What literary figures would be in your League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?
PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:47 am
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is an extraordinarily bad Sean Connery movie. However, it was originally a very cool graphic novel/comic book series about a world in which the characters of Victorian literature co-exist in a technologically advanced Victorian world and form a super-literary fighting team! It's the kind of concept an English major like me just goes gaga over.
So here's my question. You are building a fighting superhero team of literary characters--but you can use anyone from any era, not just Victorian. You can go classic and pack Odysseus. You can go modern and bring Harry Potter. They don't necessarily have to be gentlemen, of course--gentleladies, gentlechildren, and not-so-gentle-men-and-women are invited. Untimely death in their series of origin is no barrier. The only requirement is that they must be from a book or short story. Who do YOU incorporate into your League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?
-Lanen Kaeler, from one of my favorite fantasy novels, Song in the Silence (an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, 1996! Or 1997, I forget). She's a brave and intrepid go-getter, making her a good general pick, but one of the major assets she brings to the table is her connections--the ones she already has in addition to her ability to forge new ones. Her father's an ex-assassin and mercenary, she's best friends with a spy, her boyfriend is the King of the Dragons... Wait, what? Yes. And that means she has a lot of dragons on her side. Yup. A lot of dragons.*
-Harrison Bergeron, from the short story of the same name. He's a natural leader, not to mention the fact that he's got nearly superhuman strength, and he can apparently fly. Remember, like I said, in this team, anything goes... (I say this to those of you who are familiar with the story and know what happens.) He'd be an excellent brute-strength fighter, especially with all those weapons the government conveniently armed him with. Giant sandbags, chains, those little ear thingies that make loud noises that distract you...
-Portia, from the Bard's (can't spell "Shakespeare" properly) Merchant of Venice. Every team needs a smooth talker, and this gusty gal fits the bill. The scene where Portia, disguised as Balthasar, defends (looks up how to spell his name) Bassaino and Antonio in court is one of my favorite scenes from anything ever; I mentally shouted out "You go, girl!" when I first read it.** (Yes, I am that big of a dork.) And because this is a superhero team, Portia is not only a master of beauracracy, legalese, and doublespeak (...getting to that in a minute), but she is also a master of disguise. Because I say so.
-Winston Smith, prior to everything that happens at the end of the book, of course. Not his girlfriend; she annoys me. But plain old Winston. I realize that in the books, Winston is much more of a dreamer than a doer, who enjoys fantasizing about changing the world and that sort of thing, but he can be my League's plan-man, and in the world of superhero comics, he can also be the guy who's the gearhead that can build anything. OK, so maybe in the books, he's not THAT smart. ...Um, you know what else he can do? He's good at finding secret hiding spots! Yeah...
-Edmond Dantes, from the Count of Monte Cristo. In my League, he's the most antihero-y one... The dark, angsty fellow with tales of suffering and revenge behind him. But he's also disgustingly intelligent, resourceful, and strong. (The guy swum off an island, for goodness' sake.) He's kind of like our Batman, only without a cool car, tools with the word "Edmond" placed in front of them (the Edmondarang?), and spiralling backgrounds with his logo in them.
-Thornmallow, the protagonist from one of my FAVORITE children's books ever, Wizard's Hall. By Jane Yolen, who also wrote The Devil's Arithmatic. Because he means well. And he tries.
*OK, so if you ever actually READ the book, it's not all that many. And that's kind of the point. But I think if you're a bad guy, you only need to see 3 or 4 dragons before it becomes "A whole freakin' lot of dragons."
** Apparently there are literary debates about this sort of thing, in readings wherein Shylock is meant to be a sympathetic character, and Portia's showing up is a whole mockery of justice and a dirty mean trick and that sort of thing. However, Portia is still pretty clever, so one could concievably make her an awful snob whom nobody likes but whose wit and resource are still essential to the group.
Sure to think of more as people reply...
So here's my question. You are building a fighting superhero team of literary characters--but you can use anyone from any era, not just Victorian. You can go classic and pack Odysseus. You can go modern and bring Harry Potter. They don't necessarily have to be gentlemen, of course--gentleladies, gentlechildren, and not-so-gentle-men-and-women are invited. Untimely death in their series of origin is no barrier. The only requirement is that they must be from a book or short story. Who do YOU incorporate into your League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?
-Lanen Kaeler, from one of my favorite fantasy novels, Song in the Silence (an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, 1996! Or 1997, I forget). She's a brave and intrepid go-getter, making her a good general pick, but one of the major assets she brings to the table is her connections--the ones she already has in addition to her ability to forge new ones. Her father's an ex-assassin and mercenary, she's best friends with a spy, her boyfriend is the King of the Dragons... Wait, what? Yes. And that means she has a lot of dragons on her side. Yup. A lot of dragons.*
-Harrison Bergeron, from the short story of the same name. He's a natural leader, not to mention the fact that he's got nearly superhuman strength, and he can apparently fly. Remember, like I said, in this team, anything goes... (I say this to those of you who are familiar with the story and know what happens.) He'd be an excellent brute-strength fighter, especially with all those weapons the government conveniently armed him with. Giant sandbags, chains, those little ear thingies that make loud noises that distract you...
-Portia, from the Bard's (can't spell "Shakespeare" properly) Merchant of Venice. Every team needs a smooth talker, and this gusty gal fits the bill. The scene where Portia, disguised as Balthasar, defends (looks up how to spell his name) Bassaino and Antonio in court is one of my favorite scenes from anything ever; I mentally shouted out "You go, girl!" when I first read it.** (Yes, I am that big of a dork.) And because this is a superhero team, Portia is not only a master of beauracracy, legalese, and doublespeak (...getting to that in a minute), but she is also a master of disguise. Because I say so.
-Winston Smith, prior to everything that happens at the end of the book, of course. Not his girlfriend; she annoys me. But plain old Winston. I realize that in the books, Winston is much more of a dreamer than a doer, who enjoys fantasizing about changing the world and that sort of thing, but he can be my League's plan-man, and in the world of superhero comics, he can also be the guy who's the gearhead that can build anything. OK, so maybe in the books, he's not THAT smart. ...Um, you know what else he can do? He's good at finding secret hiding spots! Yeah...
-Edmond Dantes, from the Count of Monte Cristo. In my League, he's the most antihero-y one... The dark, angsty fellow with tales of suffering and revenge behind him. But he's also disgustingly intelligent, resourceful, and strong. (The guy swum off an island, for goodness' sake.) He's kind of like our Batman, only without a cool car, tools with the word "Edmond" placed in front of them (the Edmondarang?), and spiralling backgrounds with his logo in them.
-Thornmallow, the protagonist from one of my FAVORITE children's books ever, Wizard's Hall. By Jane Yolen, who also wrote The Devil's Arithmatic. Because he means well. And he tries.
*OK, so if you ever actually READ the book, it's not all that many. And that's kind of the point. But I think if you're a bad guy, you only need to see 3 or 4 dragons before it becomes "A whole freakin' lot of dragons."
** Apparently there are literary debates about this sort of thing, in readings wherein Shylock is meant to be a sympathetic character, and Portia's showing up is a whole mockery of justice and a dirty mean trick and that sort of thing. However, Portia is still pretty clever, so one could concievably make her an awful snob whom nobody likes but whose wit and resource are still essential to the group.
Sure to think of more as people reply...
