Annotations to the Black Dossier
by
Jess
Nevins
Updated 2 February 12:11 p.m. CST.
Updates in blue.
The text here, except where otherwise
quoted, is copyright © Jess Nevins 2008. It may not
be reproduced in part or in full without credit being given
to me.
The book version of these annotations will be
Impossible
Territories and will be published by MonkeyBrain Books
in July, 2008. The book will have greatly expanded annotations
(I'll give context to things that I mention in passing here), interviews
with Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, and whatever other goodies and
extras I can manage to put in to it.
Warning: There are some Bad Words used
in these annotations. If you’re under 18 or have a delicate
disposition, look away.
In order to avoid spoiling some reveals
and surprises, some things will not be explained on their
first appearance.
References are explained the first time
they appear, and not thereafter.
Moving clockwise unless otherwise noted.
If you have any additions, corrections,
or suggestions, please send them to me at jjnevins@ix.netcom.com.
But, as a favor to me, please phrase your e-mails politely.
Also: remember W.H. Auden's words:
Judging a work of art is virtually the same mental operation as
judging human beings, and requires the same aptitudes: first, a real love
of works of art, an inclination to praise rather than blame, and regret
when a complete rejection is required; second, a vast experience of
all artistic activities; and last, an awareness, openly and happily accepted,
of one’s own prejudices. Some critics fail because they are pedants
whose ideal of perfection is always offended by a concrete realization.
Others fail because they are insular and hostile to what is alien to
them; these critics, yielding to their prejudices without knowing they
have them and sincerely offering judgments they believe to be objective,
are more excusable than those who, aware of their prejudices, lack the
courage to enter the lists to defend their personal tastes.
Front Cover. If the
sword is a reference to anything, I’m unaware of it. Philip & Emily Graves write, "Looks like some Martian
on the sword's blade, so could it be Gullivar's or Carter's.....?"
Stu Shiffman writes, "I had wondered whether the sword was supposed
to be Orlando’s Durendal, but John Carter’s might be as possible (tho as
a Virginian gentleman, Carter would be more likely to leave it to the Smithsonian
or perhaps the Jeffersonian Institution of TV’s “Bones” series)." But see
Page 119.
I believe the quartet of men wearing owl
masks and Elizabethan clothing are from a penny dreadful,
but I’ve been unable to place it. Stu Shiffman believes they are
from the Blazing World.
I don’t know what the rocket refers to,
if anything. It’s similar to the one seen on Page 142. Kevin
O'Neill says that it's from the movie Flight to Mars.
I’m not sure what that thing to the right
of the rocket is. Possibly one of the Martians wearing gasmasks
from the first issue of League v2?
The blonde woman is Mina Murray, from
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). The man running with
her is Allan Quatermain, from H. Rider Haggard’s series of
books. He is young because he was rejuvenated in the Fires of Life
as described in the text pages of League v2.
I'm not sure what the spiral-tipped
stone statue is. Shawn Garrett notes that it appears on Page 30, Panel
2.
The painting is of the 1898 League, featuring
H. Rider Haggard’s Allan Quatermain, Robert Louis Stevenson’s
Edward Hyde, Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo, and H.G. Wells’
Invisible Man.
Page 1. Kevin
O'Neill identifies this logo as a riff on the Festival of Britain
logo:
Page 2. “Keep Calm and
Carry On” was one of the phrases used by British government
during World War Two to encourage the British people to keep a
stiff upper lip, especially during the Battle of the Blitz, when
London was being pounded by nightly bombings. However, the original
poster with “Keep Calm and Carry On” looked like this:
The gate, chains, and jagged lightning
bolts replacing the crown gives another indication about
what England has become in the alternate history of Black
Dossier.
Pádraig Ó Méalóid
writes, "This poster was apparently never actually issued, but was
held in reserve in case Britain got invaded. You can read all about
it here
where, amongst other things, it says But the 'Keep Calm' posters were
held in reserve, intended for use only in times of crisis or invasion.
Although some may have found there way onto Government office walls,
the poster was never officially issued and so remained virtually unseen
by the public - unseen, that is, until a copy turned up more than fifty
years later in a box of dusty old books bought in auction. You can buy a
copy of the poster here,
if you want, and there's all sorts of other stuff with it on, like
t-shirts, to be found here."
Page 4. The Daily
Brute is a reference to Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop (1938).
Scoop, routinely voted one of the best novels of the
20th century, is a scathing savaging of the English sensationalist
press. In Scoop the newspaper for which the protagonist
works is the Daily Beast. Its main rival, even more base
and yellow, is the Daily Brute. (For modern British readers,
think Daily Mail, only even worse).
Page 5. Philip & Emily Graves write, "Can't place the
letters "AIHD" (an acronym?), but '84' is obvious enough, while
July 1948 is when Orwell returned to Jura and re-commenced work on
his novel, after having been delayed through illness."
