LoEG The Tempest 4 annotations

LoEG The Tempest #4 cover by Kevin O’Neill

Below are annotations for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Tempest #4 “If Fictions Fare Not True–” 32 pages plus covers, cover date December 2018

Writer: Alan Moore, Artist: Kevin O’Neill, with Ben Dimagmaliw, Todd Klein

> Go to Annotations Index

Note: some of this stuff is obvious. If there’s stuff we missed or got wrong, let us know in comments, or email linton.joe [at] gmail.com

General summary: This issue is largely imitating British children’s humour comics. Acknowledgments to the help from Reddit’s LoEG forum.

Cover

• See Bleeding Cool piece about the cover.
• An early “redacted” version was shared, before the 3D was applied.
• Each panel stands in for events from earlier in LoEG.

banner

• Thud! Gurgle! and Whimper! evoke such British children’s comics of the 60s, 70s and 80s as Wham!, Smash! Whoopee! and Shiver and Shake.
• The “incorporating” references the practice of British comics publishers to, rather than outright cancelling comics which weren’t selling well enough, combine the most popular features of those comics with a better-selling one from the same publisher. See, for an example of this, our notes to the front cover of Tempest #2 on the history of TV21.

Minnie the Minx – via Wikipedia

panel 1

• This panel summarizes the setup of LoEG volume 1.
• “Mina the Minx” is Mina Murray appearing as Minnie the Minx from The Beano. Dracula‘s Murray is “vampire-surviving”; Moore established early on that (after the events of Dracula) Jonathan Harker divorced her.
• The portly teacher is Campion Bond.
• “Channel causeway” appeared on pages 1-4 of LoEG volume 1, #1.

panel 2

• This panel summarizes the events of LoEG volumes 1 and 2.
• “while being mistaken for steampunk” – Commenter Befuddled Mike points out that this is “A joke about how the first two LoEG volumes were sometimes lumped in with that genre, even in the original annotations by Jess Nevins(?)”.
• The original League appear here as characters from British children’s comics:
  – Nemo resembles <generic boy?>
  – The Invisible Man resembles Wilfrid of the Beano’s Bash Street Kids
  – Allan Quatermain resembles Danny of the Bash Street Kids
  – Mina Murray as Minnie the Minx
  – Mister Hyde resembles Plug of the Bash Street Kids crossed with Gus Gorilla from Cor!. He may be mangling the leg of a Martian tripod, as seen in LoEG volume 2, #6, P21.
• At left rear, we can see Moriarty’s ship, levitating upon a beam of cavorite and bombarding London, as seen in LoEG volume 1, #6, P2p1.
• At right rear we see an alien tripod from LoEG volume 2’s War of the Worlds. It is holding a heat ray in its right “hand”, and a basket for collecting human specimens in its left.
• The partially obscured sign is from “Bash Street School.”

panel 3

• This panel stands in for Century: 1910.
• The second generation of Mina’s League are in the background: from left to right:
  – A.J. Raffles – the upper class Raffles is dressed here as a masked version of Lord Snooty from The Beano.
  – Carnacki
  – Orlando
  -Allan Quatermain
• In the foreground Mina Murray battles Janni Dakkar
• “Spiflicate” is archaic British children’s comic slang for ‘to beat up’. The irony here is that, despite setting up plenty of important developments, Century: 1910 is arguably very short on fighting. Murray confronts Dakkar, but the women do not fight.

panel 4

• This panel summarizes Black Dossier.
• Left to right are:
  • Murray
  • Emma Knight (in a leather outfit with pants, more like what she wore on The Avengers than her actual outfits in Black Dossier)
  • Quatermain
  • James Bond in go-kart
  • “Bulldog” Drummond
• The “Oh Oh 7” on the go-kart is Bond’s agent number 007. Bond is generally associated with fantastic vehicles, though he did not drive one in Black Dossier.

panel 5

• This is the end of Century: 1969, where after a bad drug trip with added black magic, Mina was taken away to be institutionalized. She remained there for 40 years, until the events of Century: 2009.
• Commenter Lee Machin suggests:
  

  The “policeman” in panel 5 of the cover looks a lot like Bernard Cribbens. He is wearing 1960’s style UK ambulance drivers uniform rather than a policeman’s (who would be wearing the traditional ‘bobbies’ helmet in 1969). Why Cribbens? I don’t know. He was at the height of his fame in 1969 with his own TV show and had starred in both She and Casino Royale.

• The youth smoking an enormous joint in the background is possibly Alan Moore, who would have been 16 in 1969. Moore is known for hand-rolling extremely long joints.

panel 6

• This panel summarizes Century: 2009.
• Left to right are:
  – Orlando
  – Mina Murray
  – Oliver Haddo – whose severed head resembles that of fanged criminal mastermind Grimly Feendish from Wham! and Smash!
  – The Antichrist (Harry Potter)

panel 7

• This panel catches up on developments in Tempest.
• Left to right are: Murray, Prospero and in Sherlock-Holmes-style hat, Engelbrecht the surrealist dwarf sportsman (see notes to Tempest #3, P20-21). (Is Engelbrecht’s appearance parodying some specific comic? – Suggest??)

Inside Cover

• Ken Reid (1919–1987) was a British comics artist and writer.
• “The Big Apple” is a common nickname for New York, the home of the vast majority of the American comic book industry during the 1960s period that Moore is evoking on both inside front and back covers. Bermondsey, by contrast is a relatively small neighborhood in a suburb of London. A “barrow boy” is someone who sells vegetables from two-wheeled barrows. The intent seems to be self-mockery, by comparing the aspirations to be like glamorous New York artists with the reality of being working-class Brits.
• Odham’s Press was a British publisher between 1890 and 1968. They published a number of comic books, including Wham!, Pow!, and Smash!.
• Steve Moore (1949-2014) was a British comics writer. He was a close friend of Alan Moore (no relation) and brought him into the comics industry. Steve Moore is the subject of Alan Moore’s Unearthing.
• Alan Moore wrote an introduction to a collection of Faceache strips.
• “Flippin’ Ada!” – London slang, apparently (etymology unknown):
  

  It was in general use when I was a teenager growing up in the East End of London back in the fifties. It was generally pronounced as a sigh of despair, and it was taken to be a last response to someone doing something really stupid. Or it was as statement of utter disbelief when something went wrong.
  A cleaner version would be “I don’t believe it”.

• Dare-a-day Kevy’s “AGH-H-H! IT’S ‘IM!” is a reference to a commonly uttered seafarer’s lament in Ken Reid’s Jonah. Jonah’s skull and sailor’s cap can be seen at the bottom of this panel.
• Kevy is outfitted with backpacking gear and a map of Northampton, as if he’s going into an even more desolate and remote area than Northampton actually is.
• “Hexmoore” is punning on Moore’s name, the idea of a magical “hex”, and Exmoor, a national park in the UK (where a hiker like Kevy might be expected to be found). Commenter Befuddled Mike points out that “puns like that are typical of Ken Reid’s output, as seen for example in his ‘World Wide Weirdies’”.
• The Alan Monster has a single eye, enclosed within a triangle, recalling a common occult symbol of an eye so enclosed (or in a pyramid). The hand atop the sign is adorned with rings, much as the real-world Moore wears. Some of his tentacles are engaged in that most prototypical acts of magic, pulling a rabbit out of a hat. At lower right, there is a face which has hairy buttocks for “eyes”. Some of the parts of the Alan Monster seem to be attacking other parts, possibly suggesting self-destructive elements of Moore’s personality.
• Throughout the series so far, there have been frequent background appearances of signs reading “NO PARKING by ORDER”. Whose order is never specified. Here, that is changed to “NO RITE OF WAY” (punning on “right of way” and “magical rite”) “by Order of ME” (presumably meaning the Alan Monster.

Page 1

• Commenter Jason Blochwitz notes: “This page is in the style of a Ken Reid comic. The page’s title is a riff on Ken Reid’s comic “King of the Seas””

panel 1

Cheeky

• Jason King is drawn with the pan-pipe teeth of Cheeky from British children’s comic Cheeky Weekly. King peering through the cut-up newspaper may be alluding to the way the cover of Cheeky Weekly often featured Cheeky interacting with/advertising a cut-out insert to be found inside.
  • Commenter Jason Blochwitz notes that King also resembles the Ken Reid character “Jonah” (though Jonah has only two buck teeth).
• “Funderball” is play on the James Bond novel (and film) Thunderball.
• “Clot” is British slang for a silly, clumsy person.

panel 2

• “M” is the head of James Bond’s intelligence service.
• The zipping lines at the bottom are probably meant to indicate the cat (see p4).

panel 3

• King’s boss is the rejuvenated James Bond, as seen in Tempest #1.
• “Warralson’s Weirdies” refers to Joan “Worrals” Worralson (mentioned on pages 25 and 148 of Black Dossier) a fictional pilot created by W. E. Johns. She led the 1940s LoEG “the Worralson Team.”

panel 4

• “Murray’s Maniacs” refers to Mina Murray and her various teams.

panel 6

Aston Martin with shield up

• The car is a cartoonish version of Bond’s Aston Martin from the film Goldfinger, as particularly evidenced by the bulletprooof shield extended behind the rear window.
• “FU” – possibly “Fuck You”?

panel 7

• The bumps atop the car are a visual pun: they are the buttocks of a moon roof.

panel 12

• The “Oxford operation” apparently refers to a planned attack on the rabbit hole leading to Lewis Carroll‘s “Wonderland.” It was mentioned in the New Travelers’ Almanac back matter in LoEG V2, as well as earlier in Tempest.

panel 14

• “Les Hommes Mysterieux” – see P2.

