Cover. Barb Lien and Park Cooper note something that I should have gotten, but didn't: Isn't the point of the cover, the way the title appears, the font and style etc, in the exact style of the Classics Illustrated comics from, oh, circa the 50's?The dragon confronting the League is of the Chinese variety, which are an entirely different sort from the European type, including their personalities, which ranged from good to evil. This dragon in particular represents the "Doctor" referred to in issue #2, as seen in Quong Lee's words on page 7, panel 4.

Jacque Koh expands on this: The Chinese (generally the East Asians) have an etiquette in the use and depiction of dragons in art, for ornaments, and on structures. For example, a three-toed dragon is used by the common people...the five-toed dragon, as appears on the cover, is reserved exclusively for the use of Emperors, and as representations or tools of deities/gods. Cory Panshin adds that "this cover struck me as being similar to Japanese pictures of Westerners done shortly after the Americans showed up in the 1850's -- note particularly Mina's oriental eyes and fan."

Page 1. Panel 1. A further indication of how far Mina Murray has fallen from the Victorian ideal of "proper" womanhood is seen here: she's smoking. It was simply not done for a woman to smoke in "proper" Victorian society; although some few women smoked, it was customarily done in secret, with a female friend; a woman who smoked was considered "fast." Similarly, it was not done to smoke or even ask to smoke in the "company of the fair;" one always excused oneself from their presence to enjoy a cigar or pipe.

Panel 2. J. Keith Haney points out that Griffin's words here are a reference to the beginning of Chapter 27 of The Invisible Man:

"The game is only beginning. There is nothing for it now, but to start the Terror. This announces the first day of the Terror. Port Burdock is no longer under your Queen, tell your Colonel of Police, and the rest of them; it is under me--the Terror! This is day one of year one of the new epoch,--the Epoch of the Invisible Man. I am Invisible Man the First."

Jacque Koh notes, regarding the Chinese script: The script used in the book is the modern simplified script which is in current use. Given that this takes place in the late 1800s, the use of this script, I would think, is in error. Modern day Hong Kong and Taiwan, for example, still use the old script. It is only in recent years that Beijing has been pushing the simplified script for common usage. John O'Neil adds this:

(I) can definitively tell you the language is Mandarin Chinese (Today called Putonghua, Beijing dialect, or Guoyu in Taiwan), written (anachronistically) in the modern simplified characters introduced by the PRC in 1954. It makes sense that "The Doctor"
would speak Mandarin, since he was a Manchu ("Fu Manchu"), the group that ruled China during the Qing (read "ching") Dynasty (1644-1911). It is also called the Manchu Dynasty.

Panel 5. Steven Flanagan adds, of this panel: The bridge carries an advert for Fry's, a British confectionary manufacturer. Fry's best-known line is "Fry's Turkish Delight". Since Sax Rohmer assumed that everyone from "the Orient" (which he certainly regared as including the Ottoman Empire) was part of a great anti-Western conspiracy led by Fu Manchu, this may be significant. But I can't read anything into the bus advert for Pear's (soap). Page 9. Panel 2. I've no idea who the "she" is that Quatermain has visited here.

"Ho Ling" is, I believe, the character from various Thomas Burke stories, including "The Song of Ho Ling." Ho Ling, in Burke's work, runs a fantan parlor (fantan being a Chinese gambling game).

In The Mystery of Fu Manchu there is an opium den which leads Petrie and Sir Nayland Smith to Fu Manchu. In the book, however, the name of the opium den is "Singapore Charlie's."

Panel 3. The individual with the hooked hand is obviously somebody, but I do not know who, unless Captain Hook was Chinese in appearance.

Panel 5. Brenda Clough says, of Quaterman's words: Haggard went back in 1912 and wrote another novel, Marie, inserting a new adventure into the chronology of the events already described in Allan's Wife. In this book Allan meets, courts and marries one Marie Marais, who dies tragically to save him. Of Marie Allan says, "She was my first wife, but I beg you not to speak of her to me or to anyone else, for I cannot bear to hear her name." So this covers for Stella being described as Allan's first wife. It's just that she was his second one. (The moral of the story: be -very- careful when you retcon.) Page 10. Panel 1. The exterior of Shen Yan's shop, as seen here, is more-or-less identical to its description, such as it is, in Chapter 6 of The Mystery of Fu Manchu, including the sign "Shen Yan, Barber."