Guy Lawley writes, "The ID card carries the initials AIHD which when
rendered into numbers (as per position in the alphabet) = 1984"
Tristan Sargent writes,
I'm surprised no British readers have
commented that this doubles as a very contemporary reference, like the
surveillance cameras/telescreens referred to later. Currently there
is an ongoing campaign by the Labour government to bring in Identity
Cards, supposedly as a counter-terrorism measure - though this argument
has essentially bitten the dust and the government are pressing on with
the argument that it's all to save the people from the scourge of Identity
Theft. Either way, ID Cards are enormously controversial in Britain
right now, especially as, once introduced, it would in theory be a legal
requirement to carry them at all times (a measure popularly cited as part
of the progress toward a 'Big Brother state'). Britain previously
had ID cards during the Second World War, and afterwards, but they were
finally withdrawn in the 1950s, somewhat consistent with the fall of
the IngSoc regime depicted in this comic. An additional irony worth
considering is that 'George Orwell', the famous British socialist who envisioned
the tyranny of 1984, of course was a pseudonym for a man named 'Blair'...
Anyway, the ID card is in keeping with Orwell, but I'd say it's
also a contemporary reference, without question.
Ian Gould writes, "I'm reasonably sure the
identity card is based on the cards initially issued for the British Nation
Health Service – which commenced in July 1948. Calling a government bureaucracy
responsible for treating illness the National Health Service is in the
finest traditions of Newspeak."
Andrew Hickey wrote, "The identity Card here is
obviously a reference to the current British controversy over the planned
introduction of ID cards, but is also a reference
to the 'this book belongs to' pages that used to appear in children's annuals
in the UK (whose format the Black Dossier is aping). Also, it's probably
a coincidence, but the look of this page reminds me of "The Goodies' Book
Of (Criminal) Records", one of three books put out by the British comedy
team The Goodies (contemporaries of the Monty Python team) in the 1970s.
The three books ( "The Goodies File", "The Goodies' Book Of Criminal Records"
and "The Making Of The Goodies' Disaster Movie") were all done in the same
style as the Black Dossier, comprising lots of different bits meant to be
clippings from magazines, notes etc, and the first two were even meant to
be secret dossiers on the Goodies..."
“If found return to MiniLuv.”
“MiniLuv” is an example of newspeak, which
appears in George Orwell’s 1984 (1949). 1984,
a classic of dystopian fiction, describes life under the rule
of the totalitarian government of “Oceania.” One of Oceania’s
malign innovations is to impose newspeak on its citizens. Newspeak
is an artificially constructed language designed to remove as many
words and meanings as possible from conversation, with the intention
being to leave speakers capable of describing, and conceiving of, concepts
in only simplistic dichotomies: black and white, good and evil, and
so on. Toward this end words are merged together and shortened, so that
“English Socialism” becomes “IngSoc.” “MiniLuv” stands for the “Ministry
of Love,” the government department which uses fear, brainwashing,
and torture to enforce loyalty to and love of Big Brother, the leader
of Oceania.
Pages 6-7. This is a
parody of that classic of graphic design, the map of the London
Tube. David A. Simpson writes, "This may also
reference The Great Bear,
an artwork by Simon Patterson in which he replaced the station names on the
London Underground diagram with the names of philosophers, actors, politicians
and other celebrated figures."
Philip & Emily Graves
write, "Many puns here: Maida Jump, Court Short, Turnham Blue,
Colouring Inn, Tooting Bottom, Eating Broadly, Rothernot, Pen
Stroke Newington, Upper Etching, H.B. Row, Ink Staines, Whiteout
City, etc. Also no wonder than Mr Moore's line would include "Chin
Topiary" "Barking" and "Very Cross"...
Many of these are clearly riffs
on actual underground stations (while Pen Stroke Newington and Ink Staines
allude to the areas of London named Stoke Newington and Staines
respectively). Some of these include:
Maida Jump (Maida Vale),
(Earl's) Court Short,
Dunbiers Wood (Colliers
Wood),
Tooting Bottom (Tooting
Bec)
Parsons Nose (Parsons Green)
Eating Broadly (Fulham Broadway)
Rothernot (Rotherhithe),
Finner (Pinner),
Faxbridge (Uxbridge),
East Team (East Ham),
Arson Elbow (Arsenal),
Barking (Barking),
Whiteout City (White City),
Very Cross (Charing/New
Cross).
More subtlely, 'Umber' could
play on "Burnt Oak" and 'Chin Topiary' allude to the "Barbican".
(Interesting that "Moorgate", "Moor Park" and "Bond Street" didn't
make it onto the map.)
"(John Nee) - Extension
delayed subject to mood" and "(ABC) - Closed for the duration"
are both legends the like of which appear in Underground stations
from time to time, and whose associated double meanings are obvious
here.
"Monument" Station also
serves as one for Bill Oakley (1964-2004), to whom this volume
is dedicated."
Steve Daldry writes to correct one
part of the preceding: "Eating Broadly is more than likely a reference
to Ealing Broadway rather than Fulham." James Parry pointed that out
as well.
"teamy teamy" writes, "Arson Elbow is obviously 'Arse and Elbow' two pieces
of anatomy which are only ever used together in Britain in the phrase "Doesn't
know his/her arse from his elbow." meaning someone who doesn't know what
they are doing. Also Parson's Nose is the part of a roast chicken that is
what's left of what would have been the anus. Is this a reference to someone
being an arsehole?"