Page 2

panel 1

• Commenter rosswrites points out “This style of painted [art is seen] in European comics and in The Eagle”.
• “Les Hommes Mysterieux” (French for “The Mysterious Men”) are a  French LoEG analog – see Black Dossier pages 26 and 46. Left to right are:
  • Jean Robur
  • Nyctalope
  • Arsene Lupin
  • Monsieur Zenith the Albino
  • Fantômas
• Pages 2 and 3 take place March 14, 1913, atop the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris.
• The confrontation between then LoEG and LHM is depicted in Black Dossier (page 46 – in The Life of ORLANDO, chapter 9) and later described (pages 114-115 – in The Sincerest Form of Flattery) as:
  “[LoEG were] lured to the Paris Opera on the night of March 13, 1914 […] Orlando had been set upon by Monsieur Zenith, there on the precarious rooftops where a pounding rain had just commenced to fall.”
• Is the style here meant to allude to a specific British comic? Suggest??

panel 2

• Monsieur Zenith battles Orlando, who wields the sword Excalibur.
• Zenith’s howling sword is Stormbringer, the magic black sword wielded by Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné. Stormbringer is a demon in sword form that eats the souls of its victims.
  Zenith served as the inspiration for Moorcock’s Elric. Both are red-eyed albinos. Moorcock wrote Zenith stories, including “Sir Milk-and-Blood” where Zenith wields Stormbringer.
  In Moorcock’s work, Stormbringer and the Eternal Champion recur through history; Elric and Zenith are both incarnations of the champion.
  • Commenter rosswrites notes “The swirling vapours around Elric’s sword Stormbringer evoke the multiple floating eyes of the Anti-Christ in 2009”.

panel 3

• “The black sword seems to find me, however I am incarnated” describes Moorcock’s Eternal Champion.
• “When you were Roland” refers to Orlando’s previous appearance in The Song of Roland. Orlando as fictional Roland appears in pages 39-41 (Trump section) of Black Dossier. Exactly who Zenith/The Champion was at the time has not been established (Roland had a lot of adventures), but they were apparently wielding Stormbringer at the time.
  • (An earlier version of this note mistaken conflated Roland’s sword Durendal with Stormbringer, and Orlando himself with the Eternal Champion. But Black Dossier explicitly says that Durendal is a renamed Excalibur. And the Eternal Champion is someone who is continually dying and being reborn, not an immortal in a single life, like Orlando.)
  • Commenter Jason Blochwitz adds:
    

    In Moorcock’s “Metatemporal Detectives” (2007) Elric lived the life of Zenith in a dream. The talk of Roland is a reference to the Elric novel “Stormbringer” (1965) where Elric did battle with a fallen hero named Roland who protected the horn that would end the Melnibonean world.

panel 5

• In the blue hat is Allan Quatermain.
• “A.J.” is Anthony “A.J.” Raffles.

panel 6

• In 1913, psychology (as a science) was still in its infancy, but had begun to garner public attention.

panel 8

• Monsieur Zenith mentions his arch-enemy “detective [Sexton] Blake.”

Page 3

panels 1-2

• The ideas Zenith expresses here may be one more reason why Moore has become disenchanted with superheroic fiction.

panel 4

• This continues the scene described in Black Dossier (page 115):
  “When his pale and gloating foe spoke of a bomb concealed beneath the Opera house, Orlando was just able to relay this news to Quatermain…”
• Panelwise, to this point, the comics gutters were black; here they shift to white. The black gutter panels are all focused on the one rooftop scene, continuous across time (and the black may refer to the black sword). As the focus, location, and time shift, the gutters are white.

panel 5

• “How are any of us going to get out in time?” – According to Black Dossier:
  

  …Orlando barely managing to leap to safety as the stonework underneath his feet gave way. Both he and Quatermain helped dig bodies from the Opera’s rubble, but unable to find either Raffles or Miss Murray amongst the survivors, feared the worst. Not until some days later were they reunited with the pair, who had escaped the conflagration through the sub-Parisian tunnel system by which Murray had been able to locate the cavern in the first place.

panel 6

• These are Fantômas, A. J. Raffles, and Mina Murray.
• As mentioned, the location is the catacomb hiding place of Erik, the titular The Phantom of the Opera.
• This continues the scene described in Black Dossier (page 115):
  

  Trying to escape from the dark, subterranean caverns, Raffles and Miss Murray had a hair-raising encounter with the terrifying Fantomas, which ended when the villain uttered, in unaccented plain English, the two chilling words ‘I win,’ just as he detonated the explosives hidden in the Phantom’s former lair.

• The sores/scars (?) on Raffles cheek appear but are unexplained in Century: 1910. They don’t seem to be a part of the character’s original appearance.

panel 7

• The bomb explodes the opera house. (Why just black and white??)
• The women are the protagonists of Moore’s Lost Girls. Left to right are:
  – Dorothy “Dottie” Gale, grown version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz‘s Dorothy
  – Lady Alice Fairchild, grown version of the titular Alice in Wonderland
  – Wendy Darling Potter, grown version of Peter Pan‘s Wendy
  In Lost Girls book 1, chapter 10, these three visit the Paris premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring on May 29, 1913 – a couple months after the events of this page. To some extent, Moore’s exploration of Lost Girls historical fictional characters inspired his later LoEG.
  • Commenter Geoffrey points out that Alice’s appearance here may be a continuity discrepancy, since “in the New Travelers’ Almanac, the original Alice starved to death years prior due to the changing of her body chemistry from passing through the Looking-Glass”.

• 

  Apollo statue – via Wikipedia

  The blue-gray figure is the Millet’s Apollo, Poetry and Music statue atop the Paris opera house. Apollo holds a lyre.

• The mustached man appears to be composer Igor Stravinsky.

Page 4

panel 1

• The year is 2010. The setting is the League secret headquarters in London.
• Depicted (in Orlando’s thoughts) are the characters prominent in past LoEG arcs. Many of these people Orlando hirself never met, but may be assumed to have heard tales of them from Mina and Allan.
  • At top left is Prospero. The red lining of his cloak contains all the other characters, as well as forming a sort of thought balloon for Orlando.
  • Along the back are a number of authority figures and/or villains: Sherlock Holmes, James Moriarty, Campion Bond, Mycroft Holmes, The Devil Doctor / Fu Manchu, Adenoid Hynkel, and Tom Marvolo Riddle.
  • In a grouping just under Prospero are several members of his version of the League: Don Quixote, Amber St. Clair, Captain Robert Owemuch, Christian.
  • To the right of Prospero’s Men, looming large (possibly due to having been very recently encountered in Century: 2009) is the Antichrist / Harry Potter.
  • Centrally located near the top is the terrifying figure of Mister Edward Hyde, with a much smaller figure of Doctor Henry Jekyll beneath him.
  • To the right of Hyde and Jekyll: Maria from Metropolis, Ayesha / She Who Must be Obeyed.
  • Beneath Ayesha: A. J. Raffles and Thomas Carnacki (both members of the 1910 League), Norton / Iain Sinclair.
  • Beneath Harry Potter: Janni Nemo (as she appeared in 1910), Broad Arrow Jack, Prince Dakkar (the original Captain Nemo).
  • Beneath Maria: The Galley-Wag.
  • To the right of the Galley-Wag, two members of Les Hommes Mysterieux: Monsieur Zenith and Fantomas.
  • Bottom center: Allan Quatermain, Mina Murray, Hawley Griffin / the Invisible Man.
  • The original five members of the League (six if you include Jekyll separately) form a “spine” supporting the rest of the image. Mina, as always, is front and center.
  • This collection of portraits forms an interesting visual way of summing up the “introductions” between the two pairs of heroes here, without the reader having to sit through a lot of exposition they already know.
• At the table are: Marsman , Orlando, Emma Peel, and Satin Astro.
• Marsman is nursing his wound from Orlando striking him on P19, p2 of Tempest #3. He is holding that tried and trusted remedy for swelling to his cheek, the bag of frozen peas.
• The issue titles appear to form a poem:
  Farewell to Forever
  And an Age of Giants, Adieu
  Dawn is But Dark’s Endeavor
  If Fictions Fare Not True —
• The dossier Satin is holding is titled “the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” which appears to be the first time the group is ever explicitly referred to by that name within the story itself. (Spotted by Reddit user John_Dee2)

Page 5

panel 1

• “Last year’s peculiar skies… an antichrist battling Orlando” refer to the events of Century: 2009.
• The “old acquaintances” are shown on P4.

panel 2

• Panels 2, 4-6, and 8 form a polyptych.

panel 6

• Note that Peel has a file on Edward Hyde under her hand. This continues the interest she expressed in acquiring his skeleton (and possibly his DNA) in Tempest #3, P11, p8

panels 6-7

• Peel and Orlando being “in London to assassinate its [M.I.5’s] new head” refers back to page 1 where the reader sees that King has not done his job.

Panel 7

• “Norton” is Ian Sinclair’s Andrew Norton, the Prisoner of London, who appeared in each part of Century.

panel 9

• The “M.I. 5 nuclear attack” was shown in Tempest #2 P23-24.

Pages 6-7 Little Mina in Blazingland

panel 1

• “Little Mina in Blazingland” is a riff on the early 20th Century newspaper comics series Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay. Moore has riffed on Nemo in various places, including Promethea, Big Nemo, and Providence.
• The art style, prose style, and lettering style throughout this section are all in imitation of Little Nemo, including frequent use of exclamation points, and the words “oh”, “yup”, “gosh”, “swell”, “for sure”, and “I don’t think”.
• The location is The Blazing World.

panel 2

• The black-and-white (except for his glasses) Prospero panel appears each time the reader is expected to put on 3-D glasses.
• The nuclear fireball, while still quite large here, is already smaller than that seen in Tempest #3 (P24).

panel 3

• Left to right are:
  – Engelbrecht the surrealist dwarf sportsman, previously seen in The Blazing World in Black Dossier.
  – The Golliwog with his two Dutch dolls – Sarah Jane (blue dress with stars) and Peg (red and white striped dress.) They appeared in Black Dossier starting on page 166.
  – Owl man whom Mina and company met in Tempest #3, P23.
  – Hugo Hercules.
  – Tacarigua / Mr. Ismael – first appeared in Nemo: River of Ghosts – for first Tempest appearance, see #2 P7,p5.
  – Ariel and Caliban from Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
  – Mina Murray
  – Jack Nemo
• Keeping with the Little Nemo theme, Murray is accompanied by a Nemo.

panels 4-9

• These form an extended zoom sequence, where the background elements seem to be shifting in both scale and nature from one panel to the next. This is another tip of the hat to Little Nemo, which often indulged in such formal play.

panel 4

• In the background, the nuclear fireball continues to shrink.

panel 5

• The background architecture includes what seems to be an Atlas statue and various bubble (or light bulb?) shaped domes.

