Nemo: Heart of Ice

I can think of no other series that sends me to the online search engines faster than the latest edition of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series.

(Although I must admit this isn't exactly an LOEG book, since the "team" doesn't appear. Instead it focuses on one of the newest additions to the cast from that series.)

Those works are jam-packed with references - both obvious and obscure - to assorted works of fiction, and it makes each chapter a challenge to those who love that kind of "Easter Egg Hunt."

And apparently my fictional knowledge of Antarctica is lacking, because I was in the dark on several references during that part of the book.

But that's all secondary to the story. Nemo: Heart of Ice focuses on the daughter of the original League's Captain Nemo, Princess Janni Dakkar. She's taken up her father's pirate legacy, looting and pillaging at will, thanks to a vast pirate crew and the technological wonders in her father's invention, the Nautilus.

But she longs to prove herself against the vast legacy of her father's achievements, so she decides to duplicate his most deadly expedition - a journey across part of the Antarctic that left his men dead and nearly took his own life and sanity.

She will face horror, civilizations undreamt of, monsters and madness - all while being hunted by deadly foes.

It's the usual outstanding effort by Moore and O'Neill, combining outstanding, intense images, an intelligent and demanding script and wrapping it all up in a fun and fast-paced adventure story.

It's great to see this focus on a single character (or concept) in the LOEG world, and hopefully we'll see more like it - and more LOEG stories, too - in the years ahead.

Grade: A

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