20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
August 7th, 2006
Pretty sure I read this as a kid, and then saw a million adaptations (including Alan Moore’s terrific League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), but something propelled me to go back and take another look at Captain Nemo. Turns out that he stays fairly mysterious throughout the amazing underwater adventures of Professor Aronnax, Ned Land, and the good Conseil. The lost continent of Atlantis, the South Pole, and of course giant kraken are part of the neverending series of wonders. Apparently Nemo is more fleshed out in The Mysterious Island, which I also have here with me. Verne’s imagination is still fantastic even though most of his inventions are now common-place.
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
September 6th, 2003
Forget this summer’s poorly reviewed Sean Connery flick–the original comic book by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neil is surprisingly smart, exciting, and literate. Mina Murray, the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll, Captain Nemo and Allan Quatermain make up the team of Victorian heroes, meeting characters and slipping gracefully in and out settings from Rice Burroughs, Poe, Jules Verne, Emile Zola, Herman Melville, Arthur Conan Doyle etc etc.
