The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 is a comic book released in 2000. It was written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill. It was originally released as six issued through 1999-2000.

The first League story takes place in an alternate version of Victorian London in 1898. It sees the formation of the Murray Group which consists of Mina Murray, Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Dr. Hawley Griffin aka The Invisible Man. They are bought together my MI6 to retrieve a stolen material known as the Cavorite.

The world in the comic is shown to be a fictional reality where every character from Victorian Era literature coexist. It combines the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson, H. Rider Haggard, and many more.

The series was created when Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill had the idea to create a Justice League for Victorian London. It eventually turned into combining a bunch of literary characters instead.

This first volume was used as the basis for the critically panned 2003 film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Plot
1: Empire Dreams

In May of 1898, Mina Murray Meets up with Campion Bond at the dock in Dover, England. Bond Tells Murray that his superior, the head of MI6 only known as 'M', has tasked her to assemble a team to fight for the British government as a threat seems to be on the rise. Murray surmises on her own that M must actually be Mycroft Holmes. Just as her transportation arrives, Bond informs Murray that she must go to Cairo to fetch one of the members for the team.

Now in Cairo in June, Murray finds a disheveled figure lying in an opium den. He is revealed to be once famed hunter Allan Quatermain. After saving Murray from almost being raped by a couple of men, Quatermain escapes with Murray and heads towards the docks. Quatermain sees a giant submarine, The Nautilus, waiting for them. The door to The Nautlius opens and its owner, Captain Nemo, walks out, shoots a couple of men that had been chasing Murray and Quatermain with a harpoon gun, of his own design, and invites his fellow team members on board.

Aboard the Nautlilus, Quatermain finds himself locked in a room. He has been put there by Nemo to sleep until his body has rid itself of Opium he had been abusing Cairo. Murray mentions how Quatermain was once the British Empire's favorite son while Nemo was its nightmare. Nemo replies by wondering why they would task a former music teach to lead the team. They then discuss that they're meeting a contact in Paris to recruit the next member of the league.

Murray, Quatermain, and Nemo arrive in Paris in late June. While Nemo stays aboard his ship, Murray and Quatermain meet up with their contact, C. Auguste Dupin. Dupin reveals that prostitutes are being murdered in the Rue Morgue and that these murders are similar to ones that occurred earlier in 1841. Deciding that this must be their new recruit, Murray plans to dress up as a prostitute in the hopes that she'll be picked up by whoever it might be. After Murray is picked up by a stranger, Quatermain and Dupin race to find her. They find Murray lying on the floor of an apartment with a bloody nose saying that something strange happened to the main that picked her up. Immediately, a giant ape-like monster bursts into the room declaring his name to be Edward.

2: Ghosts & Miracles

Dupin fearlessly shoots the monster right in his face. This only angers him but Quatermain jumps on his back and wrestles a bottle of chloroform into the monsters fanged mouth. The chloroform takes effect and the monster begins to stumble. He loses balance and then falls out of window unconscious. This is the new recruit.

The monster, now on the Nautilus, reverts back to his human form. He reveals himself to be Dr. Henry Jekyll while his monster form is Mr. Edward Hyde. Jekyll was the missing doctor that Murray was trying to find they just didn't know about his alter ego. Nemo patches up Jekyll's injuries from the fight.

Back in England, Murray, Quatermain, and Nemo drop off Jekyll to Bond. He informs them that their next mission will be to investigate a boarding school for girls. There's a ghost that has been impregnating the girls there and that he may in fact be their next recruit. On the Nautilus the team research an albino man that was murdered a year prior. The albino man was thought to have been someone named Hawley Griffin. Nemo begins to speculate that their mysterious employer may been collecting monsters.

On July 3rd in Edmonton, North London, the team arrives at Miss Rosa Coote's Correctional Academy for Wayward Gentlewomen. Murray poses as a woman named Miss Flaybum while Qautermain and Nemo poses as her husband and manservant respectively. They lie and tell Rosa Coote that they plan on sending their daughter to her boarding school when in reality they are looking for information on the ghost. The team meets Becky, a girl who has been impregnated. Cootes brings them to their rooms to sleep for the night. Murray takes the big room while she makes Quatermain and Nemo share the small room. In the middle of the night all three hear a commotion and run out of their rooms. They find a girl being lifted into the air and being raped. Nemo and Quatermain try to grab hold of the ghost but he manages to get away. Murray splash white paint on him revealing a human figure. Before the ghost can attack her, Murray hits in the head with her paint bucket and knocks him out. The team takes the ghost away and leave the boarding school.

