One of the greatest writers in comic book history really, wonderfully, hilariously hates 007.
Or anyhow, at the time, I would’ve said all those words.
But I was also anAlan Moorekid, and those two fascinations were on a collision course.
everette collection; Kevin O’Neill for Top Shelf/IDW
He’s also a terrible person.
It takes maybe four pages for Jimmy to try sexually assaulting someone.
The United Kingdom he lazily serves was only recently a fascist dystopia.
Top Shelf/IDW
Now the government concocts Jimmy’s famous adventures for propaganda purposes.
Christian, can you talk about how Moore lays the groundwork for Jimmy’s arrival?
CHRISTIAN:The League of Extraordinary Gentlemenstarted as, essentially, a Victorian-era Justice League.
Jimmy arrives on the first page of ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier’ by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill.Kevin O’Neill via Amazon
This is Campion Bond, and his importance toLeague of Extraordinary Gentlemenonly seems grander in retrospect.
Bond’s debonair confidence and globe-trotting adventures helped British culture salve the humiliation of watching one’s empire disintegrate.
My first encounter with the eventual film adaptation ofCasino Royalewas also my first encounter with Bond at all.
Jimmy is less suave than his reputation suggests in ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier’ by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill.Kevin O’Neill via Amazon
DARREN:You’re really nailing how the spirit of James Bondness lingers through the wholeLeagueproject, Christian.
I always thought this was a snazzy bit of double-reverse metafiction.
Centurycame out on June 27, 2012.
Campion Bond is the first character to appear in ‘League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill.Kevin O’Neill/Top Shelf/IDW
As you point out, it ends on a note of optimism.
Precisely one month later, the 2012 Olympics began in London.
Headline: Moore has negative thoughts about British cultural protagonists!)
‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill opens by establishing British imperialism as one of its main subjects.Kevin O’Neill for Top Shelf/IDW
I likeSkyfalla lot; it’s pretty!
Certainly, by the timeLeaguereturned in 2018, Moore’s premonitions had turned much pessimistic.
Jimmy is the full-on antagonist ofTempest.
A rejuvenated Jimmy wreaks havoc in ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Tempest’ by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill.Top Shelf/IDW
On a deeper level, though, I admire how completely Moore vivisects the iconography of 007.
With Jimmy, Moore seems to say: Cut the crap.
BetweenCenturyandTempest, Moore spent time in theLeagueuniverse with a trilogy about Captain Nemo’s daughter.
Lincoln Island displays the treasures of multiple generations of Nemo’s in ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Tempest’ by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill.Kevin O’Neill for Top Shelf/IDW
Those adventures were steeped in look-there’s-Doctor-Mabuse referentiality, and they’re my favorite thing Moore did this century.
Yes I know, what a shock: Alan Moore has criticisms of superheroes!
WatchmenandMiraclemanwere Moore’s twin ’80s epics about the possible endgames for superhero myths.
“The humans envy, worship, and adore us, live through fantasies of being us.
And that isallthey do.
They come to think only impossible beings are capable of greatness.
They cease attempting it for themselves.”
Even when benevolent we often make matters worse…our very existence disrupts society."
That should give a sense of what Moore and O’Neill are talking about.
And yet, as you say Darren, there’s always a paradox in the Moore reading experience.
Perhaps you notice a difference here.
Take us home on that big squid-shaped rocketship!
DARREN:One thing you’re capturing about theNemobooks is just how freakingfunthey are, Christian.
I’m here for all of Moore’s omni-mythic explorations into humanity’s sociocultural existence.
(I read all ofJerusalem.)
But Moore is very good at creating lushly thought-provoking thrill-sagas that couldonlyexist in the realm of the super-fantasy.
This famous hero makes an amazing villain, and his comeuppance is brutally cathartic.
I still love the movies on a deep level, but Moore definitely rewired how I perceive them.
What I’m left with is a feeling that James Bond is most important when he’s least important.
I was such a Connery kid, but now I adore Roger Moore’s lighthearted nonchalance.
The problem is, we viewers always encounter difficulty in distinguishing between our fantasies and our realities.
And anyone who tries to be a James always turns out to be a Jimmy.
