Vendetta" (and seen both adaptations) and heard a lot about Moore's reputation and love for his books, so I picked up volumes 1 and 2 from the library.

Right off the bat, I can say that the art here was a big turn-off. If I wasn't used to swallowing bad art for the sake of good writing/story, I probably would have just put this down. On the one hand, this is classic Moore - there are details everywhere and no background is wasted, which means there's always something neat to look for. On the other, stick Mina and Hulk/rotting zombie Hyde, to name a few, look silly.

One of the bright spots of this novel was Mina Murray. I loved the idea of her being in charge of the team and being the brains of the bunch. I liked the idea of her being there simply on her intellectual merit rather than for some superpower (like the film - although give me badass female vampires who can slaughter armies any day). I kind of wish she channeled more Samantha Carter (from "Stargate"), and had the human brawn to back up her brains (one knife in the back of a thug during a distraction does not make up for this), but the concept at least was neat, and she's clearly strong-willed enough to bluff her way around Hyde. Her internalized sexism was stupid. Accurate for the time (if you've read Victorian novels written by women), but stupid.

As for the rest of the team, Nemo was the only interesting one, although in volume 1, when he wasn't being smart, he was a sexist asshole. To look at the Jekyll and Hyde story and see them as two separate entities is lazy and boring. I don't know if this is where that trend started, but it's uninteresting. It doesn't help that Jekyll is green-skinned for no apparent reason and has little character development and brings up the "I know he's an asshole but I think he likes you" card for Mina. And the fact that Hyde is, well... Hyde (a possibly rapist, torturer and murderer who likes threatening people) makes him unlikeable from the get-go. The rest of volumes 1 and 2 seem to try and make him likeable despite that, which is creepy, at best.

The Invisible Serial Rapist held none of my interest and seemed to creep back into the novel every time you tried to forget his presence. I suppose the point is to get across just how dangerous a completely invisible man might be and how clearly lacking in morals such a person could become (as partly occurs in the original novel), but still. What is it with Moore and writing about women being raped? Mina faces two attempted rapes and then there's Griffin's appalling introduction.

Quartermain was boring and completely lost what little interest I had left for him when I realized they were actually going with the "man and woman hate each other but are secretly crushing hard on each other" trope. I felt no chemistry whatsoever between them, and it didn't help that every time they were apart, Quartermain's sexism ran rampant, along with Nemo, about women in general in regards to Mina's character. Although I guess this (and Vol 2) explains why someone felt the need to have Quartermain in the film say to Mina when they get in the car together "I've buried...wives and many lovers and am in no mood for more" just out of the blue, when she has given no intention in that direction.

And I haven't even gotten to the various racist caricatures. The plot was uninteresting. The overarching sexism was frustrating. If you romanticize the Victorian Age, this might be something you should check out so you can let go of those delusions. Otherwise, go watch the film. Except for the fact that Mina's been pushed into a relatively minor role and still serves an object of romantic interest and lust for most of the cast, rather than framing the story from her perspective, it's shockingly better than the source material.… (plus d'informations)

I really was not expecting much after volume 1, but I already had it at home so I wondered if it might improve.

I was wrong. There are brief neat moments. My favorite takes place when Nemo comments that he is prepared to destroy a bridge full of civilians to trap the aliens and protect the greater good, and Hyde taunts him into saying that it's no great strategic loss if he must do so, anyway. Nemo says, "Besides, they're only-" and Hyde says, "Human?" And Nemo finishes, "English". Nemo is the subject of various racist slurs throughout both novels and this was a good moment of him responding back to that without a damn. Yeah, they hate him. He hates them right back, although he still willingly protects them at various points because he's a better person in many ways. I also liked that there were moments of teamwork and at least Nemo, Allan and Hyde care about Mina's well-being by this novel.

Mina loses what little control she had over the group in the novel. Sure, she can still lead Allan around, especially since he's head over heels for her, and she still fascinates Hyde, but no one else respects her and she serves more as a spectator and messenger than anything else here. Her 'romance' with Allan was one of the dumbest I've seen in a while. The only redeeming quality was how Allan reassured her over her scars. Her parting with Hyde is creepy, at best. "May I touch your breast?" Well at least it's a straightforward last request.

There's a bad place reserved in the afterlife for rapists and attempted rapists. There's a worse place for people who think rape is a proper form of revenge, especially for rape. I don't know if Moore wants us to sympathize with the Invisible Man (and I don't) or cheer Hyde's butt-raping and otherwise torturing him to death in revenge for Mina, or just feel conflicted on who should receive worse punishment. But like Nemo said, Hyde teaches terror. He's there for nothing else.

Nemo was again the most interesting character, even more so than Mina. I wish we had more of his story.

The art is still pretty awful. Mina is treated like crap. Tons and tons of men doing stuff and the one woman is a weak little flower. There's animal cruelty and aliens invade London and somehow Moore made me not even care. I don't question what makes a hero after reading this. I question what Moore wanted: did someone want him to make a heroic group of these people and Moore then went about demonstrating just how STUPID an idea that is or did he want to see if he could sell this group of unlikeable people as heroes, like Stan Lee did with Tony Stark? Whatever the case, again: if you romanticize Victorian lit, read this and bring yourself back to reality. If you don't, watch the film. It's still shockingly better.… (plus d'informations)