Unpleasant
First off, I am not a big fan of Alan Moore. Certainly I can appreciate some of his work (V for Vendetta, even though it has aged badly) and greatly enjoyed others (Miracleman, the first League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), but in my eyes he is not the wonderful master writer the general comic book community seems to see.
This, the second series of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, demonstrates that.
It begins rather brilliantly, with the first issue set on Mars and detailing the gathering of an army of martian races intending to take on the "molluscs" (the martian invaders from H.G Wells War of the Worlds). This army is led by John Carter (of Edgar R Burroughs fame) and Gullivar (I assume that is Gullivar from the titular travels). This whole issue is a joy, from the wierd aliens, to the brilliantly realized martians and their horrific weaponry (black smoke, heat rats, tripods etc). As a steampunk fan to me this is a fine example of that genre. Sadly, this issue is all too brief.
After this, the series descends, the opening seeming a distant memory of better times. The artwork by Kevin O'Neill is good but the story is, whilst a re-telling of HG Wells War of the Worlds mixed with various other elements, is rarely interesting and rather unpleasant in places. We are "treated" to Mina Murray being brutalized by the Invisible Man (who beats her and forces her face into a pool of her own vomit). There is a rather long and awkward sex scene between Mina and Alan Quartermain which to me just takes up space (I find sex scenes in movies serve the same purpose) and another one later on. We also have Mr Hyde raping and murdering the Invisible Man. The parts not involving sexual violence or just plain sex are not particularly interesting and seem to take a rather sadistic pleasure in suffering and scenes of destruction. In all the Alan Moore comics I have read had scenes of rape and/or sexual violence and his comments about his work being raped by the big comic companies suggest to me he has a little too much focus on such dreadful things.
The League themselves are not likeable, at least not in a way we expect our heroes to be. There is too much bickering and dislike in the group for them to mesh properly. The best character is Mr Hyde, a brutish monster who nonetheless displays a sophisticated and complex personality. Alan Quartermain is quite useless, there it seems to just bonk Mina. Mina remains a dull and prickly prescence, the Invisible Man a giggling sadist. Captain Nemo has the potential to be a intriguiging character but is not given a great deal to do.
I loved first League volume and was looking forward to this one with its premise of alien invasion. The second volume leaves me with an unpleasant taste in my mouth. It feels rather sordid and sleazy. There is a brillaint world realized here, a hodge-pod of cultural references, literary characters, an interesting mythology. It is just a shame the unpleasantness, the sadism, the sexual content and violence destract from it.