Terence Chua: "The Chinese script on the sign literally reads `Shen Yan, Barber Shop.' The two Chinese words on the side of the building mean `Killer.'"

Jacque Koh: A four-toed dragon, as appears on Page 10, Panel 1, is often used by noblemen, officials, people of rank and the gentry. That a four-toed dragon is used by 'Shanghai Charlie' outside his establishment, is indicative of his considerable rank. Panel 2. The interior of the shop, however, is not similar to Rohmer's description in the book.

Page 11. Terence Chua: "The Chinese script this time, from the rhythm of the dialogue and the words chosen, is being spoken in Mandarin as opposed to Cantonese. The dialogue reads left to right, line by line."

Panel 2: "The boss (owner) needs more brushes. These are solidifying. Look at this. It's useless."

Michael Seery mentions that his Chinese coworker translated this dialogue differently, and suggests that "solidifying" should be replaced by "melting."

Panel 3: Angry Man: "I want another one."

Frightened Man: "All right, quickly, the boss is waiting."

Panel 4: Frightened Man: "Please forgive me. I have a new brush here."

Jacque Koh notes: This is a very strange image as the vessel used is recognisable as a chueh. I extracted the following from an encyclopaedia:

'Many such ritual vessels were buried in royal and other tombs from the time of the Shang dynasty, the chueh being used for pouring libations of wine to the spirits - the handles on the spout probably being designed to be gripped by tongs when the liquid was heated over a fire.

IIRC, these are the size of a wine carafe.

Panel 5: Angry Man (presumably): "Hurry up, idiot, the boss is writing poetry!"

Terence says that "The words on the man's chest, reading from right to left and up and down, are as follows: The stars are the poetry of fate
A man who is never wounded
Is a book on which no words have been written Michael Seery mentions that his Chinese coworker translated this differently, and suggests that "wounded" should be replaced by "scarred."

Alvin Pang continues the translation dispute:

Seery's co-worker is right, and my compatriot Terence has forgotten some basics of the language!
 
Here's my haiku translation of the poem being acid-etched into the poor sod's chest:
 
The stars are destiny's verse:
A man without scars
Is an unwritten book.

There are in fact such things as Triads, here in the real world, and they are centuries old. It is their business fronts which are referred to as "Tongs." Terence Chua adds the following about the Triads: According to Triad legend, the Triads trace their origins to the 103 Shaolin monks, of which only 5 survived the destruction of their temple by the Imperial government who believed that they were a threat due to their popularity with the people. The 7th monk was the one who betrayed the temple's plans to the Imperial government, and to this day, "7" is used as Triad slang for "traitor". The five survivors, after escaping and facing more legendary obstacles which have become part of Triad ritual, founded the first Triads, underground societies with their own system of symbols, intiation rites and codes."For the overseas Chinese, these "Tongs", or "Societies", acted as mutual protection unions, to protect their own people from being persecuted or oppressed. Of course, over time, they began to mutate into full fledged criminal organisations, staking out territory and warring with rival "Tongs". Panel 4. "Alienists" were, in effect, practicing psychologists, some of the first in the world (here on Earth-Prime, anyhow). They were "medical specialists in the study and treatment of mental diseases" (that from a 1901 Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology). They were also occasionally called upon by the police for help in constructing personality profiles of criminals based on evidence found at crime scenes, but were more often connected with insane asylums. They were not well-regarded by most Victorians. For more information on them, read Caleb Carr's The Alienist.

Dr. Eric Fennessey notes that Mina has had direct experience with alienists, as both Dr. Seward and Professor Van Helsing were practising alienists--Seward with the asylum next to Carfax, and Van Helsing as Seward's teacher.

Page 19. Panel 2. Judging from the roster of names on the wall behind Quatermain, the shelter will be crowded with writers of fantastic literature.

Adam Cummins adds:

Its just that I noticed that the list of names on the side wall of the hostel behind Quatermain aren't simply writers of fantastic literature. They are in fact the "Creators" of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen itself.  Each author created one of the characters in the narrative, ie.

