Changes: Nemo: River of Ghosts

Revision as of 12:38, 21 March 2015

Nemo: River of Ghosts is a 2015 graphic novel author Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill. It is third part in the trilogy begun by Nemo: Heart of Ice and continued with Nemo: The Roses of Berlin. Like those books, it takes place in the universe of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Characters

As with Roses of Berlin, the protagonists consist largely of original characters who are descended from earlier fictional creations. Janni Dakkar, who first appeared in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, is the daughter of Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's 1870 novel Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea); she is now an elderly woman, ready to end her life of adventuring.

Janni's grandson, Jack, is a small boy who stows away on board the Nautilus. He was first introduced as an adult in the pages of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Hugo Cochlan is a superhumanly strong mercenary whom Janni hires as a bodyguard; during his long life he has been known under other names, including Cuchulainn and Hugo Hercules. In terms of inspiration, he is a composite character. His chief model is Hugo Hercules, the hero of a short-lived comic strip drawn by William H.D. Koerner from September 1902 to January 1903. Cuchulainn is the name of a hero in Irish legend, and since the uncannily long-lived Hugo refers to his divine ancestry, he would appear to be the original Cuchulainn. Finally, he is implied to be the father of Desperate Dan, and some of his traits - particularly his fondness for cow pies - are directly lifted from this character. The name "Hugo Cochlan" would appear to be Moore's own invention.

Martin Bormann and Josef Mengele were real-life Nazi war criminals, and are amongst the relatively few historical figures to appear in the League comics. Bormann's presence is a reference to rumours, later debunked, that he had survived the war and fled to South America. Mengele's portrayal is based around that in Ira Levin's 1976 novel The Boys from Brazil in which he is involved with a plan to clone Hitler - hence the identical boys who follow him around in River of Ghosts.

Dr. Goldfoot is an evil inventor with a fondness for nubile women. He is lifted from the 1965 spy-parody film Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, in which he was played by Vincent Price.

Goldfoot's Bikinitrons are a small army of scantily-clad female automata. Like their creator, they are borrowed from Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, although the comic adds a few more connections: they are identified as being based on the mechanical woman from the 1927 film Metropolis (who appeared in The Roses of Berlin); one scene implies that they are related to the Stepford Wives, from another novel by Ira Levin; and Hugo Cochlan notes their resemblance to the sexualized female Nazis, with oddly modern hairstyles, seen on the covers to 1970s men's adventure magazines.

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 ==Characters==
-As with ''Roses of Berlin'', the protagonists consist largely of original characters who are descended from earlier fictional creations. '''Janni Dakkar''', who first appeared in ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'', is the daughter of Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's 1870 novel Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea); she is now an elderly woman, ready to end her life of adventuring.
+As with ''Roses of Berlin'', the protagonists consist largely of original characters who are descended from earlier fictional creations. '''Janni Dakkar''', who first appeared in ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'', is the daughter of Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's 1870 novel ''Vingt mille lieues sous les mers'' (''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea''); she is now an elderly woman, ready to end her life of adventuring.
 Janni's grandson, '''Jack''', is a small boy who stows away on board the Nautilus. He was first introduced as an adult in the pages of ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen''.
-'''Hugo Cochlan''' is a superhumanly strong mercenary whom Janni hires as a bodyguard; during his long life he has been known under other names, including Cuchulainn and Hugo Hercules. In terms of inspiration, he is a composite character. His chief model is Hugo Hercules, the hero of a short-lived comic strip drawn by William H.D. Koerner from September 1902 to January 1903. Cuchulainn is the name of a hero in Irish legend, and since the uncannily long-lived Hugo refers to his divine ancestry, he would appear to be the ''original'' Cuchulainn. Finally, he is implied to be the father of [[Desparate Dan]], and some of his traits - particularly his fondness for cow pies - are directly lifted from this character. The name "Hugo Cochlan" would appear to be Moore's own invention.
+'''Hugo Cochlan''' is a superhumanly strong mercenary whom Janni hires as a bodyguard; during his long life he has been known under other names, including Cuchulainn and Hugo Hercules. In terms of inspiration, he is a composite character. His chief model is Hugo Hercules, the hero of a short-lived comic strip drawn by William H.D. Koerner from September 1902 to January 1903. Cuchulainn is the name of a hero in Irish legend, and since the uncannily long-lived Hugo refers to his divine ancestry, he would appear to be the ''original'' Cuchulainn. Finally, he is implied to be the father of [[Desperate Dan]], and some of his traits - particularly his fondness for cow pies - are directly lifted from this character. The name "Hugo Cochlan" would appear to be Moore's own invention.
 '''Martin Bormann''' and '''Josef Mengele''' were real-life Nazi war criminals, and are amongst the relatively few historical figures to appear in the ''League'' comics. Bormann's presence is a reference to rumours, later debunked, that he had survived the war and fled to South America. Mengele's portrayal is based around that in Ira Levin's 1976 novel ''The Boys from Brazil'' in which he is involved with a plan to clone Hitler - hence the identical boys who follow him around in ''River of Ghosts''.