• 

  Harvey Comics’ Stumbo the Giant – via Alchetron

  In the foreground, we can see the shadow and foot of the oncoming Stumbo the Giant (identified by commenter Chase Garland) a minor character from late 1950s Harvey Comics.

• The giant walking though the Blazing World is similar to Black Dossier pages 180-181 which features a giant sized Gulliver approaching the reader. Perhaps these passing giants are Moore and O’Neill wanting to show off virtuoso 3D effects.

panel 6

• The handbills are the title page from “Faerie’s Fortunes Founded”, as seen in Black Dossier. (Where are they coming from? Are they just being scattered in the wake of the giant’s passing?)
  
• In the background, Stumbo the Giant is carelessly trampling a tree. This is somewhat typical of his adventures, where he would accidentally step on homes in Tinytown.
• The foreground appears to be looking up from the ground, past a couple of paving stones, atop which someone (possibly Flip from Little Nemo?) has dropped a lit cigar.
• Commenter Geoffrey notes:
  

  The kissing bugs seen in the Blazing World are Hoppity and Honey Bee from the 1941 animated film “Mr. Bug Goes to Town”. The bugs seen in the background are the villains from the film: C. Bagley Beetle, Swat the Fly (only his foot is seen) and Smack the Mosquito (the one with the long nose peering over the ledge).

Mr. Bug Goes to Town

panel 8

• The script to “Faeries Fortunes Founded” appears in Black Dossier.
• The moon appears to be from the Little Nemo comic dated December 3,  1905. (Spotted by Chase Garland.) Stumbo the giant holds it up like Atlas (see panel 5).

  

  Little Nemo, February 25, 1906

• The polka-dot character to the right of the moon is a “giant pie-eater” from the February 25, 1906 Little Nemo.
• Figure at left in crowd with arms outstretched and a plant on his head – Suggest??
• Floating blue baby(?) – Suggest??
• Figure holding balloon (or lollipop?) – Suggest??
• Woman with crown – suggest??
• Old bearded man at right of crowd – Suggest?? (Possibly Father Time from Little Nemo?)
• Boy wearing a jumper (to the right of Jack Nemo) also looks like he may be Little Nemo.

panel 9

• In the background, the two giants seem to have collided, sending both of them and the moon flying apart.
• The ushers flanking the door appear to be in the style of the comic strip The Little King by Otto Soglow.
• Usher with flashlight and distinctive shoes – Suggest??
• Are the audience fairies particular references? – Suggest??

Page 8

• Pages 8-9 homage the style of artist Mal Dean, who drew for International Times (thanks to Befuddled  Mike). International Times (aka it) was an English underground newspaper that was influential in Moore’s artistic formation. Dean also illustrated the Jerry Cornelius novels and worked for ‘New Worlds’ during Moorcock’s tenure.
• These two pages form an extended fixed-camera sequence.
• Commenter Justin Blochwitz reminds us: “Jerry mentioned that his adventures were being serialized in the Hunchback underground newspaper (an i.t. analogue) back in Century: 1969.”

panel 1

• Seated at the bench are:
  – Ian Sinclair’s Andrew Norton.
  – The vanishing “vegetative buddha” is the personification of London from Ian Sinclair’s The Lost London. (Thanks tommcnally)
  – Jerry Cornelius is a recurring Michael Moorcock  incarnation of the Eternal Champion. Cornelius appeared as a child in Black Dossier, P20 and as a black and white photonegative adult in Century: 1969. This version of Jerry seems visually based on Moorcock himself. (Thanks Herms98) Cornelius appears to be smoking an opium pipe.
• Haggerston Park is indeed in the London Borough of Hackney. Like much of the dialogue on these two pages, Haggerston Park has a storied history, and is under threat of losing its character through modification and development. Ian Sinclair speaks of his love for the place in these videos.
• From the position of the dawn rising sun, the bench pictured appears to be this one, facing west along a large open field. Though they don’t match exactly (from Google maps views) the buildings shown appear to be recent school and housing developments on the east side of the park.

  

  Jerry Cornelius – from Century 1969 P21,p1 – art by Kevin O’Neill

• “The Adventures of Jerry Cornelius” was the title of an actual strip version of Cornelius’ adventures. It appeared in International Times.

panel 2

• “Gender fluidity” is a trait of both Orlando and Cornelius.
• Orlando and Cornelius met in Century 1969 – see page 21. He was shown as a photonegative – hence “black.”
• “Young, gifted, and black” is a phrase originally from the playwright Lorraine Hansberry, and later a play, a Nina Simone song, and a song and album by Aretha Franklin. (Thanks commenter Rafael Vicente.)

  

  Mal Dean art from it

• Figure with television head – Commenter Befuddled Mike identified this as a cartoon from International Times.

panel 3

• “The vegetative buddha” is from Ian Sinclair’s The Lost London. Justin Blochwitz alerted us to a video where Sinclair discusses the character, which includes footage of the actual (homeless?) person Sinclair based the character on.

  

  The Vegetative Buddha (filmed by Andrew Kötting)

• Figure with top hat, cigar, carrying painting – Suggest??
• Commenter Justin Blochwitz notes: “Jerry’s stories were frequently centered around the theme of entropy. Moorcock and the science fiction of New Worlds Magazine were discussed in the great book of literary criticism called ‘The Entropy Exhibition’ by Colin Greenland. Amongst the New Worlds set like Ballard and Aldiss, entropy was an enduring theme amongst their work. Things fall apart, crash into chaos.”

panel 4

• The “shard” references The Shard – a contemporary skyscraper in the heart of London.
  • The Shard is also a prominent location in Kieron Gillen’s comic book The Wicked + The Divine. Gillen was working alongside Moore on Cinema Purgatorio as Tempest was being written.
• “Heat-death” refers to a widely-accepted model for a possible end of the universe, when entropy finally spreads out all energy into a cold lifeless equilibrium. Cornelius is also punning on the popular phrase “death before dishonour”.
• Figure with tank for head – Suggest?? (The tank seems to be firing upon the television-head figure from panel 2.)

panel 5

• Figure in bowler with cleaver chasing figure with suspenders – Suggest??

panel 6

• From Redditor Hermes98: Cornelius calls Norton “Taffy”, a reference to Dr. Taffy Sinclair from Moorcock’s 2007 short story collection The Metatemporal Detective (Taffy Sinclair, Iain Sinclair, get it?). Taffy is the faithful sidekick of Sir Seaton Begg, the titular metatemporal detective (basically a Sherlock Holmes type who travels between dimensions). Well, rather than Holmes himself, “Seaton Begg” derives from Zenith’s nemesis Sexton Blake, and Zenith himself appears in some of the stories. Cornelius called Norton “Taffy” back in Century: 1969 as well.
  • “Taffy” is also British slang for a Welshman (which Sinclair is).
• “upping stumps” is an idiom derived from cricket for “finish and go away”.
• Commenter Justin Blochwitz claims “The tastier world line is a reference to the end of Moorcock’s first Cornelius novel “The Final Programme.””
• Prisoner with ball&chain – Suggest??
• In the background, bowler-hat seems to have wounded the person he’s chasing and snatched their suspenders.

panel 7

• Commenter Justin Blochwitz notes “Norton’s line references the Sinclair edited book “London; City of Disappearances” (2006).”
• “Baroness… Margaret Brunner” conflates the real world UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (formally titled Baroness Thatcher) with Moorcock’s fictional Jerry Cornelius’ nemesis authoritarian Miss Brunner. For what it’s worth Miss Brunner’s first name is Christina – though she’s mostly referred to as just Miss Brunner.  (Thanks frankwalsingham)
• In the background is a Spitfire, a British fighter plane largely associated with WWII. The prisoner appears to be trying to hitch a ride on it?

Page 9

panel 1

• “The widow. She sold the whole show downriver” extends the Margaret Thatcher analog (see previous panel) by referencing Ian Sinclair’s fictional Thatcher stand-in called “the widow” from his 1995 novel Downriver. (Thanks Rossswrites)
• “Dorothy Perkins” is an American department store. “Derry and Tom’s” (nitpick: Toms) was a renowned department store in Kensington, London. In 1971, Derry & Toms was sold to Dorothy Perkins-backed Biba. Derry & Toms store closed in 1973. Cornelius is lamenting how non-British things are replacing distinctly British ones. (Thank Qu420)
  • Commenter Justin Blochwitz notes that Derry and Toms was the setting for the opening scene of the Jerry Cornelius novel A Cure for Cancer.
• Fish-headed figure blowing soap bubbles – Suggest??

panel 2

• King Harold Godwinson was the last Anglo-Saxon king, killed in the Battle of Hastings, 1066, a key moment in the Norman Invasion. Commenter Justin Blochwitz informs us that Iain Sinclair did a “Brexit Walk” from King Harold’s grave to the site of the Battle of Hastings. Sinclair also participated in another such walk, as documented in the film Edith Walks, which Alan Moore also appeared in.
• The “sanctuary” is the area of Alsacia from Moorcock’s 2015 semi-autobiographical novel The Whispering Swarm, based on the real-world London district of Alsatia, which was a sanctuary from roughly 1300 to 1697. In Moorcock’s novel, Alsacia is a sanctuary for fictional characters.
• Figures riding a snail – Suggest??

panel 3

• “Bride Lane vortex” – This may be a coincidence, but in 2011, a production of Noel Coward’s 1924 play The Vortex was put on in Bridewell Theatre in Bride Lane.
• Commenter Justin Blochwitz notes:
  

  Iain Sinclair’s and Chris Petit’s 1992 film “The Cardinal and the Corpse” was filmed at Bride Lane. It mentions David Litvinov’s work on the film, Performance and has Alan Moore and Michael Moorcock in important roles. Many of Iain’s recurring characters appear in the cinematic flesh.