At the British Museum in Bloomsbury, London on July 5th, Murray, Quatermain, and Nemo take a tour guided by Bond. He has them look into an interrogation room house an invisible man in a robe sitting in a chair. Bond explains that the invisible man is a scientist named Dr. Hawley Griffin. A year prior, Griffin had invented a serum that turned him invisible. He first made an albino man invisible as a test subject and that's the one that was murdered. They had just mistaken the albino man for Griffin. Bond them leads them to another interrogation room. An inspector named Donovan is talking to an enraged Mr. Hyde. Bond explain that in 1886, Dr. Jekyll created the formula to turn him into Mr. Hyde. He used to need the formula to transform but now any type of stress or anger will do it. Griffind and Jekyll are both joining the League to find a cure for their conditions and a pardon for their crimes. Bond then leads them to a room to explain why M has brought them together. They meet an anxious man named Professor Selwyn Cavor. He has created an anti-gravitational material called the Cavorite. The British government was planning to use the Cavorite for a planned trip to the moon in 1900 but it has been stolen. M had Bond assemble the League to have them track down, and retrieve, the stolen Cavorite before other countries can harness it's power for air warships. Bond informs them that it is currently in possession of a Chinese warlord only known as "The Doctor" and that he read in Down East London in Limehouse.

3: Mysteries of the East

With the Murray Group fully assembled, they begin their plan to track down the Doctor in Limehouse. Murray tells the group that she and Griffin will investigate a tea shop owned by a man named Quong Lee while Quatermain and Jekyll will talk to acquaintances that Quatermain knows in the area. Nemo will of course stay on the Nautilus.

Murray and Griffin make their way to Quong Lee's tea shop. When they mention that they were sent by Bond, Quong takes them into the back of his shop to talk about things more privately. When Murray questions him about the Doctor, Quong only tells them "the water laps beneath the heavenly bridge. The dragon sleep below the waters." That is all he information Quong provides them with. Leaving, Griffin feels frustrated by the lack of answers but Murray reassures him that Quong told them more than they realize.

Quatermain chats with one of his contacts in Limehouse and she tells him to check out someone named Ho Ling at Shanghai Charlie's. Walking past a giant dragon statue, Quatermain and Jekyll make their way to Shen Yan Barber. Jekyll feels that it isn't the right place but Quatermain says that Shen Yan is Shanghai Charlie's real name. The two enter and Quatermain talks to Shen Yan. While claiming that Ho Ling owes him money, a door opens behind Shen Yan and a man comes out of it. The man and Shen Yan discuss busy while Quatermain gets a look behind the door. He sees an overweight man strung up by his wrists. A nother man whos skin looks like its made of musculature, is painting Chinese characters in caustic paint onto the overweight man's stomach. Frightened, Quatermain decides to leave but Shen Yan catches on that he had been lying. Quatermain lies again and says he really just wanted opium. Jekyll nervously overhears the conversation and nearly transforms into Hyde. The two leave just before he does.

The Murray Group returns to the Nautlius to discuss the information they've gathered. Murray deduces that a tunnel linking Rotherhithe and Shadwell must be the key to what the Doctor is planning. She tells the team that the tunnel was built ten years prior but abandoned. At first the rest of the team doesn't believe that the tunnel is relevant until they start discussing what Cavorite might be used for. Nemo points out that it can used to build air warships while Murray counters that it couldn't be built out in the open. Quatermain has an epiphany and realizes that the Doctor must be building a warship in the tunnels and is using the poorhouse built on either side to cover it up. The Murray Group then decide to search through the tunnels to find the warship. Nemo will stay on the Nautilus while Quatermain and Murray pose as beggars as it wouldn't be uncommon for someone poor to be around that area. Griffin will snoop around fully invisible and Jekyll will stay in close to be used as back up ready to transform into Hyde if the situation calls for it.

Murray and Quatermain, carrying a bundled up elephant gun, make their way for the poorhouses. They discuss how Jekyll is constantly guilty and haunted by his alter ego while Griffin seems incapable of feeling remorse. Once inside the poorhouse they are almost caught by someone but Quatermain kisses Murray to evade suspicion. Murray doesn't take kindly to it. After walking through a poorhouse they find an entrance to the tunnel. They climb over the debris covering the entrance and find a lair inside. Secretly moving past guards, they come across a giant room where a giant air warship is being built.

4: Gods of Annihilation

With the Nautlius parked in Wapping, Nemo asks two of his crew members, Ishmael and Broad Arrow Jack, what they think of his teammates. They don't seem to be bothered by anyone in the Murray Group, it's Bond that they have a problem with. Ishmael doesn't trust Bond at all and Broad Arrow Jack claims he's heard their family has a bad reputation. Nemo agrees with his crew mates and believe Bond thinks of them as pawns.

Murray and Quatermain make their way down to where the warship is being built. They're almost caught by a guard but Griffin slits the guard's throat from behind. Quatermain swaps clothes with the guard and Murray tells Griffin to get Jekyll here as soon as he can to create a diversion. Jekyll walks into the poorhouse and nervously demands to see a manager. Both the front desk clerk and Griffin start berating Jekyll who then loses his temper and transforms into Hyde. After murdering a few people, Hyde introduces himself to Griffin. It is then revealed that Hyde actually sees with infrared vision and can see Griffin. They make their way to the tunnel and Griffin points Hyde towards the entrance while Hyde pretends he can't see him. Murray and Quatermain see that Hyde's rampage has caused a diversion so they head off to find the Cavorite.