“If experiencing nausea while in the nether
regions, keep hat firmly on, lay back, and think of England.”
“Lie back and think of England” is the
advice supposedly given to daughters, by mothers, during the
Victorian era about how to survive the wedding night and the
loss of virginity, since (supposedly) Victorian women couldn’t conceive
of a proper woman enjoying sex. This is ahistorical nonsense, of
course, and “lie back and think of England” was not standard advice,
or even widely said. The quote attributed to "Lady Hillingdon" is
spurious, and Gathorne-Hardy, the source of the Lady Hillingdon quote,
himself says that the quote is "somewhat suspect." I repeat: "lie back
and think of England" was not standard advice or even widely said, if
at all.
“The Blazing World” is a reference to
Observations upon Experimental Philosophy. To which is
added the Description of a New Blazing World. Written by the
Thrice Noble, Illustrious and Excellent Princess, The Duchess of
Newcastle (1666), by Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle.
The Blazing World is a classic of the Imaginary Voyage genre
and was referred to in League v2.
“Ray Zone” is a reference to Ray Zone, who did the 3D art for
Black Dossier.
Pádraig Ó Méalóid
writes:
Various things can be seen or inferred
here, although no doubt some of this is entirely in my imagination.
There are two real stations mentioned, Barking and Monument.
Alan Moore: Black line (Northern)
Black is probably appropriate for Moore, as he's usually photographed
dressed in black.
Moore's line has junctions with O'Neill, Dimagmaliw, Oakley and
Klein, but, perhaps signigficantly, not with Dunbier or Quinn. (There
is some sort of unidentified link from Dunbier's line to Moore's, which
may indicate some link between them personally.)
East Buttock & West Buttock: This may indicate Moore having
to figuratively 'bend over and spread 'em' for DC.
In general Moore's stations seem to be him poking fun at his
own public image, like Rumour mill, Barking and Very Cross. Pi is also
interesting, as the irrational number Pi(3.1415 etc) is the number he
ascribes to the 'imaginary' sphere, Daath, in issue #20 of Promethea.
E=mc2 is *almost* MCC, the home of English Cricket.
Kevin O'Neill: Red line(Central)
The fact that O'Neill has the red line might be a play on the
banking meaning of being 'in the red,' that is being 'overdrawn.' O'Neill
is also 'Subject to delay at all times.' I'm fairly sure there was some
reference to his slow progress with the art in the early pages of one
of the other LoEG volumes.
Staines is where Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G comes from.
Conté make crayons.
Crazy Town was a 1932 Betty Boop movie.
Various interesting people come from Stoke Newington, including
Daniel Defoe, and more particularly Stewart Lee, stand-up comedian and
good friend of Alan Moore.
Benjamin Wood writes, "The stop 'Spent' at the
end of the pink line is a reference to the BBC radio series 'The League
of Gentlemen' which was set in the fictional town of Spent, when it moved
to TV the towns name was changed to Royston Vasey."
Page 8. The
two ads on the right side of this page are legitimate.
The cartoon on the lower left is done
in the style of New Yorker cartoons from the 1950s
and 1960s. The cartoon’s artist, “Arnie Packer,” is a reference
to the “Winged Avenger” episode of the British tv series The
Avengers. In “The Winged Avenger” an evil cartoonist named “Arnie
Packer” is responsible for a series of murders.
Pádraig Ó
Méalóid says, "the artwork for the comic strip
was actually done by UK comics artist Frank Bellamy," and points
us to this
site, which has samples of the comic art.
Page 9. Panel 1.
If the Malibu Hotel is a reference to something, I’m unaware
of it.
The headline in lower center, “Melchester
Rovers Scandal,” is a reference to the British comic Roy
of the Rovers (1954-1993), in which the hero Roy Race plays
football for the Melchester Rovers.
The headline on the right, “Knightsbridge
Ape-Men,” is a reference to “Quatermass and the Pit” (1958),
the third Professor Quatermass BBC serial. In it, the bones of
ape-men, unearthed in Knightsbridge, lead to the revelation of the
Martian influence on the evolution of humanity.
Pádraig Ó Méalóid
writes,
There is a large head on a flat-bed truck
in the top left-hand corner, possibly from a statue of Big Brother?
Is it possible that the blond-haired man in the lower left-hand
corner is a young John Constantine? Well, now that I look him up, obviously
not, as he's meant to have been born in 1953. Some searching around
leads me to guess that this might be a character from Colin McInnes's
Absolute Beginners, which is set in 1958. Not sure who exactly, but
someone will probably know more about this. It's possibly the nameless
narrator.
Presumably the man with the briefcase in the front middle is
someone, but I've no idea who. Likewise the two men speaking at the
very front middle.
Tristan Sargent writes, regarding the truck
with the statue, "This is a reference to the photograph used as the cover
to Misha
Glenny's The Rebirth of History...it's a picture from the late
80s after the fall of Communism in Europe - the head being Stalin's, and
the vehicle clearly being the same as the one in the comic. I'm
sure your other contributer is correct, therefore, about the head being
Big Brother's. It makes a nice partner to the fallen statue later
on that echoes the statue of Saddam Hussein pulled down in 2003."