• “Tanelorn” is a fictional recurring city from Moorcock’s stories; it serves as a sort of safe harbor for the Eternal Champions and their companions.
• Cowboy – Suggest??

panel 4

• The “needle gun” that Jerry gave Orlando is the modern incarnation of the Stormbringer sword. Some readers take this to suggest that Orlando, like Cornelius and Zenith, is a recurrence of Moorcock’s Eternal Champion. (Thanks Tommcnally.)
  • Commenter Justin Blochwitz adds “Jerry used his needle gun in “The Final Programme.””
• “Shaky Mo Collier” is another Moorcock character from Cornelius stories.
  • Commenter Justin Blochwitz adds “Shakey Mo was a character in “The English Assassin” that Norton references in the next panel.”
• The dark-haired figure with the lace cuffs appears to be Jerry Cornelius, as he was depicted in The Adventures of Jerry Cornelius (see note to P8,p1).

panel 5

• “The English Assassin” is the third Jerry Cornelius book.
• From Qu420: The Great Wen is a disparaging nickname for London derived from agriculturist and anti-urbanist William Cobbett. A wen is a type of cyst.

panel 6

• “Exit through the gift shop”is a fairly standard way to leave a museum. This is both a reference to London being now in the past, and to the way capitalist culture infects even museums. It may also be referencing a Banksy film, of the same title.
• Orlando seeing London begin is briefly depicted in Black Dossier, though at that time it was called Troy-Novantum.

panel 7

• Cornelius’s smoke rings form an infinity sign.

Page 10

panel 1

• Is this style referencing a specific British strip? – Suggest??
• “Of Minds and Men” is perhaps a riff on the Steinbeck story “Of Mice and Men.”
• “Kayo” is “K.O.” for Kevin O’Neill. It is presumably also a riff on a particular comic strip artist’s name – Suggest??
• Left is Jim Logan, Captain Universe.
• Right is Matt Price, Brain Boy.

panel 2

• Mandrake the Magician and his sidekick Lothar appear in the background.

panel 3

• “Linda” is Linda Turner, the Harvey Comics Black Cat. She is shown in the background entering the women’s bathroom.
• “Kim” is Kim Brand, Flygirl.

panel 4

• Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill appear in the background (perhaps as a magician joke?)
• Football player with number 69 – Suggest??

panel 6

• The women are Left to right are: (thanks various Redditors)
  – Black Cat who has taken her mask off now that she’s in the ladies room lounge
  – Archie Comics’ Flygirl
  – Iron Maiden of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents
  – Lady Blackhawk of Blackhawks
• Flygirl is posing like a sort of mind-controlled zombie; she and Black Cat are mocking Brain Boy’s powers.
• Qu420 notes: Lady Blackhawk’s most prominent story was a mind control story where she fell under Killer Shark’s control and become Queen Killer Shark with some weird rape-y overtones. Iron Maiden was a femme fatale Bond supervillain type who carried on a relationship with hero Dynamo in a way where she was often just flat out using him to get away.

panel 7 – DUGONG – Special Victims Unit

• “Dugong” – see Tempest #1 P8,p5. The style mimics Gerry and Sylvia Anderson supermarionation.
• “Special Victims Unit” references the long-running TV show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

• 

  Dr. Horatio Beaker – puppet from Supercar – image via Gerry Anderson wiki

  On the left is Dr. Horatio Beaker from the puppetry TV series Supercar. In that series he is an inventor. (Thanks Chase Garland)

• On the right is Captain Troy Tempest from the puppetry TV series Stingray.
• The Genotian pirates stealing and murdering is what Orlando told Tempest to report about the stolen Dugong in Tempest #1 P9,p2. The three women were Orlando, Murray, and Peel.
• As commenter Befuddled Mike points out, the jagged panel border between this and the next panel is a style that was often used in comics based on Gerry & Sylvia Anderson’s TV shows.

panel 8

• Beaker has drawn “screwball” – slang for crazy person. (This is a visual gag used in editorial cartoons and animation since at least the days of classic Warner Brothers cartoons, probably much earlier.)

panel 10

• In Stingray, Tempest’s girlfriend Marina is a mermaid. Moore here establishes that their sex life is similar to that of frogs: she produces roe (fish eggs) which Tempest spawns (squirts sperm) on.

panel 11

• The people in the waiting room appear to be specific references – suggest?? Chase Garland suggests: The eyebrows guy on the right in the waiting room may be Lt. Ninety from Fireball XL-5. To the left may be Joe McClaine from Joe 90; as part of the sci-fi spycraft of that show, he wore glasses similar to what is worn here. Notably, that show was an early example of the sort of spyfi the Bond movies exemplified.

Page 11 – The Jameses and the Dameses

panel 1

• “The Jameses and the Dameses” evoke such ‘rival gang’ British comic strips as The Jocks and the Geordies from The Dandy, the Toffs and the Scruffs from Buster’s Class Wars/Top of the Class, the Toffs and the Toughs from Knockout, and the Swots and the Blots from Smash!.
• Here the Jameses are the James Bonds. Depicted are: (thanks Chase Garland)
  – J1 in the kilt complete with sporran, befitting Connery’s Scottish roots
  – an unidentified J, presumably J2
  – J4, outright labeled J4
  – J3. I can’t really place anything about J3 to Roger Moore, but by process of elimination it’s him. He does seem to be balding.
  – J6, looking fittingly scary
  – J5, with Brosnan’s hair
  – Jimmy Bond leading the Jameses, and being fired from a “cannon” (trash can) so hard that he has left his shorts behind. The canes may be meant to evoke English schoolroom punishments.
• The Dameses depicted are: Emma Peel and Orlando. They are firing and carrying lipstick missiles.

panel 2

• Left to right are: “Landy” Orlando , Emma “Emmy” Peel , “Marsy” Marsman , and Satin “Satty” Astro. (Analogues from earlier comics? – suggest??)
• “Norton and Cornelius” – see pages 8-9.
• “Right miseries” is British slang for bitter and depressed (and depressing) people.
• Peel’s “fiendish murder scheme” is Jason “Kingy” King attempting to assassinate the head of the Jameses, “Jimmy” Bond.

panel 3

• “Pennies” are the Miss Moneypennys – see Tempest #3 P10-11.
• Greta – see Tempest #3, P3,p8.
• “Clobber” is British slang for “clothing.”
• Vauxhall is a district in southwest London. The British intelligence services headquarters are there.
• The thundercloud over Satty is standard comics iconography for “in a foul mood”.
• “File 13” is slang for the garbage can. It’s used in a disparaging phrase such as “I’ll file that memo in file 13.”
• “Tuff Codes” would seem to mean “tough” codes; it may also be a riff on “Toffs” (see notes to panel 1).
• “M.I.5 and Over” may be a play on the label seen on some goods indicating that they are suitable for children “5 and over”.
• “Marsy” is blowing bright pink bubblegum whose tint matches his own skin.

panel 4

• The “trophies” (LoEG archives) were removed by the “girly secretaries” (two Miss Moneypennys) as planned in Tempest #3, P11.
• Note that the word “TOP” was added to the top of the Secret HQ, for emphasis. It is, of course, absurd, that a secret headquarters would be labeled as such.
• The large pencil stands in for the obelisk outside of M.I.5 HQ, recently visible in Tempest #1, P10,p1.

panel 5

• Left to right are: J3, Jimmy Bond, J2 wearing a cork hat (since Lazenby is Australian), J4.
• “Edweird Hyde” is a riff on Edward Hyde, from LoEG V1 and V2.
• “Cavorwrong” plays with cavorite, from LoEG V1.

panel 6

• W.A.S.P. is World Aquanaut Security Patrol, previously mentioned in Tempest #1, P8,p2.
• Jason “Kingy” King is sweating nervously, as he is looking to assassinate Jimmy. He has guns and grenades (and, in the next panel, a slingshot) hidden in his school desk.

panel 7

• J1 speaks in an exaggerated Scottish dialect. “Crivens!” is a generic exclamation of surprise. “the noo” is “now”.

panel 8

• “Corking!” means “Splendid!”
• “Lush” means “amazing” (derived from “luscious”).
• The frequently-seen sign saying “No parking by order” has here been replaced with the stronger “NO Nothing by order”.

panel 9

• “Stitched up like kippers” is British slang typically meaning duped or tricked. Kippers are preserved fish, like sardines. “stitched up”, here, is also playing upon the fact that it is a needle gun.

Page 12 – Faerie’s Fortunes Founded

Orlando and Prospero, as seen in Black Dossier

• The dialogue of the play presented here largely matches the script seen in Black Dossier. There are many minor differences in punctuation and spelling, perhaps to deliberately echo the way in which Shakespeare plays which exist in different editions often have variant readings. Only significant-seeming changes have been called out below.
• The costumes are also largely the same, except for Prospero, who looks quite different. Notably, in the play depicted here, he wears the same amulet that the “modern” Prospero is wearing.
• While our notes refer to the characters on stage as actors portraying their parts, given the atemporal nature of the Blazing World, some or all of them could be the real characters, playing themselves.

panel 1

• “New Globe Theater” of course references Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. But it has another meaning as well, revealed on P24.
• On the left is Shakespeare. On the right is an actor playing Orlando.

panel 2

• The nuclear fireball is now only about a yard across, and is now completely smooth.

panel 3

• “Come, bring your squire…” is spoken by Wilton in the text of FFF that appears on the right column of P52 of Black Dossier.
  • “Her” is capitalized here, unlike Black Dossier.
• “Nonsuch Palace” is apparently the actual Nonsuch Palace.
• Left to right are actors playing: the gatekeepers Master Shytte and Master Pysse, Orlando, Prospero, Sir John Wilton, and Sir Basildon Bond. Wilton is from Thomas Nashe’s 1594 novel The Unfortunate Traveller or the life of Jack Wilton. Basildon Bond is a James Bond spoof created by musician Russ Abbot.

panel 5

• The central figure is Gloriana of Edmund Spencer‘s 1590 poem The Faerie Queene. In the world of the League, she takes the place of Queen Elizabeth I.
  • Attending Gloriana are three Faeries, identified in BD as Dogrose, Gorse, and Love-Lies-Bleeding. (As in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, they are all named after flowers.)
• “It seems like bosoms…” is spoken by Prospero in the text of FFF that appears on the lower left column of P53 of Black Dossier.

