I’ve been listening to iFanboy for four years but this is the first comic which compelled me to write a review. Though I am not a comics fan, I have known about Alan Moore for a while now and was looking forward to reading his latest League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series. I initially did not enjoy Volume 3: Century, the first two parts (1910 and 1969) seemed to have no plot and were just games of “find Waldo”. But this time around with Century 2009, it finally feels like there is a story. 2009 is the last puzzle piece that ties everything together and completes the Century arc.

Now I understand the appeal of Alan Moore. While his stories may appear chaotic on the surface, they are clearly well plotted with layers of metaphorical symbolism which make sense at the end. Multiple rereadings also help. Century also supports Moore’s claim that there are certain things comics can offer to the narrative arts that films or novels can’t. There is scenes in this comic, drawn by the talented Kevin O’Neill, that move like a film yet allow for reader to take in all the elements at their own pace. The story’s plotting and pacing could have only been done in this medium.

I must say that this was a fun read. I have not been this entertained or at awe of what this medium could achieve since reading Scott Pilgrim. The storyline moved fast yet every moment was packed filled with excitement much like the Dark Knight film. This story symbolically serves as Moore’s critique of the present state of popular culture and entertainment, of how imagination, creativity, and originality in the narrative art mediums have been replaced with rehashing franchised characters. Moore pokes fun at this by having multiple Bonds appear while the original is kept on a life support, other scene has characters from a 80’s television show beating up an actor from the a 2009 remake.

An interesting note is the use of female protagonist in this final issue. Moore mentioned he used Gentlemen in the title instead of Gentlefolk to illustrate the sexism of the times, now 100 years later the people who save the day are all females. Even the new female M is the first honorable person to hold the position previously occupied by corrupt males. This might be Moore’s claim that culture is shifting towards stories with strong female characters written by female writers, which may explain while the animated shows of Lauren Faust and Brenda Chapman’s Brave are so popular today. In film, television, comics, and literature female creators seem to making a big impact on today’s culture, look at J. K. Rowling for example.

Speaking of whom, a lot of people were complaining about the use of a certain bespectacled boy wizard own by Warner (Tim Hunter from The Books of Magic or Tommy Taylor from Unwritten I believe) being used as the Antichrist in this story, which may not be a bad thing as Moore has made his heroine Promethea the Antichrist in his previous comic which was a good thing.
However, when the League travels through the walls at King’s Cross to get to the secret magical train platform, they don’t use Platform 9 ¾ but Platform 13 (from The Secret of Platform 13 about a secret train to a magic school published in 1994). When they go to the magic school there is not a signal sign that says Hogwarts, however Weirdsisters College (from The Worst Witch spin off) is present.
And the file of the boy wizard the League takes, does it say Harry Potter? No, it says Will Stanton (a boy who discovers he is a wizard and goes to a magic school to defeat the dark powers from the 1973 Dark is Rising Novel). Back at the train station they see a sign for Groosham Grange (a magic school with moving paintings attended by another boy wizard from the 1988 novel).

All the references Moore used, which people claimed plagiarized J. K. Rowling’s creation, actually came from completely different, older British works about boy wizards and magical schools. This is a clever layered move on Moore’s part to protect himself when hinting at the more popular boy wizard franchise, yet at the same time making the point that J. K. Rowling is also borrowing from other works of fiction. This goes with what Moore said about the literary game writers play when addressing the issue of using other creators’ characters in his works like Lost Girls and LoEG and the difference of Before Watchmen. An example he states of Jules Verne continuing Edgar Allan Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym with An Antarctic Mystery, with HP Lovecraft further continuing this “literary game” with the Mountains of Madness, yet each time adding something new to the narrative.

This issue set in 2009 is packed with references to modern culture, which were easier for me to spot compared to the Victorian and 60’s eras. References to Doctor Who, Lost, 24, West Wing, 30 Rock, Simpsons, and numerous other modern works were present. I personally loved an obscure South Park reference (which appears only a hardcore South Park fan like myself got) and a poster for the Wonderbolts in the background. 2009 makes full use of the comics medium in ways I have not seen before, Moore’s writing is once again fun and without rape, and O’Neill’s art stands out in this visual medium, tying everything together. A must read for anyone who love popular culture, comics fan or not.