Panel 3. “Will Wilson return
for Olympics?” reference is to Wilson, the mysterious, superhuman
teenaged athlete from the British comics Wizard, Hotspur,
and Hornet (1943-1963). Wilson, born in 1806, achieved
longevity and athletic prowess from special breathing exercises and
a diet of gruel, nuts, berries, and wild roots. In one episode
he breaks the world long jump record while running a three-minute
mile.
Damian Gordon notes
that Wilson was brought back as “the Man in Black” in the British
comic Spike in 1983.
Panels 4-6. Jack & Annie Walker
were characters on the long-running British soap Coronation
Street. The Walkers were landlords of the Rovers Return Inn.
(Hence the comment in Panel 6 that “our rovin’ days are over”).
Panel 4. Pádraig Ó
Méalóid writes "You can see a pen in JB's top pocket..."
Panel 5. “Straight after election
she ‘ad all cameras took out, the lot.”
The England of 1984 was of course
under constant observation from the government of Oceania,
but I think this is also an allusion by Moore to England as it
is now, with over four million cameras watching the British at
all times.
Panel 6. “Victory Gin is Doubleplus
Good For You.”
“Victory Gin” is the only authorized alcohol
in Orwell’s 1984. “Doubleplus” is another use of newspeak
(see Page 5). I will refrain from noting the use of newspeak
from this point on—suffice it to say that there’s a lot of it
in here.
Ken Shinn adds, "This is also a parody of
a long-standing advertising slogan for the famous Guinness stout (which
ran throughout the 50s and 60s - maybe later) which ran, "Guinness
Is Good For You". It's been memorably parodied by Gilbert Shelton in
his Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers saga "The Idiots Abroad", where a London
advertising hoarding boldly proclaims that "HEDGEHOG STOUT WON'T KILL YOU"."
Pádraig Ó Méalóid
adds, "Victory Gin: It's Doubleplus Good For You. This echoes the famous
advertising slogan 'Guinness is Good For You,' said to have been written
by Britrish crime novelist Dorothy L Sayers when she worked as a copywriter
for Benson's Advertising."
The “V” cigarettes that the blonde woman
is smoking here are likely “Victory cigarettes,” also from
1984.
Richardthinks notes that
Victory Cigarettes were a real brand, as seen here. Damian
Gordon adds, "Victory Cigarettes are featured as a central plot point in
"Columbo: Caution - Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health" with George Hamilton
(fake orange tan and all) injecting posion into the cigarettes." Pádraig
Ó Méalóid adds, "If I remember rightly, victory Cigarettes
were so badly made that they needed to be held in a horizontal position
to prevent the tobacco from falling out."
Panel 7. “I’ll have a vodka martini
over ice…and stir that, if you would. Otherwise it bruises
the alcohol.”
“Shaken, not stirred” is the cliched quote
from Ian Fleming’s James Bond (who as will be seen is the
speaker here). However, Bond never said, “shaken, not stirred.”
His stated preference for martinis appears in the first Bond novel,
Casino Royale:
"A dry martini," he said. "One.
In a deep champagne goblet."
"Oui, monsieur."
"Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's,
one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very
well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel.
Got it?"
The bruising of the alcohol comes when
a martini is shaken. Shaking a martini during its preparation
adds air into the drink and “bruises” the alcohol, making the
drink taste too bitter. Greg Terry writes, "The
thing is from everything I have ever read about alcohol, bruising only
happens with a gin martini, with vodka it is not a concern. Although with
shaking you melt more of the ice and you end up with a more watered down
drink. Though you might be interested in this bit of information. I found
this
link about martinis if you want more info."
Philip & Emily Graves write, "I'm fairly
sure I read somewhere that the iconic phrase was "Stirred, not
shaken" in early film drafts, but that (Cubby Broccoli?) had it
switched more for aesthetic reasons than anything else." And "Note the similarity
between Bond's appearance here and the drawing
commissioned to help the Daily Express artists for his
newspaper strip, from 1957 onwards." Tim Chapman adds that Bond
particularly remembers Hoagy Carmichael here. (See Page 155).
Eduard Habsburg
writes, "the black comma of hair over the eye is standard in every description
of Bond, e. g.: Opening lines of Casino Royale:
It was a dark, clean-cut face, with a three-inch
scar showing whitely down the sunburned skin of the right cheek. The
eyes were wide and level under straight, rather long black brows. The
hair was black, parted on the left, and carelessly brushed so that a thick
black comma fell down over the right eyebrow. The longish straight nose
ran down to a short upper lip below which was a wide and finely drawn
but cruel mouth. The line of jaw was straight and firm. A section of
dark suit, white shirt and black knitted tie completed the picture.
"ASDF FDSA" writes, "James Bond does say "shaken,
not stirred" in the Ian Fleming novels. The phrase is used variously in
them, sometimes not said by him, but from Doctor No:
And I would like a medium Vodka dry
Martini - with a slice of lemon peel. Shaken and not stirred, please. I would
prefer Russian or Polish vodka.