  

  John Dee’s 007 signature

• “Two O’s within a seven bracketed” refers to James Bond’s agent number 007. The historical John Dee (whom Prospero is an analogue to) actually did send Queen Elizabeth confidential letters with a “007” signature!

panel 6

• “Learned to mistrust coincidences” shows up in many places – suggest??

panel 7

• “The mariner…” is spoken by Gloriana in the text of FFF that appears on the lower left column of P54 of Black Dossier.
• As Murray mentions in the next panel, Gloriana is describing the first iteration of the League, called Prospero’s Men (first mentioned in LoEG V2, in The New Traveller’s Almanac). For notes on them, see Tempest #2, P10.
  – “the mariner” is Robert Owemuch
  – “the courtesan” is Amber St. Clair
  – the “sweet deluded knight” is Don Quixote
  – the “pilgrim” is Christian from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress

panel 8

• 1558 was the year mentioned in Black Dossier (Life of Orlando) for the founding of Prospero’s Men.

Page 13 

panel 1

• “hardly knew…” is spoken by the fairy Dogrose (followed by Gorse) in the text of FFF that appears on P55 of Black Dossier.
  • “PLAN” was in lowercase in BD.
• “Lushly-fingered Anne” refers to Anne Boleyn (Queen Elizabeth’s mother in our world), who was said to have six fingers on her right hand.
• “Oberon” is the Fairy King.
• “Faerie’s wish” – Alluding to Gloriana’s long-term plans, which seem, as of the end of this issue, to be climaxing in 2010.

panel 3

• “a Blazing World…” is spoken by Gloriana in the text of FFF that appears on the right column of P55 of Black Dossier.
  • In BD, “different” is presented as “diff’rent”, in order to keep to strict iambic pentameter (as “Prosp’ro” in the following line, abbreviated in both versions).
  • In BD, “Time” is capitalized.

panel 5

• “and in this Blazing World…” continues the text of FFF that appears on the right column of P55 of Black Dossier.
  • BD has “realms” instead of “worlds”.
  • BD has “dire days” instead of “dark days”.
  • BD has “ere” instead of “e’er”. This is probably an error here, as “ere” in this context means “before”, while “e’er” means “ever”.
  • “kings” was “Kings” in BD.
• In our world, Elizabeth I (Gloriana’s analogue) was succeeded by James I. James was notable for his belief in (and hatred of) witches. Within the world of the League, it seems that King James purged the faeries of Britain. This may have something to do with faeries being widely viewed as mythical by the modern day.

panel 6

• “burn’d out from woodland…” concludes the text of FFF that appears on the right column of P55 of Black Dossier.
  • In BD “Dream” was capitalized. (Perhaps suggesting a connection with Neil Gaiman’s Sandman?)
• In BD, this is followed by “they sleep“, which the faeries and Gloriana seem to be commencing in panel 5. This is followed by “Finus Actus Primus“; that would seem to coincide with the “INTERMISSION” given here. No further scenes of the play are given in BD. Perhaps the history between then and now contains further “Acts”, with Tempest being the conclusion.

Page 14 J-Force Six

• These two pages homage older British football (soccer) comics, including Roy of the Rovers. Wording reinforcing this includes “in the field,” “substitutes,” “star striker,” “team,” “tactics,” etc.
• Two-color printing (in this case just black and green) was used as a cost-saving method in some British comic strips.

panel 1

• “J-Force Six” are the actors who have played James Bond (thanks Reddit)
  – Jock – J1 – Sean Connery. “Jock” is British slang for a Scottish person.
  – Fry – J2 – George Lazenby. Before playing Bond, Lazenby advertised for Fry’s chocolate.
  – Eyebrows – J3 – Roger Moore. He is said to have very expressive eyebrows.
  – Lovey – J4 –Timothy Dalton. “Lovey” may be alluding to the way Dalton’s first installment, The Living Daylights, portrayed Bond not as the usual serial womanizer, but as a man who develops a monogamous romantic relationship. (This trend did not persist.) [Commenter Martin C suggests that it may be ” because Timothy Dalton was a Shakespearean actor and such thespian types are know as loveys in UK”.]
  – Posh – J5 – Pierce Brosnan. Posh and Scary refer to the Spice Girls. “Posh” generally means “sumptuous; luxurious”. Applied to a person, it connotes “fashionable”, and Brosnan was notably more fashionable than the Bonds before or after him.
  – Scary – J6 – Daniel Craig, whose version of Bond was much more of a cold-blooded killer than most other versions.

panel 2

• In the back is spy Jason King.
• J-Force’s tracksuits, King’s whistle and the ‘team tactics’ diagram on the blackboard are all reminiscent of a football (soccer) team, as is the ‘League Table’ document. The dialogue is again full of football terms like substitutes, striker and being ‘drawn against’ another team.
• J6’s accent is a generally lower-class one.
  “Gone doolally” is British army slang for gone crazy. “Wiv all this eternal yoof malarkey” is “with all this eternal youth malarkey.”
• J1’s accent is Scottish.
  “Ah dinnae ken! Ah’m mure fashed aboot thes detherin fairst. We’re drawn against Oaxfud, but et’s Sooth Pacefec the noo!” is “I don’t know. I’m more fussed about this dithering first. We’re drawn against Oxford, but it’s South Pacific now.” (Oxford refers to Lewis Caroll – see P1,p11 above. South Pacific refers to the Moneypennys having headed for Lincoln Island, P11,p6)
• ‘Cavee’ or ‘Cavey’ is old British kids slang for ‘Look out!’. From the Latin cave (beware).
• The blackboard shows a plan for a soccer strategy. Commenter Befuddled Mike points out: “the diagram on the blackboard actually displays what the Js are currently doing. J6 talks to J1 then J3 steps in and J5 interrupts them.”
• King seems to have a 1980s-era computer, similar to a Zenith Z-100. He is wearing a whistle, as if he were the team coach.
• The document titles pun on League (of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and a soccer league. A League Table and a League Ladder are both lists of all the soccer teams in a particular league, and their current standings.

panel 3

• J7, the rejuvenated original James Bond (of Fleming’s books), hums the James Bond theme. He carried a ball marked “thunder” referencing Thunderball.
• Trophies, tarts – see P11,p4 above.
• The cat died on P1.
• “Night” is Emma Night.
• More Scottishisms from J1: “Didnae ye” is “didn’t you.” “Lencun Island” is Nemo’s Lincoln Island. J1 wears a stereotypical Scottish sporran.
• “For my eyes only” references For Your Eyes Only, a 1960 James Bond short story collection and a 1981 movie. (FYEO starred Roger Moore. Not sure why Brosnan appears to be reading it, with Dalton looking on. Perhaps the joke is that Brosnan is elbowing Dalton because he is trying to read something that’s only for Brosnan. Suggest??)
• King is sweating again – see pages 11 and 1 above.

panel 4

• “W.A.S.P.” is the World Aquanaut Security Patrol from Stingray (Thanks commenter Owen), as referenced above, P11,p6.
• “Sub… commandeered by women” – Apparently, Bond has heard from Troy Tempest’s psychiatrist (see P10,p7).
• “Prince Dakkar” is Jack Nemo.
• “Gaff” is British slang for house or apartment.
• Bond has thrown the “thunderball” at J-5. The wind from its passage has knocked off J-1’s toupee, leaving behind a piece of tape visible on the following panels.

panel 5

• “[Ernst Stavro] Blofeld” and “[Francisco] Scaramanga” are James Bond enemies. Blofeld is linked to Nemo on the first page of Nemo: River of Ghosts. “the Scaramanga sisters” are referred to late in Nemo: River of Ghosts; they are apparently both a Bond reference and a Michael Moorcock reference.
• “My infeasible cars” refers to various tricked-out tricked-out Bond spy cars.

panel 6

• J6’s accent is again lower class. He says “Is that what young Quelchy was making with the heat-seeking bonnet mascot.”
• Quelchy is
• is Quentin Quelch, the LoEG version of Bond weapon-maker Q, mentioned in Black Dossier.
• Tarsy” is Tara King of  The Avengers. Moore has invented the connection that Jason King was the brother of Tara King.
• Note the use of not-actually-profanities.

panel 7

• “Och! Helpmaboab!” is Scottishism for literally “Oh! Help my Robert!” It is a generalized expression of surprise.
• Commenter Befuddled Mike points out: “Fitting that J1 would be used as a human shield since he did the same with Fiona Volpe in ‘Thunderball’.”

Page 15 

panel 3

• Night is Emma Night.
• Bond’s logic here is a bit tenuous. He’s right, but it reads like dialogue intended to paper over a thin plot.
• Again, note the not-profanity.

panel 4

• “Scarper” is British slang for ‘run away.”
• “Vauxhall Rovers” again evokes Roy of the Rovers.

panel 5

• Orlando got the needle gun from Cornelius – see P9,p4 above.
• “recalled in ’71” – Commenter Befuddled Mike notes “Cornelius exchanged the needle gun for a vibragun in 1971’s ‘A Cure for Cancer’”.

panel 6

• “Home of the Six Lions” seems to refer to J-Force Six. “Lion” is sometimes used to describe particularly skilled athletes.
  • Commenter Martin C adds “the 6 lions reference continues the football (“soccer”) theme of these 2 pages as the England football team has 3 lions on their shirts – but there are 6 J-Bonds.”

panel 7

• Jock is “brahn bread” references “brown bread” as rhyming slang for “dead.”
• J-6 is kicking the hubcap that spun off the fleeing van 2 panels earlier.

panel 8

• “Relegate,” “away game,” and “fixtures” continue the soccer theme.

Pages 16-17 – Nemo 3rD

panel 1

• The title is another Little Nemo joke, plus a pun on 3D/3rd, since Jack is the third Nemo, after the original and Janni (apparently Hira doesn’t count.) (via Reddit)
• The inset panel shows the nuclear fireball reduced to about 18 inches across.
• Angel wheatpasting? – suggest??
• Devil? – suggest??