Quatermain locates it in a giant room. It's being contained in a jar and is shining bright green. He snatches the Cavorite and him and Murray fight their way through guards. They come across Hyde who is once again on a murderous rampage. Murray orders Hyde to stop killing and the three of them head into a room where the river sits above them. With more guards about to come in find them they formulate an escape plan. With Hyde holding his two teammates, Quatermain will shoot the glass ceiling while Murray opens the Cavorite to launch them into the air. Just as they put their plan into place, Griffin reveals that he's in the room as well and climbs on to Hyde. Just as guards enter the room, the team launches past the river and right into the air. Nemo uses the Nautilus to catch his teammates.

Bond congratulates the Murray group on a job well done and picks up the Cavorite. As he leaves Quatermain pats Griffin on the back who then falls apart. A dummy Griffin was put there instead and the team begins to wonder where the real one is.

Now at his superior's office, Bond tells M that the mission was a success. M is happy with the news and tells Bond that he can call him James.

5: "Some Deep, Organizing Power..."

The story switches to a flashback taking place at Reichenbach Falls on May 4th, 1891. James is talking to a man, who we can assume is Sherlock Holmes, about how this will be their final confrontation. Sherlock writes a note explaining what James has been up to. He puts the note in a tin case with an image of a well dressed man with a question mark for a head on it. Hinting that Sherlock may also be a member of the League. Once finished, James and Sherlock fight. James comes at Sherlock with a knife who then counters the attack by throwing James off a cliff. Sherlock makes his escape while a horribly injured James is found by his henchman. James directs one of his goons, Colonel Sebastian Moran, to kill Sherlock.

In Vauxhall, London now returning to 1898, James begins to reveal his plan to Bond. He explains that while he was still teaching at a university, James was recruited by British Intelligence to pose as a crime lord. They wanted a criminal empire that they could control and monitor. After Sherlock thought he murdered him at Reichenbach, James recovered and quickly advanced through the ranks to become M. He left control of his criminal empire to Moran. James then explains while he rules the west end of London, the Doctor controls the east end. Before the Doctor had stolen it, he was going to use the Cavorite to power an air warship of his own to destroy Limehouse, and the Doctor, and take control of the east end for his own. Just as James and Bond leave, it's revealed that Griffin was there in secret the whole time. Griffin makes his way back to the Nautilus, murders a police officer, and steals his clothes.

Aboard the Nautilus Nemo reveals that he had sent Griffin to spy on Bond. This upsets Murray as she believes she should've known. Griffin returns back to the ship which annoys his teammates as he could've been caught for killing an officer. They question what he has learned and Griffin reveals everything. Nemo deduces that the man they have actually been working for is Professor James Moriarty. The Murray Group then decide it is up to them to stop Moriarty before he can begin his attack. Jekyll realizes that since they are in Wapping, which is in the east end, Moritarty planned on murdering them as well during his attack to tie up any loose ends.

Moriarty and his men, now with the Cavorite, ready their warships and launch into the air.

6: The Day of Be-With-Us.

With the warship now bombing the east end, the Murray Group head to a hot air balloon named the Victoria, given to Nemo by a Dr. Ferguson. They load into the balloon and head for Mortiarty. Aboard the Victoria the team notices the Doctor is sending his henchman, using war-kites and cannons, to attack the air ships.

The team latches onto the giant warship and step aboard. As men from both sides tear fight, the Murray Group decide they must find the Cavorite in order to disable the ship. Murray starts slapping Jekyll to prompt him into turning into Hyde. With Hyde punching down a door, the team heads inside and begin to fight both sides. Hyde goes on a killing rampage, Nemo starts gunning down men with a harpoon gun, and Griffin takes off all of his clothes and sneakily kills people. Murray and Quatermain decide they'll try to find the Cavorite while the other three keep fighting henchmen. They head to the top of the warship and find Moriarty who then orders his men to kill Murray. Quatermain comes to her rescue and murders them. Moriarty then shoots Quatermain in the shoulder and just as he's about to kill him, Murray picks up a big wrench and break the glass containing the Cavorite. Not wanting to loose his Cavorite, Moriarty grabs it but it jsut sky rockets him into the air. Mortiarty presumably dies. With nothing powering the air ship, it begins to fall. The team regroups and makes their way back to the Victoria. Hyde's extra weight makes the balloon descend and it crashes into the river.

Surviving the crash, the Murray Group is rewarded heavily for their efforts. Mycroft Holmes, now taking the mantle of M, tells the team they must remain close if England should ever need them again. Quatermain feels like they're payed a lot to sit around and do nothing but Murray suggests something will turn up. Just as she says that, mysterious objects start falling from the sky...

Characters

 * Mina Murray
 * Allan Quatermain
 * Captain Nemo
 * Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
 * Hawley Griffin/Invisible Man
 * Professor Moriarty/M
 * The Doctor
 * Campion Bond
 * Mycroft Holmes/M
 * Sherlock Holmes
 * C. Auguste Dupin
 * Rosa Coote
 * Professor Cavor
 * Quong Lee
 * Inspector Donovan
 * Shen Yan
 * Ishmael
 * Broad Arrow Jack
 * Sebastian Moran
 * Dr. Ferguson
 * The Artful Dodger