The general consensus is that gin martinis be
stirred, but the same is not true for Vodka martinis which need to be colder,
and are shaken. Though cocktail experts tend to agree that the vodka martini
is a horrible abominable drink not fit for consumption, only enjoyed by the
uncultured. Also, only an idiot would ask for his martini to be served in
a "deep champagne goblet," like Bond requests in Casino Royale."
Patrick Gillen writes, "In Kevin O'Neil's illustrations of James Bond,
you can see the scar on his right cheek as described in Casino Royale. It's
subtle, but it's definitely there."
Page 10. Panel
1. Apparently in the world of League Britain went
to a U.K./U.S. monetary system, with 10 shillings equaling 1
dollar rather than (or in addition to) 20 shillings equalling
1 pound. Also, the face on the shilling note is Britannia, the
personification of the British Empire. Modern pound notes have
the Queen’s face on them, but the 1948 pound note had Britannia
on it. Nevin Zehr corrects the preceding: "The
British use of the dollar is not an invention of Alan Moore, but is
in fact in accordance with how things are portrayed in "Nineteen Eighty-Four",
in which dollars are the currency used in Airstrip One, and presumably
all of Oceana."
Panel 4. "I'm Jimmy, by the way."
Philip & Emily Graves note that ""Jimmy Bond"
was also the name used in the 1954 'Climax!' TVM version of Casino
Royale, for its Americanised main character."
Peter Sanderson writes, "Moore makes his version
of James Bond look even more foolish by giving him the same name
as Jimmy Bond, James's nephew in the 1967 "Casino Royale" film,
played by Woody Allen. Note that in the 1967 movie, Jimmy turns
out to be the villain, albeit an incompetent one."
John Andrews writes,
"Fleming was a member of the British Secret Service himself and wrote
fictionalised accounts of his and other agents adventures to cope with
his depression. However in James Bond: The Authorised Biography
by John Pearson, Fleming writes the Bond stories as an ellaborate way
of conving Soviet agents that he doesn't really exist. Therefore everyone
has heard of James Bond in the real world. Perhaps in the world of the
League something similar happened which is why Bond uses the name "Jimmy"
rather than James?"
Myles Lobdell writes,
"James Bond was actually referred
to as Jimmy Bond on the back cover of the first American paperback edition
of Casino Royale, retitled You Asked For It, and released
in 1955."
“Bash Street,” “Rampaging Yobs,” and the picture
are a reference to the British comic strip “Bash Street Kids,”
created by British comics great Leo Baxendale (originally as
“When the Bell Rings”) and appearing in Beano from 1954
to the present. The Bash Street Kids are a bunch of mischievous
and ill-behaved children at the Bash Street School. Pádraig Ó Méalóid adds,
The two Bash Street Kids pictured are Danny and Wilfrid. I have a drawing
of Wilfrid, done by Leo Baxendale, you know! 'Yob' is back-slang for
'Boy.'"
The “Asian Flu” may be a specific literary/cultural
reference or just an allusion to the Asian flu epidemic in
Britain during late 1950s. (And which, appropriately enough,
killed Sax Rohmer, the creator of Fu Manchu).
Panel 8. Captain Morgan is a reference
to Jet Morgan, who starred in the British radio serial Journey
Into Space (1953-1958). Set in the distant future of 1965
(and in later series the early 1970s), Journey Into Space
is about Captain Jet Morgan, “Doc” Matthews, “Mitch” Mitchell,
and Lemmy Barnett, and their trip to the Moon and then to Mars.
Captain Dare is a reference to Dan Dare,
the archetypal British comic science fiction hero. Created
by Frank Hampson, Dan Dare has been appearing in various media
since his debut in the comic Eagle in 1950. In the 1990s
Dan Dare, chief pilot of the Interplanet Space Fleet, has adventures
across the solar system, repeatedly coming into conflict with the
Mekon, the evil ruler of the Treens of northern Venus.
Damian Gordon notes
that Dan Dare is a Colonel, not a Captain, in his original
appearances.
Captain Logan is a reference to Jet-Ace
Logan, who appeared in the British comics Comet (1956-1959)
and Tiger (1959-1968). Royal Air Force Space Cadet Jim
“Jet-Ace” Logan is a part of the R.A.F. Space Patrol and cruises
about the solar system, fighting iniquitous aliens and finding adventure.
David A. Simpson adds, "Jet-Ace Logan also appeared
in Thriller Picture Library in the early sixties, with several of these being
reprinted in the mid-seventies in Space Library Holiday Special."
Ed Berridge and Guy Lawley undo my ignorance about the
man Bond pushes aside here and who rubs his head in panel 9: "the
chap Jimmy pushes aside would appear to be L. Miller Watt's Pop, a
newspaper strip that ran in the Daily Sketch from 1921-1960 (though Gordon
Hogg took over as writer/artist from 1949)."
Panel 9. “Fighter ace dies” is
presumably a reference to something, but the accompanying
picture could refer to a number of characters. But see Page
16, Panel 8.
Page 11. Panel 4. Philip & Emily Graves write,
"Jimmy has acquired the Harlequin-emblazoned cigarette case from his
Grandfather, seen way back at the beginning, in V1I1P1.2."
Panel 5. Peter Sanderson writes, "Actually,
I'm a secret agent": the way that Bond lights his cigarette
with an eerie glow reminds me of the Cigarette-Smoking Man
in The X-Files."