The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke painting by English artist Richard Dadd – image via Wikipedia

•  Mina and Jack are literally walking through the scene of Richard Dadd’s 1855-1864 painting The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke, perhaps a second or two after (or before?) the moment depicted in the painting. The daisies and vines, and all the background figures, are clearly visible in the original painting.
  • Mina appear to have seen this painting, though she doesn’t fully recognize it. The style is in some ways reminiscent of 19th-century “children’s book illustration” such as Arthur Rackham. Given that she seemed to be getting a kind of “art therapy” when she was institutionalized in the decades leading up to Century: 2009, perhaps she was given a book about Richard Dadd as part of that therapy?
  • “The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke” is advertised on the cover of issue #5 of Tempest as the title of that issue.
  • The figure holding the axe (the “feller”) is splitting hazelnuts to make a chariot for Queen Mab.
• Panelwise, the three panels on these pages flow into a single long panel.

panel 2

• “My grandmother’s logs mention Faerie’s obsessional qualities” – This presumably refers to an untold episode in Janni Nemo’s life
• “Demogorgon” is a demon of the underworld and primordial chaos. The star-headed creature on the right appears very similar to the demogorgon from the TV show Stranger Things, though the radial star-symmetry alien creatures more likely reference the earlier Elder Things in Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness.
• The sign on the lake says “do not disturb”, yet they clearly are disturbing it.
• Note the giant fishhooks and the giant fishing float in the background.
• “Lloigor” refers to the Great Old Ones in various later Lovecraft-inspired stories. Commenter Chase Garland notes that “the use of lloigor for the Great Old Ones in general likely has roots in the Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.”
• “W-we saw them here in 1958” refers to Murray and Quatermain encountering Lloigor in Black Dossier page 189.
• “Several unpleasant encounters over the years” refers to Quatermain encountering Lloigor in “Allan and the Sundered Veil” (prose backup to LoEG volume 1).
• On Jack Nemo’s right (manipulating the rectangle) is Nyarlathotep, the messenger of H.P. Lovecraft’s Great Old Ones. As in Dossier, Nyarlathotep is not in standard 3-D, but rather two unresolved images.
• The Lloigor are manipulating several impossible objects (top to bottom): a Penrose triangle, more-or-less a Penrose rectangle, an impossible trident, and an impossible cube. Moore and O’Neill include these as perhaps a nod to fantastic creatures having fourth-dimensional awareness; the fourth dimension is something Moore explored in various works including prominently in Jerusalem.
• The tentacle-faced creature may be Cthulhu.

panel 3

• “Oliver Haddo’s head! He engineered the antichrist I battled” refer to the events of Century: 2009.
• “Durg” refers to the Hindu goddess Durga (mentioned in Nemo: The Roses of Berlin page 40, and Nemo: River of Ghosts page 37.)
• Haddo said Murray would be the harbinger of a “strange and terrible new aeon” in Century: 2009 P64,p5-6. This is a multiple reference:
  • Lovecraft’s famous phrase from the Necronomicon: “That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die.” This is generally associated with the waking of Cthulhu, and the attendant destruction of humanity. And, of course, mortality and immortality are both recurring themes in LoEG.
  • Haddo was a version of Aleister Crowley. In Crowley’s Thoth tarot deck, Card XX is named “The Aeon”. It’s more conventional name is “Judgment”, and it can symbolize Judgment Day, or the Apocalypse. As seen in Moore’s Promethea, however, the Apocalypse need not be a wholly negative occurrence. It seems that Mina, like Sophie Bangs, is inadvertently causing an Apocalypse.
• Haddo said Murray “played a subtle game” in Century 2009 P64,p7. “Isn’t Subtle one of Prospero’s aliases?” refers to LoEG’s conflation of Prospero and John Dee, whose fictional LoEG analogue is John Subtle – see notes for Century: 1910 page 30. This alias is also established in Faerie’s Fortunes Founded, though only in Black Dossier, not the material shown here.
• The mirror seems to magnify Haddo’s image.
• Haddo’s birdcage is as seen in Century: 2009. Here it is attached to what appears to be some sort of alchemical device which is extracting something from Haddo.
• For the characters in the bottom right, see notes to pages 6-7, panel 3 above.

Page 18 – The Return of Electro Girl

panel 1

• The League’s secret London headquarters are on the left, as are Marsman and Astro. Murray and Orlando are in the van on the bottom right.
• Electro Girl’s electrowagon is perhaps somewhat similar to the Stingray vehicles. It is being driven by Electro Girl’s manservant Stokes.
• The man and two children in the window above the club are Pop and his mischievous twins Dick and Harry from the Beezer comic.

• The man at the door of the Drum ‘N’ Bassment appears to be the same one who answered the door in Tempest #1, P6.

  

  Buck Rogers logo

• The Electro Girl logo is similar to the Satin Astro logo from Tempest #3 P8-9,p12, which seems in turn to be based upon a Buck Rogers logo.

panel 3

• License plate KK4976 has been visible frequently since the van’s first appearance last issue. This is the same as John Steed’s yellow Silver Ghost Rolls Royce from The Avengers (1961-1969).
• Note Campion Bond’s cigarette case in the lower right. Bond has been using it since shortly after his rejuvenation (#2, P1,p2).
• The prismatic controls of the surveillance system are quite at odds with what we saw earlier this issue. On page 11, the (cartoonish) tech could be out of the 1950s. On page 14, it appears to be 1980s vintage. Here, the technology is positively futuristic. This would seem to correlate with an increased degree of “realism”, and an increase in the (apparent) age of the target audience across the three scenes.

Page 19 

panels 1-5

• “Carol [Flane]” is Electro Girl – first Tempest appearance was #1, P12-13.
• From panel 2 through 5, Marsman’s mental suggestions become increasingly ludicrous. (Does this refer to anything in the original material??)
• Panels 3-5 form a fixed camera sequence.

panel 7

• “Hannah Montana” is the titular character of a 2006-2011 American TV series. There isn’t much actual resemblance.

Page 20 – The Woman Who Finally Blew A Fuse

An H.M. Bateman cartoon

• This page is in the style of H.M. Bateman, who often drew wordless strips, and whose strips often featured titles of the form “The <X> Who <Y>”. (Thanks Matthew Davis!)

panel 1

• “Kak!” – suggest?? (Could be slang for “shit” as in a store that sells low grade products?) (The sign is approximately where previous shots have shown the Drum ‘N’ Bassment sign.)
• Panels 1-5, 7-8 form an extended fixed-camera sequence.

panel 3

• The two men at right are presumably those whom Marsman suggested were temporarily blind.

panel 6

• “New Oxford Street, Tottenham Court Road” and “Bloomsbury… old museum hideout” – The path of the van is actually going to the Drum ‘N’ Bassment, somewhere in the Fitzrovia district. Bond mistakenly assumes that they are headed for Bloomsbury, just east of Fitzrovia, and the location of the British Museum, which served as League HQ for the first two volumes. If they had been heading for the British Museum, the path stated would be somewhat roundabout, but that would be plausible if they thought they might be tailed.
  • It is of interest that Mina established her 1960s secret HQ only about half a mile from the British Museum.
• M and J-6 (here and on the previous page) show a characteristic cockiness. The others seem far less enthused.

panel 7

• Stokes appears to be receiving a parking ticket.

Page 21 

panel 1

• Woman with at upper right with phone – Suggest??
• The falling object with detaching pods and discharging energy is actually the top floors of the BT Tower (formerly the Post Office Tower and the GPO Tower, also in Fitzrovia). This building was a notable location in the 1966 Doctor Who serial The War Machines. It also featured in Moore’s V for Vendetta, in which V destroys it at the start of Book 3.
• Woman(?) in bathtub – Suggest??
• Falling woman with smoking hairnet – Suggest??
• Falling man with vacuum cleaner (sucking up lamp post and woman) – Suggest??
• Woman in towels – Suggest??
• Man with headphones and “METAL” shirt – Suggest??
• “Bateman House” – Probably in tribute to H.M. Bateman, see note for P20.
• Large man being sucked towards vacuum cleaner with cat on his back – Suggest??
• Man pushing button in Bateman House lobby – Suggest??
• Woman whose skirt is blowing up – Suggest?? (There is some similarity to the famous Marilyn Monroe scene, but she is not standing on a grating.)
• Man being hit on the nose with grating – Suggest??

  

  Dennis the Menace

• Beano’s Dennis the Menace (unrelated to the American comics character of the same name), in striped shirt, is standing in front of the entrance to Bateman House.
• Man walking dog – Suggest??
• Man in hoodie stepping off curb – Suggest??
• Man blown out of his pants – Suggest??
• Globe-headed figure with scarf and cane – Suggest??
• At bottom left, Stokes is being blown out of his boots.
• To the right of Electro Girl, the buck-toothed official handing out parking tickets is smashed into the policeman.

panel 2

• Conveniently, Electro Girl appears to have caused a London-wide blackout, just as the Bonds were about to finish tracking our heroes.

Pages 22-23 – The Perils of Prospero

title

• The title apparently references the 1914 silent film serial The Perils of Pauline.
• The largely obscured first “s” invites us to read it as “The Peril of Prospero”; that is, it’s not about the various perils suffered by Prospero, but the way in which Prospero himself is a peril.

panel 1

• The fireball is down to a few inches across…

panels 2-3

• …and now seems to have stabilized at the size of a pea.

panel 4

• The box appears to have the League’s “logo” (?) of a man with a question mark for a head.

panel 8

• As usual, Prospero speaks largely in Shakespearean iambic pentameter. (It seems a bit strained in panels 11-12.)

panel 9

• From Reddit: “Faustus” does indeed mean “lucky” in Latin. Faustus is another name for Faust (he who sold his soul to the devil, and in the LoEG world Prospero’s teacher in magic).
• From Reddit: “Jubilee” may refer to the 1978 film in which Queen Elizabeth I (for whom Gloriana here is a fictional stand-in) is transported through time by John Dee (for whom Prospero here is a fictional stand-in) and the spirit Ariel. So Prospero’s use of the term here might not be a coincidence.
  • The word “jubilee” usually refers to a round-numbered anniversary in the reign of a monarch. Here, presumably referring to the 500th anniversary of Queen Gloriana’s reign. (Nitpick: assuming Gloriana is a close analogue to Elizabeth I, who came to the throne in 1558, it’s only been 452 years.)
• Panels 9-12 form a comics polyptych.
• Balloon(?) with stars over Prospero’s head – Suggest??
• Figure emerging from door at bottom left – Suggest??
• At bottom right is a shadowy figure who will be revealed next panel as Gloriana. Note that she is constantly surrounded by glowing sparkles, similar to the “Tinkerbell effect” surrounding the title character in Moore’s early work Marvelman.

panel 10

• Gloriana also speaks in iambic pentameter. Also in an ABBA rhyme scheme.
• Hugo Coghlan seems confused by the impossible architecture of the Blazing World, as demonstrated by the way the ogre(?) at right interacts with the arches it travels through.

panel 11

• At top right, we begin to glimpse the globe.
• “cowering ‘neath hedgerows” presumably describes the state of any surviving faeries after James I’s purges (see note to P13,p5).

panel 12

• “slips its chain” – Possibly an allusion to Fenrir, the giant wolf in Norse mythology, who is chained, but will break free at Ragnarok and kill Odin.