Haggard = H. Rider Haggard who created Allan Quatermain
Rohmer = Sax Rohmer who created Fu Manchu, who isn't The Doctor at all. Oh no ;-)
Poe = Edgar Allan Poe, who created C. Auguste Dupin
Stevenson = Robert Louis Stevenson, creator of Jekyll and Hyde
Stoker = Bram Stoker who created Mina Murray
Verne = Jules Verne, creator of Captain Nemo
Wells = H.G. Wells who created Hawley Griffin, the Invisible Man

Terence Chua contributes more information on the Mi-Go: "Mi-Go" is the Nepalese name for the Abominable Snowman. Lovecraft equated his creations, also known as the Fungi from Yuggoth (Yuggoth being the Mi-Go name for Pluto) with the sightings of the Snowman, and its tracks. The fungi are crustacean in appearance, with a fungoid mass for a head which changes colour as they communicate. They fly the ether between the planets, and abduct humans, removing their brains and keeping them in cannisters which render them effectively immortal and able to survive the long flight between the stars.Regg Kashi notes that "Mi-Go" is actually Tibetan, "mi" meaning man and "go" meaning "head," and that Tibetan mythology is full of tales of half-beasts, demon-spawn, and the like. Which just goes to show that Lovecraft did his research. Emilio Martin, on seeing the O'Neill drawing of the door under the Sphinx, is reminded of a Lovecraft description "a temple door opening on R'Lyeh in `Call of Cthulhu.'"

Ads:

Page 30: an ad for America's Best Comics.

Page 31: an ad for the "Yankee Rubber Whore." Which seems a bit explicit for the average Victorian ad, but that's Moore's sense of humor for you, I guess. Danny Sichel points out that the ad is "an exact replica of the `Yankee Rubber Baby' ad in #1, (on page 32 - Jess) except with `adulterer' replacing `father' and `winsome inflatable sluts' replacing `laughter-producing infants.'"

Page 33: an ad for "The New Belt." This ad looks quite normal for the time, but the typeface is a giveaway that this is a new ad, and the names of the corset types seems to indicate that this is another of Moore's jokes--that is, each corset's name is significant in British and/or Victorian-era history. The implication, then, being that the gentlemen named (and pictured) might be cross-dressers, the corset being a woman's article of clothing.

"The Kitchener" is named after, and seems to have the head of, Sir Horatio Herbert Kitchener (1850-1916). Sir Kitchener was a notable British general, the Secretary of State of War in 1914 at the start of World War One, and was responsible for the organisation of Britain's military forces during the war until his death onboard the Hampshire in 1916. (He was also responsible for the British policy in the Boer War of burning Boer homes and forcing civilians into concentration camps, as a way to counter the Boers' guerrilla tactics; Kitchener was widely criticized for this, but that took place from 1900-1902, after the events of League) In 1898 Kitchener was a national hero (he was "virtually canonized in England as the archetypal Christian soldier") for his reconquest of the Sudan and his victory, on September 2, at the Battle of Omdurman, which avenged the death of General Charles "Chinese" Gordon at the hands of the Mahdi Mohammed Ahmed of Dongola. The joke deepens, however, when one discovers that Kitchener, who was notable at the time for being a "woman-hater" and had a number of very intense and passionate relationships with young, good-looking men; it will never be known for sure whether Kitchener was openly gay or simply sublimated his homosexuality, but it seems likely that this stalwart of the Empire was also a Friend of Dorothy.

"The Marlboro" would seem to be named after John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough. Marlborough (1650-1722) was one of the greatest of the English military commanders, responsible for the defeat of the French at the Battles of Blenheim and Malplaquet and the eventual British victory in the War of the Spanish Succession. It might also be a reference to Marlborough House, the residence of Prince Albert Edward, Queen Elisabeth's heir, who lived at the House with a "fast-living" set, who concentrated on living a high life of leisure.

The provenance of "The Carlton" has proven a bit trickier. There was a William Carlton, the author of The Black Prophet: A Tale of the Irish Famine (1847), but I can't see any particular reason he would be chosen here. I think it more likely that the name "Carlton" comes from the Carlton Club, which in 1898 was the official gentleman's club of the ruling Conservative Party.