Panel 6. Meccania is a reference to Gregory
Owen's Meccania, the Super-State (1918). Meccania is
the ultimate in totalitarian dystopias, a state completely regimented
and controlled by the government. For a Big Brother-ruled England,
Meccania would be a natural enemy.
Panel 7. Kian Ross, Rich Weaver,
and Jeff Patterson, among others, point out what I should have
gotten: that the statue is of Mr. Hyde, as mentioned at the end
of League v2. Adam J.B. Lane writes, "the
semi-abstract quality of the hyde memorial statue makes me wonder
if k.o. isn't referencing the work of british sculptor henry moore
(1898-1986)." Damian Gordon writes, "In LoEG V2 it states that the artist
who created the Hyde sculpture is Sir Jacob Epstein, and the Hyde statue
definitely looks like his
work."
Page 12. Panel 3. “O’Dette
‘Oodles’ O’Quim” is a riff on the salacious, single-entendre
names Bond women and Bond’s female enemies usually have.
I'd assumed that "quim" was
commonly-known, but obviously note. Peter Sanderson, among others,
writes: ""Oodles O'Quim": until I looked it up, I didn't
know that "quim" is British slang for female genitalia.
I suspect I'm not the only American reader who didn't know that.
So "Oodles O'Quim" is the equivalent of "Pussy Galore." Mario
di Giacomo writes "Oodles O'Quim is a better match to Plenty O'Toole,
from Diamonds Are Forever." Peter Sanderson
responds, "No, I don't think so. "Quim" and "Pussy" both refer
to female genitalia. But when Plenty O'Toole introduces herself
to Bond in the "Diamonds Are Forever" movie, he comments, "Named after
your father, perhaps?""
Panel 7. There is a reference to
a statue of Big Brother in 1984: “in Victory Square...near
the statue of Big Brother on the tall fluted column with the
lions at the foot.” The statue here doesn’t appear to be it, though.
Peter Sanderson writes, "This
indicates that in "1984" Trafalgar Square was renamed Victory
Square, and Nelson's statue was replaced by a statue of Big Brother."
Philip & Emily Graves write, "perhaps that *is* the
statue of BB, which could indeed have replaced the statue of
Hornblower in Trafalgar Square (as per Prospectus of London, 1901,
p106), but it's now being torn down, and so may not fit the description
from 1984 exactly."
Cliff
Schexnayder writes, "The removal of the statue seems particularly reminiscent
of the efforts by the US forces to take down the statue of Saddam Hussein
after taking Baghdad in 2003. I don't think this is an accident since
the way the statue leans is in direct opposition to the way the ropes are
draped upon it for removal." Pádraig Ó Méalóid
noted this as well. Peter Gilham further compared
it to Soviet-era statues being pulled down in former Soviet bloc countries.
Giles Cresswell writes, "I
believe this is meant to be Piccadilly Square with the statue of Eros replaced
with the one in the panel. Piccadilly Square is where all of the big billboards
are and the road layout seems more fitting. Please see these
images.
The statue to Eros is barely visible off to the left of the image. Compare
this with Trafalgar
Square - a statue on a tall column surrounded by large fountains."
Drake writes, Confirmed that
the statue is Big Brother. In the novel 1984, Orwell says that the
statue's hand is raised to 'point to where BB won the Battle of Airstrip
One.' Note here, the statue indeed gestures to the sky."
Wow! was a British comic which
appeared in 1982 and 1983, but I don’t believe the bus advert
is a reference to that.
Maplins is a holiday camp in the British
tv sitcom Hi-de-Hi! (1980-1988). Maplins is in the coastal
town of Crimpton-on-Sea in Essex. As far as I know there’s no
“Bluepool” in Hi-de-Hi!. Damian Gordon points out that Maplins
is based on a real series of camps called Butlin’s Holiday Camps.
James Parry writes, "About the
'Bluepool' reference on page 12, panel 7 of the Black Dossier. I'm sure
someone has already suggested this but, similar to the pun underground
station names earlier on, it could simply be a play on the traditional
British seaside resort of Blackpool.
While it's seen better days, its heyday as a tourist destination did just
about stretch to the timeframe of the events in the 'Dossier."
“--is watching you” is the second half
of the classic phrase “Big Brother is Watching You” from 1984.
John Dorrian writes,
Anyway, in a wide shot of a street scene in this section, we
see an old lady, dressed in a black coat, wearing glasses and
a hat with flowers on it, looking pissed off at a passing car. This
woman is the Grandmother from the weekly Giles cartoons that ran
in the Daily Express. Giles mostly did political cartoons, but he
alternated between politics and domestic cartoons about an unnamed
Family cast of characters he'd created. His work was extremely popular.
Grandma was a fairly bad tempered old thing & was the basis for an
even more violent character in Cerebus the Aardvark. (Dave Sim was a
Giles fan, and his version of the character wasn't so much a 'homage'
as it was Sim simply lifting the character wholesale from Giles and plopping
her down in Cerebus.)
Philip & Emily
Graves write, "That's Grandma, head of the Giles family berating
a rather rude flat-capped individual." Michael Norwitz says the
same thing.