Page 24 

panel 1

• Monsters in the “New Globe” (approximately left to right, top to bottom):
  • At top left, a naked bulb-headed figure – suggest?? (Possibly a Deep One hybrid?)
  • Finned sea monster – suggest??
  • Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox
  • bearded man – suggest?? (Frost Giant?)
  • pointy-eared demon with long nose – suggest??
  • To the right of Babe is the horned demon from the 1957 film Night of the Demon (per Reddit – previously seen as a picture on the wall in both Century: 1910 P18,p6 and Century: 1969 P36,p5)
  • At middle left, King Kong (Nemo: Heart of Ice revealed that Janni took King Kong’s body back to Skull Island for burial.)
  • Bats – Possibly connected with Dracula? (As seen in Century: 1969, page 68.)
  • Giant crab-spider – suggest?? (Possibly spider from deleted scene from King Kong – see early rendering. Possibly giant crab from the film adaptation of Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island (which is a Captain Nemo story).)
  • Turtle kaiju Gamera
  • Godzilla
  • Tyrannosaurus Rex. Some of these were still living in the world of the League at least as recently as 1975, as seen in Nemo: River of Ghosts, though they were in an obscure South American jungle.
  • Below the T-Rex are some of the Creature from the Black Lagoon species. (These creatures were seen in Nemo: River of Ghosts.)
  • At bottom, Lovecraftian Elder Things and Lloigor.
• The final caption is also in iambic pentameter, with an ABAB rhyme scheme.
• As detailed above, most (perhaps all) of these creatures were present in the world of the League already. What appears to be happening now is their emergence into dominance.
• Redditor MetalBorn01 notes that issue #4 of LoEG Vol. 1 reveals the true Villain to be the league’s boss, M, shown to be Moriarty. Now in Tempest #4, it’s now revealed that the true villain is the league’s current boss, Prospero.”

Page 25 – Seven Stars – Captives of the Creepyverse

• Unlike most other episodes of Seven Stars, this episode has very few references to British comics, and lots of references to American comics. Perhaps this is due to the way that, when Moore and O’Neill were growing up, comic books from America seemed otherworldly. As Moore says in The Mindscape of Alan Moore:
  

  …when I was seven, I picked up my very first American comics. These were bright, garish four-colour things, that rather than taking place against some anonymous Northern British backdrop, took place in cities like New York, which to me were as exotic as Mars.

panel 1

• The Seven Stars are:
  • At middle left, Vull the Invisible (mostly invisble).
  • Below Vull, Satin Astro.
  • To their right, Marsman.
  • Above and to the right of Marsman, Flash Avenger. One of his feet is going through a space portal and almost kicking Marsman’s head, while one of his hands is going through a different portal, emerging to the right of the Seven Stars logo.
  • To the right of Flash Avenger, Electro Girl, trying to avoid the tendrils of an octopus-like creature.
  • At far right, Captain Universe.
  • Middle, towards the bottom, Zom of the Zodiac. His right hand appears to have a thumb on either side, possibly due to the way spacetime is warping around them.
• “Creepyverse” is probably just a made up word, but could be considered an allusion to Creepy, a horror magazine from Warren Publishing, launched in 1964.

  

  Ditko astral plane

• The panel, and much of the story, is in the style of Steve Ditko‘s mystic worlds shown in early Doctor Strange stories.The details above the logo, for instance, are a clear homage to Ditko images such as the one shown at right.
• In the middle right, a scene is playing out: (Thanks Reddit)
  • Hooded figure with 1982 book might be Destiny (?) from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. Figure left of him – Suggest??

    

    Ayn Rand

  • Below them is Ayn Rand with $ lapel pin. As seen in Tempest #2, Ayn Rand seems to be replaced in the LoEG world by her fictional counterpart Atlanta Hope from the Illuminatus! trilogy, so this is presumably Hope rather than Rand herself.
  • To Rand’s right is Ditko himself, who espoused much of Rand’s libertarian outlook, including in Mr A (whom Moore wrote a song about). He appears downcast, and faces away from the camera. Ditko was notoriously averse to publicity, and very few photos of him exist.
  • Rand died in 1982. It appears that she is being judged and it’s probably not going well.

    

    Ditko Black + White Figure

• In the lower left are black and white figures, referencing Ditko’s  black is black and white is white.

Page 26 

panel 1

• Presumably Zom is not referring to the carpentry tool when he says “spirit level”.
• Note how Flash Avenger’s omnipresent cigarette has become a “headlight” for the zeppelin.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 (1965).jpg

• Several visual elements in this panel seem directly taken from the Ditko-drawn splash page to Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2.
• wind-blowing guy on the right – suggest??
  • The texture of the “wind” seems op-art inspired. Though Ditko did some work that could be considered “op”, the form is more associated with Jim Steranko, or with Jack Kirby in his collage work. We haven’t been able to find a direct analogue to this image yet. Suggest??
  • Commenter Befuddled Mike suggests that this figure may be Jack Kirby.

panel 3

• Ecto-Space is presumably analogous to ectoplasm, whose Greek root “ekto-” means “outside of”; hence they are in “the space outside of space”.
  • (Reddit: There was apparently an Ecto-Space in Doctor Who, but I’m not sure if that’s the intended reference.)
• “Necro-planet Posthumia” – The root “necro-” means “related to death”, and Posthumia is a pretty clear pun on “posthumous”. Fictional astral planes such as the one the Seven Stars are now in are often (but not always) associated with ghosts or the afterlife. In the world of the League, the astral plane appears to have a specific region that is associated with the dead.

panel 4

• The “Pointless Ones” are a parody of Doctor Strange baddies the Mindless Ones, a bunch of extradimensional monsters.

  

  Mindless Ones (Strange Tales 127)

panel 5

• “The Beyond” – suggest??
  • Possibly referring to H. P. Lovecraft’s 1934 short story “From Beyond“, and/or the 1986 film adaptation.
  • Possibly an allusion to the 1981 Luigi Fulci film The Beyond, where it refers to Hell.
  • Possibly an allusion to a region of space in Jack Vance’s Demon Princes.
  • Possibly a reference to The Beyonder, a cosmic being “from beyond” in Marvel Comics of the 1980s.
• “The Unknown” – from Redditor Qu420: “Across America’s Comic Group‘s books, the afterlife was known as the Unknown, presumably after their title Adventures into the Unknown, which started in 1948. One of their only superheroes, Nemesis, was given his powers by the Unknown and the realm also appeared in the Herbie comics Moore is known to like.”
  • See also our notes for Tempest #3, P30, p2.
• “The Great Mystery” – suggest??  (Chase Garland: The Great Mystery is a way to translate Wakan Tanka, the Lakota term for the Divine. It means not only the supreme Deity himself, but also the qualities of being divine. It doesn’t translate into English terms very well.)
• “Spooksville” – The abode of ghosts in Harvey Comics (notably Casper, the Friendly Ghost, who appeared in Tempest #1, P18-19,p1).
• The snake-fanged portal in the background is an iconic image associated with Dr. Strange’s astral plane. Curiously, it was one of the few pieces of iconography not invented by Ditko, as it first appeared in Strange Tales #147, exactly one month after Ditko had quit Dr. Strange, in a story drawn by Bill Everett.

panel 6

• The hand is another Dr. Strange-like contorted position.
• Would Flash Avenger be pleased that an image of his head found its way into Satin Astro’s crotch?

panel 7

• After spending several issues with the rhetorical quirk (often seen in 1960s comics) of referring to someone as “<first name> (<superhero name>) <last name>”, we finally get a payoff joke when Satin Astro’s superhero and civilian names are identical.
• “pantomime” has quite a different meaning in the UK than its American meaning of “silent acting”. In the UK, a “pantomime” is a musical comedy play, usually produced around Christmastime, extremely silly, and largely aimed at children.

Page 27 

panel 1

• Zom’s origin story is original to Moore.
• Even in his pre-superhero guise, Zom still ends most sentences with “…of the zodiac!“

panel 2

• The date refers to Zom’s single published appearance prior to Moore, in 1948’s Big Win Comic.

panel 3

• It is unclear why Zom’s editor should suddenly have decided to murder him.

panel 4

• While many of the zodiac figures are fairly conventional, note (to the right of the lion) the figure with eyes in weighing scales, and (at far right) the one who has entire centaur as his head!

panel 5

• Are the three children (one transformed into a beefy adult) meant to be anyone in particular? – Suggest??

panel 6

• From Redditor The_Qu420 – Present in the waiting room alongside Zom are Zatara [speaking, next to Zom] and Sargon [in turban], two DC Comics sorcerers.
• Magician in fez may be Zanzibar the Magician.
• The arthritis joke plays on the distinctive hand motions Steve Ditko used in his Dr. Strange run.

Panel Seven

• It is possible (but not particularly likely) that this prisoner is the same one seen on P8,p6. They are both wearing standard British prison uniforms of the type worn in the late 19th / early 20th century.

panel 8

• Again, Marsman swears by a moon of Mars, this time Deimos. “Doubtful dunes” is not a known reference, beyond the alliteration.

Page 28 

Doctor Strange and Eternity – by Steve Ditko in Strange Tales 138 via Pinterest

panel 1

• Infinity here is a parody of the Marvel character Eternity, created by Steve Ditko. Note the 00-1 penis.
• In the bottom right corner is a tiny Doctor Strange.

panel 2

• “Jorgulax” appears to be a made up word.

Page 29 

panels 1-2

• Reddit: Eddie Cantor was an American comedian who died in 1964. Georg Cantor was a German mathematician whose contributions are as described here.

panels 3-4

• David Hilbert was another German mathematician. Captain Universe’s logic here comes from Hilbert’s paradox of the Grand Hotel. In the world of the League, apparently this hotel actually exists.

panel 7

Oh Boy! comics

• The phallic monsters are from a 1948 issue of Oh Boy! comics, written and drawn by Bob Monkhouse. Their name is both a riff on the earlier “Pointless (Mindless) Ones” and a statement of how unlikely it is that they got past the prudish editors of the time.

panel 8

• “Indescribable colours” alludes to the 1927 H.P. Lovecraft story “The Colour Out of Space.” which Moore explored in Providence, starting with issue 5. The spelling as “colour” vs. color is a tip-off. Moore often mentions Lovecraft’s use of language in “Colour” – see various interviews including this one with John Higgs.

