Daily Scans - Alan Moore/Kevin O'Neill: "What Ho, Gods of the Abyss!"
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03:58 am [jlroberson]
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/8684144/377608) [Link] |
Alan Moore/Kevin O'Neill: "What Ho, Gods of the Abyss!" My favorite bit from the Black Dossier. Jeeves. Wooster. Cthulhu. Hijinx ensue.
Current Location: Seattle Current Mood: cold Current Music: Meredith Monk, "Dolmen Music" Tags: creator: alan moore, creator: kevin o'neill
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Probably my favourite part of the DOssier (apart from one Gerry Anderson joke), the only problem I had with it was that it wrecked my plans for a fanfic based around the notion of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen's Gentlemen" composed of the likes of Jeeves, Alfred, Jarvis, Parker from Thunderbirds, Lugg (from Campion) and others!
You did notice the bit that should explain a lot of the Chamberlain government.
"Rt. Hon." Bertram Wooster.
Words I imagine would send chills of despair through Britons everywhere.
IIRC Bertie was distantly in line for a baroncy anyway, so the House of Lords was more or less inevitable.
I also think that he'd have been quite a decent cove in that situation, he certainly didn't approve of unfairness, and had no time for bullies so would have regarded that nasty Mr Hitler in the same light.
Plus, considering the shower we currently have in post, at least we know Bertie was never particularly dishonest. And with Jeeves at his side, it'll be like "Yes, Minister" with Hacker and a slightly more supportive Sir Humphrey.
>>I also think that he'd have been quite a decent cove in that situation, he certainly didn't approve of unfairness, and had no time for bullies so would have regarded that nasty Mr Hitler in the same light.
Unlike, allegedly, Mr. Wodehouse himself...
"I say, Jeeves! This German fellow who wants to be master of the world!" "Yes, sir. A former corporal, I believe." "Well! I may be just a little old-fashioned but it seems to me you should at least make lieutenant before being master of the world." "Indeed, sir. Your biscuits?"
No longer a generally held view. Wodehouse is usually credited with being naive and foolish rather than anything approaching fascistic or even just treasonous. The Nazi's interned him after all, and if one accepts he was conned into making the broadcasts he did for the Germans (as seems likely), then he'd have little love to lose for Herr Hitler. And one note that he added the incredibly Oswald Moseley-esque Roderick Spode and his Black Shorts to the cast in 1938.
Conceded. Especially with a line like this:
The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you're someone. You hear them shouting "Heil, Spode!" and you imagine it is the Voice of the People. That is where you make your bloomer. What the Voice of the People is saying is: "Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?" — P. G. Wodehouse (Bertie Wooster speaking to Spode), in The Code of the Woosters (1938)
Although, as I speak American, I guess, I have no idea of the meaning of "puff" or "perisher." I would add that something about this is reminiscent of this later, though much meaner, speech: The thing I hate about you, Rountree, is the way you give Coca-Cola to your scum, and your best teddy to Oxfam, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers. For the rest of your frigid life."
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/7449684/380292) | | From: | rab62 |
| Date: | June 9th, 2009 05:46 pm (UTC) |
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"..the only problem I had with it was that it wrecked my plans for a fanfic..."
Really, if Alan Moore let "someone else had this idea before" stop him, we wouldn't have very much Alan Moore, now would we? ;-)
Chronologically, I can't see how that team could work when decades separate Jeeves and Lugg from Pennyworth and Jarvis, and then decades more before we reach Parker's era? (Unless perhaps you used an East End ancestor of Parker...) But I'd like to see it!
Agreed on "What Ho" and the pre-Fireball XL-5 stuff being the best parts of the Dossier.
Because my League, like Moores', covers more than one time period. They would always be in the background of Moore's assorted Leagues doing the "tidying up", all the unglamorous bits after the hoo-hah is over, as well as some missions of their own. You think Sir Percy Blakeney did his own laundry? Good Lord, he'd have been known as "The Grubby Pimpernel" if THAT were the case.
Oh, this is just wonderful. Between this and A Study In Emerald, I'm wondering if there's a single early-20th-century literary classic that can't be improved by one mad comic writer and a healthy dose of Lovecraft. I want more Jeeves vs. Elder Things, dammit!
Actually...in America, legally, anyone can write and even publish one.
If someone does, I'll draw it.
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/8591858/412362) | | From: | stig |
| Date: | June 9th, 2009 08:48 am (UTC) |
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"Mr. Hyde & Mr. Yog-Sothoth"
"More Than 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, or, The Inspiration"
"Alice's Adventures Within The Blackened Heart Of The Earth From Which There Is No Possible Return"
"Deliverance In Dunwich."
Have you read "Shadows over Baker Street", a collection (including A Study in Emerald) of Sherlockian Lovecraft adventures
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/8075657/403318) | | From: | seawolf10 |
| Date: | June 9th, 2009 03:05 pm (UTC) |
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| | Thanks for the links! | (Link) |
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Out of curiosity, what did you think was the best of the "Shadows" collection BESIDES "A Study in Emerald?"
For me, it's the one starring Irene Adler, although the case with cultists inducing Deep One-esque transformations ran a close second.
Peter H. Cannon did an anthology of three Lovecraft/Wooster crossover stories called Scream For Jeeves, but the low print run and subsequent high demand means copies are horrifically expensive (they *start* at $76.80 on Amazon.com and go up-- for a 64 page book).
That won't do. I don't have four library cards for nothing, let me see if I can get my hands on one and pirate it for grate justice!
(Aaannd-- found and held!)
*seeths envy* This is one of the rare cases where my library has failed me (the other being getting most of the Wild Cards series).
Be a dear and send a copy my way once you've scanned it, won't you?
Sure thing! I'm having it sent to the library closest to me, so once it gets there (probably by this weekend) I'll go pick it up and make with the piracy.
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/8075657/403318) | | From: | seawolf10 |
| Date: | June 9th, 2009 03:12 pm (UTC) |
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| | Replied to wrong post. Sorry. | (Link) |
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Now that I'm done with my impression of upper-crust British twits...
Just send me a PM on LJ (I have the same username there) once you've scanned it, please, and I'll get my email address to you. Or if you're hosting the file somewhere, just send a link.
| | Re: Replied to wrong post. Sorry. | (Link) |
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Not a problem. PDF work for you, or do you prefer LIT?
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/8075657/403318) | | From: | seawolf10 |
| Date: | June 9th, 2009 10:28 pm (UTC) |
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| | Re: Replied to wrong post. Sorry. | (Link) |
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I prefer PDF, thanks.
| From: | (Anonymous) |
| Date: | January 20th, 2010 12:22 am (UTC) |
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| | Re: Replied to wrong post. Sorry. | (Link) |
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I'm an lj user who was linked this post? Did you ever get the above-mentioned Wodehouse/Lovecraft pastiche scanned?
I'd love a copy at comradefernsky AT gmail DOT com
~ animagiblender on lj
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/10851369/377608) | | From: | jlroberson |
| Date: | January 20th, 2010 04:36 am (UTC) |
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| | Re: Replied to wrong post. Sorry. | (Link) |
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Erm, as much as I would like to see this too, you may want to be a little more circumspect about your plans-- InsaneJournal doesn't seem *quite* as aggressive about protecting its posterior as LJ was, but I'd hate to see this place get shaken up again.
I've always wished that there was more of a market for Wodehouse pastiches the way there is for Sherlockian ones. A lot of the J&W fanfic is quite good, if predominantly slash.
That would be very hard to make work, since Wodehouse was more or less writing pastiches already. |
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