Tim Chapman writes, "is that Tony Hancock in bottom
left with arm raised? Eyebrows and jowels certainly look like him."
"teamy teamy" writes, "In between grandma Giles
and the possible Tony Handcock there's a bald man with a moustache shouting
at a black man and white girl. It's definitely Alf Garnett, Warren
Clarke's bigoted alter ego from 'Til Death Us Do Part." It seems rather obvious
why he'd be shouting at a white girl linking arms with a black man."
Page 13. Panel 1. “Airstrip
One” is is what the British Isles are called in 1984.
Airstrip One is part of Oceania (the Americas, Southern Africa,
and Australia).
The “Anti-Sex League” is a reference to
the government-backed organization, in 1984, which
is devoted to eliminating the pleasurable aspect of sex. Members
of the League are encouraged to have sex, but only once a week,
and “for the good of the party.”
Panel 2. In 1984 O’Brien
is a member of the Inner Party, the ruling class of Oceania.
In the novel O’Brien is responsible for torturing Winston Smith,
the protagonist, into accepting Big Brother.
Panel 4. Jeff Wilson, among others,
corrects me: “Freedom is Slavery” is not newspeak, but is one of the
slogans of Oceania's ruling class. As Jeff says, "It cannot be newspeak,
as Sime explains about 50 pages in, because newspeak will eliminate the
concept of freedom." Tony Whitt adds that it is "an example of "doublethink",
the ability to hold two contrary notions in one's head and to believe
both of them. "Newspeak" would refer only to words like "doubleplusgood",
"crimethink", and, for that matter, "doublethink"." Pádraig Ó
Méalóid noted this as well.
The shell marks on the Ministry of Love
may seem unusual, but much of London was not fully rebuilt,
following World War Two, until the mid- to late-1950s.
Page 14. Panel 1. The
poster in the upper left is a combination of the “Big Brother
Is Watching You” poster from 1956 British film version of 1984,
and the mustached Big Brother from the 1984 American film version
of 1984. Devin Cambridge notes, "The
big brother poster makes reference to another British TV series: The Prisoner.
“Be Watching You” is a variation of “Be Seeing You”, the common “goodby”
given on the Prisoner Island. The full caption is truncated (with “brother”
prominently removed yet we see the 1984 slogan in full in a future panel),
thus giving us the prisoner reference."
The bust in the lower left is of Professor
Moriarty (I think), replacing the bust of Napoleon which Moriarty
kept when he was in charge of British Intelligence in League
volume 1.
The symbol above the doors is the Masonic
compass and right angle which was a recurring symbol in
earlier League volumes. In Masonic lore the compass
and right angle symbolize the instruments of both the Masons
and God. Pádraig Ó Méalóid
adds, "The Masonic symbol over the door in Panel 1 also echoes the letters
M and W, which are made much play of throughout the book. And of course
Mina's initials would be WM."
If the pith helmet and the sheathed sword
are references to anything, I’m unaware of it. Damian Gordon
suggests that they may be Quatermain’s. But I think Myles Lobdell
has the truth of it:
if you are willing to give yourself eyestrain you can barely
make out on the dark-blue tag attached to the bat, the words "Clicky-Ba".
The letters 'Cl-' on the first row and 'Ba' on the second row
of the tag are the most legible, the other letters seem a scrawl.
Thus, this apparent cricket bat, is none other than the 'club' of
Chung, servant to the Wolf of Kabul, Bill Samson. To explain the
pith helmet, Samson was often described thus: "He walked with his hands
thrust deep into his pockets, and a battered sun-helmet stuck on the back
of his head". A sun-helmet is a common synonym for pith helmet.
For some reason, however, we all missed what Guy Lawley
got, which is that both the pith hemet and cricket bat belong to William
Samson of the 1940s League--see the notes to Page 148.
The bust with the question mark
may be the bust of Baron von Münchhausen seen in the
first League series. Jason Adams disagrees:
"I don't think the bust is Baron Munnchausen, but rather it is the
same bust of Britannia with the question mark helmet, as seen on the
Cover and the stylized compass rose/union jack emblem from the inside
cover flap and first few pages of the book. Along with the masonic compass
and capital M (both seen, incidentally, on the door to the building on
Page 13. Panel 4 and Panel 6), this depiction of Britannia is one of
the main symbols of the League."
I’m unsure what the glass ball might be.
Philip & Emily Graves write, "The glass ball (helmet)
and 's' shirt are definitely connected, and look very similar indeed
to this
cover to Tom Swift and his Space Solartron." Terry Jones clears this one up: "the helmet and square
tank and the red shirt with the 's' are definitely linked. They come
from Swift Morgan and the Flying Saucers' worn by the hero. This strip was
illustrated (please get this right matey!) by the great Denis McLoughlin.
It's from the New Spaceways Comic Annual 1954, pub by The Popular Press.
McLoughlin with whom I corresponded for a time, was also the creator of Roy
Carson who is also referenced later in the BD in the first panel of the page
when Allan and Mina are boarding the bus to Birmingham (in the poster for
The Daily Post 'Roy Carson Horror'.) Clearly Mr Moore has jolly good taste!
