Comics snobbery below
Dear Internet : just because you don't understand The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Black Dossier, it doesn't mean it isn't actually any good.

Seriously, I can't believe how negative some of the reaction has been (well, maybe I shouldn't be surprised at your average online comics reviewer being unable to "get" the book, but still). I've finally been able to get my grubby mitts on my copy this morning, and read about half of it on the train - and it's fantastic. It's not as strong a story as the other two volumes, but it's not supposed to be. The world it fashions for itself - a brilliant spin on 1984 - is superb, the level and sheer number of literary references is actually too much to take in upon one read, it will devote pages to a telling of the life story of Virginia Woolf's Orlando in one breath and throw in references to The Fast Show and Carry on Cabbie the next... it is, quite simply, brilliant, and while it may not heap any further weight on the argument that Alan Moore is this country's greatest living writer, it certainly doesn't detract from it.

Yet here are a few choice selections from some online reviewers :

"The question raised by all this, though, is whether it was more fun for Moore to write all this than it is for us to read it."

"And I think that's probably got more to do with the fact that this book just seems so darned unnecessary. Yeah, the production qualities are nice, but cripes, the plot's just pointless, which I should have half suspected going into it anyway. The original LXG was darkly funny and a fresh twist at the time. This one? Well, it's dark, anyway." (Yes, they actually say 'LXG'. Quite a few times throughout the review, in fact)

"The comic portion was good enough, although I felt at times there was way too much dialog going on with references that took me awhile to grasp that this was a much different 1958 than anyone was familiar with."

"I did not like this book. There was not enough comic to it... I’m past the point where it’s fun to read comics that feel like homework. The lengthy text sections, mimicking the styles of other, well-known writers, I skipped entirely, because they were overwhelming... I also, and I cringe at the potential response to this but I’m going to say it anyway, outgrew this kind of fanfiction years ago... Stop being so clever, Mr. Moore, and write stories with real plots with your own characters."

Jesus Christ. A sad indictment of the state of online comics reviewing.