Page 30 

panel 1

• “Sarcastic-looking hue… political opposite of purple” are Moore again riffing on Lovecraft’s impossible color language.
• Reddit: Red Dwarf had a planet with Saturn-like rings made up of coffins, but I don’t think that’s the primary source for Posthumia here.

panel 2

• On the right is the 2000AD comics character  Nemesis the Warlock. O’Neil co-created Nemesis.
• Nemesis has his arm around a cowled-figure with distinct striped pants – Commenter Sean Levin IDs this as another character named Nemesis, this one published by ACG.

  

  Moore illo from Embryo #2 (1970)

• We don’t know who the pointy-eared goblin-type at the bottom of the panel is — but he he bears a strong resemblance to a figure that appeared repeatedly in Alan Moore’s early artwork, going back to his fanzine work in 1970! Also some resemblance to the Eagle comics character Doomlord.
  • Commenter john suggests that the goblin is “Edward Sartyros, one of the human gargoyles from the Skywald Horror-mood publications.” While possible, the character appears to date from 1970, making it something of an anachronism here in 1964.

panel 3

• “S-stap me!” – an oath originally popular among upper-class dandies.
• “rum” – British slang for “strange, odd”

panel 4

• In the foreground is the 2000AD comics character Deadlock from A.B.C. Warriors. Kevin O’Neill was one of A.B.C. Warriors’ early artists. Moore wrote a single A.B.C. Warrior story ‘Red Planet Blues’

panel 5

• Reddit: “Paralsected diabolkarm trogs” sounds like Nemesis and/or 2000AD speak – suggest??
  • Possibly “parallel intersected diabolic harmful troglodytes”, read as an insult to the Seven Stars as foreign interlopers?
• Cameos include: (left to right) (thanks, Reddit)
  – Mr. Justice (thanks Sean Levin)
  – Torquemada (?) enemy of Nemesis
  – Hot Stuff the Little Devil (?) from Harvey Comics

panel 6

• Thanks Redditor The_Qu420: The Wise Old Croc may be from the Fritz Lieber story “The Secret Songs”, going by the description in “The Good Old Stuff: Adventure SF in the Grand Tradition” as well as what I pulled up on Google Books. The aforementioned description in the reference book reads

“…but, at the same time, he used stock Space Opera cliches cunningly, to sharp satiric effect, in stories such as “The Secret Songs” – where a drug-dependent young husband, high on barbiturates and paraldehyde, hallucinates that he is being put to a nightly series of pulp-adventure “tests” by his “mentor”, a Wise Old Crocodile from Beyond the Magellanic Clouds- in a manner that seems to signify that he may have grown rather tired of the Interplanetary Adventures and impatient with its limitations (which was what an isolated opinion of the more intellectual writers of the generation just about to rise to prominence- most of them strongly influenced by Leiber- who would collectively produce less adventure SF, particularly Space Opera, than any other comparable generational group of authors).”

• • This fits with how the Wise Old Croc is described as a “fictional pulp science fiction creation and Benzedrine hallucination” (P31,p2). The character who hallucinates him in the Lieber story is on Benzedrine.
• “My insincere tears” is of course the definition of crocodile tears.
• “Pisces and chips!” is playing on “fish and chips“, though that is not commonly used as an oath.

Page 31 

panel 1

• Nitpick – should “buddied” be “buddies”? – or suggest? this use of buddied?

panel 4

• Nembutal is a sedative that has often been an abused drug (connected with Marilyn Monroe’s death in 1962), and is sometimes used in higher doses for executions. Thorazine is an antipsychotic medication, discovered in 1950. It would seem that Croc’s spell is invoking a chemical conclusion to their mystical experience.
• “Phobos” is one of Mars’ moons.
• Zom’s farewell (minus the use of “thee”) is part of a classic rhyming exchange: “See you later, alligator”, “In a while, crocodile”.

panel 5

• The zones mentioned:
  – Phantom Zone: a prison dimension from Superman comics.
  – Twilight Zone: a TV show famous for dealing in strange phenomena. Commenter TommyBones points out the door and eye (upper left) are from the 1950s Twilight Zone introduction.
  – Negative Zone: an antimatter universe in Marvel comics.
  – Skeleton Town: – suggest??
  – Fifth Dimension: in Superman comics, the home of Mister Mxyzptlk.
• The imps here are parodies of Mister Mxyzptlk, Bat-Mite, and many other “imp version of superhero” characters. Mxyzptlk was a major character in Moore’s Superman story What Ever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?

panel 6

• “Piccadilly Circus” is a London crossroads.

Page 32 

panel 1

• In the background, a nurse seems to be trying to hold a compress down on the stump of a superhero’s severed arm.

panel 2

• Mask Man is indeed an obscure British super-hero.
  • “Toff” is British slang for a rich person. Mask Man was in the Bruce Wayne mold of rich person deciding to fight crime.
• The guy with the sunburst is Miracle Man, from Top Seller’s 1965 series Miracle Man. He was yet another Mick Anglo retrace, this time of Marvelman himself. (Thanks Chase Garland)
• The doctor may be Dirk Bogarde’s’ character Dr Simon Sparrow from the Doctor series of British 1960s comedy films.
• In the background is an ad for “HYDE – the musical”, presumably based upon former League member Edward Hyde.
• Also in the background can be seen the statue of Eros (or, technically, Anteros).

panel 3

• Drooling hero with cape and “W” logo – suggest??
• The mustachioed fellow with the hypodermic may be Leslie Phillips’ character Dr Tony Burke from the Doctor series of British 1960s comedy films.

panel 4

• Kurt Gödel was a mathematician and philosopher.

panel 5

• The monster is the ‘Mass – see closing pages of Tempest #3.
• On the far left is Litening, a character from Big Flame Wonder Comics, a 1949 Scion Ltd., comic. (Thanks Chase Garland.)
• Flying hero with up arrow logo – Captain Miracle, last seen in Tempest #3.
• Fleeing hero with P logo – Powerman, last seen in Tempest #3.
• Statue of military figure – Commenter Befuddled Mike IDs this as “the statue of Horatio Hornblower from Trafalgar Square, who replaces Admiral Horatio Nelson of our world, as seen in Black Dossier.”
• Obese nearly naked person – Ju-Jitsu Jimmy (thanks Justin Blochwitz)
• Flying man in civilian clothes at upper right – Suggest??
• Posing hero with stripes and eagle logo – Masterman, last seen in Tempest #3
• Hero at far right with B logo – Crash Britanus, last seen in Tempest #3

Inside Back Cover – Send it to the Stars

paragraph 1

• A “subaltern” is a low-ranking British army officer, which doesn’t quite fit, but anything in service to alliteration!
• “Flagrantly fabricated fan-base” alludes to the letters being fiction.

paragraph 2

• Universe Dog is, of course, analogous to Superman’s dog Krypto.
• Laika was one of the first animals in space.
• Pickles was a dog who was instrumental in recovering a stolen World Cup trophy.
• “mild-mannered and short-sighted” refer to characteristics of Clark Kent, the archetypical secret identity.
• “Isle of Dogs” is a London neighborhood that is not actually an island.

paragraph 4

• The “ice cream-fuelled teenager” is Tommy Walls.

paragraph 5

• “the female readership that [has] for so long eluded and despised us” – American comic books have for the most part ignored female readership since the late 60s, with the inevitable result that females have largely ignored them. [There have been some positive inroads towards making comics not be an actively female-hostile environment, but there’s a long way to go…]

paragraph 6

• “Y-fronts” are a type of men’s underwear, which Marsman’s headgear somewhat resembles. This also alludes to the frequent derogatory description of superhero costumes as “wearing their underwear outside their pants”.

paragraph 7

• “mucker” is British military slang for “friend”.

paragraph 8

• For H.C. Edward, the polythene bag diving helmet, the abandoned refrigerator clubhouse, and the I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-A-Luger, see Tempest #1, P26.
• “Bakelite” was an early form of plastic.
• “swiz” is British slang for a swindle.
• “Interociter” is from Raymond F. Jones’ 1949 story “The Alien Machine”, which became the basis for This Island Earth (novel 1952; film 1955). It is an alien intelligence test, in the form of a “do-it-yourself” kit to assemble a device far above then-current Earth technology.
• Aunt Vivian, with “a Union Jack tattoo on her face” recalls minor character Sheena from Moore’s The Bojeffries Saga, who has “**** OFF” tattooed on her forehead.
• “gawp” is British slang for “stare openly”.

paragraph 9

• The Old Rugged Cross is a hymn that has frequently been popularly recorded. It’s relevance here may be in line 2, where it is described as “The emblem of suff’ring and shame”.

paragraph 10

• The letter writer has a valid point, in that inter-company crossovers are exceedingly rare. On the other hand, there seems to have only been one actual issue of Seven Stars. And, of course, the whole point of LoEG is to have all of fiction cross over, regardless of who “owns” it. [Though, of course, Moore is careful to keep from infringing trademarks that are likely to land him in legal trouble.]
• Preston is a city in Lancashire.

paragraph 11

• In the UK, a double yellow line at the edge of the road essentially means “no parking”.
• A “mystagog” (more usually spelled “mystagogue”, even in the U.S.) is a teacher of mystic beliefs.

Back Cover – Marsman: The Battler from Barsoom!

panel 1

• Marsman is an obscure British comics hero. He was created by Paddy Brennan, and appeared in 1948’s Marsman Comics (only) – see more information at the LoEG Wiki.
• In Marsman Comics, Marsman arrives on Earth at “Bigburg, USA”.
• Cactusville is the setting of the Dandy’s Desperate Dan strip.
  • In Nemo: River of Ghosts, Hugo Coghlan mentions visiting Cactusville, and it’s implied that he fathered Desperate Dan.
• Vull continues to become increasingly invisible, compared to the headshots from earlier back covers.

> Go to LoEG Tempest 5