The 's' is is so small because the publisher feared litigation from DC comcis
by the way!"
The giant skull is the Brobdingnagian
skull, from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726),
seen in League v1.
I’m not sure what the shirt with the “s”
emblem is referring to. Andrew Kunka writes,
"I think that the glass ball and the "s" shirt go together, as an underwater
breating suit. Not sure what it references, though. Perhaps
Tom Swift?"
I’m not sure who the portrait of the man
in the bow-tie is a reference to. Michael Norwitz wonders if it might the Dorian Gray.
Adam J.B. Lane writes, "I suspect the portrait is that of dorian grey,
returned to normal now that its subject is deceased." Peter Sanderson
writes, "The Picture of Dorian Gray was a full-length portrait, whereas
the picture in this panel only shows its subject's head and upper chest."
John Andrews writes, "I believe the portrait
on page 14 panel 1 is in fact Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond,
rather than Dorian Gray. Fleming often wore a bow tie and an expressition
of of distain, just like the portrait here." Pádraig Ó Méalóid concurs
and provides a link to
prove it.
On the bulletin board, the painting/picture,
“Pacific Ocean July 1949,” and “Iron Fish?” are references
to “Iron Fish,” from the British comic Beano from 1949-1968.
The Iron Fish’s creator, Jimmy Grey, appeared in League
v2. “The Iron Fish” is about two twins, Danny and Penny Gray, who
pilot two “Iron Fish” submarines, both of which are built by their
father, Professor Gray, who is the subject of the “Professor Gray Feared
Lost” headline on the lower left of the board.
Stu Shiffman sends this
news article along.
“Bla- Sapp-“ is a reference to the titular
character of the comic strip “The Black Sapper,” who appeared
in the British comcs Rover and Hotspur for decades,
beginning with The Rover #384 (Aug. 24, 1929). The Black
Sapper is a costumed inventor/thief who uses The Earthworm, an enormous
burrowing machine, to commit crimes. He reforms in the face of a Yellow
Peril invasion of England. (Thanks to David A. Simpson for correcting me
here).
Panel 2. The painting in the upper
left is based on this:
This is Sir Francis Walsingham (c. 1532-1590),
the spymaster for Queen Elizabeth I in our world. However,
as can be seen on Page 53, Walsingham has been replaced by someone
else in the world of League. For who, see the notes to Page
53.
Panel 4. In 1984 Room 101
is “the worst thing in the world,” a torture chamber in the
Ministry of Love where prisoners are subjected to their worst
nightmares.
Panel 5. Ed Berridge writes, "the wicker chair here
might well be supposed to suggest the similar object used as part
of an (inadvertantly) homoerotic, testicular-oriented method or torture
in Ian Fleming's Casino Royale."
Pádraig Ó Méalóid
writes, "there is a cane behind the door. This is the kind of cane that
is regularly used, largely by school teachers, to punish children - mainly
male children, it must be said - in British comics, and was that common
that I seem to recall that it would have made an appearance in pretty much
every comic I read in my youth. Certainly deserving of a room that contains
what people fear most."
Charles Cunyus notes, "You can also make out the rat torture
mask used on Winston Smith by O'Brein in room 101." Joyce Cunyus adds, "The 'Ratmask' here isn't identical
to what you see used on Winston in 'Pornsec SexJane' Page 8, I believe
what you see here is taken directly from the '1984' film with John Hurt
and Richard Burton."
Panel 6. “Special village in Wales”
a reference to the British tv series The Prisoner (1967),
in which retired spies who too dangerous to their former employers
are confined in a village. The location of the village was never
specified, but the series was filmed in Portmeirion, which is
in Wales.
Page 15. Panels 1-4.
Bond is this hatefully misogynistic in the Ian Fleming books,
if not in the films. And for them what don't believe
me, or haven't read the Fleming books in a while, or at all, read Scott Lynch's take
on the subject.
Regarding this, Pádraig Ó Méalóid
usefully points out "AM's 1986 introduction to Frank Miller's Dark
Knight Returns, where he says "As our political and social consciousness
continues to evolve, Alan Quartermain stands revealed as just another
white imperialist out to exploit the natives and we begin to see that
the overriding factor in James Bond's psychological makeup is his utter
hatred and contempt for women.""
Panel 8. Pádraig Ó Méalóid
writes, "Considering that Jimmy is beaten by a woman in Room 101, could
this be what he is most afraid of? Would fear of women be what's behind
him appalling misogyny? Moore doesn't do things by accident, so I think
this happening to Bond in Room 101 is deliberate on Moore's part."
Panel 9. I believe that James Bond
was once described as a “nasty little thug” but I’ve been
unable to find the reference. David Alexander McDonald notes that
in the most recent film version of Casino Royale M uses the
word "thug" in describing Bond. Patrick Reumann
gets it: "John Steed of the Avenger Show fight and beats Bond in
a fight at school and then call him a A "Nasty little Thug" in John
Steed- An Authorized Biography: Vol 1, Jealous in Honour by Tim Heald
1977."
Page 16. Panel 3. Keith
Kole writes, "Here's a meeting of two characters - James Bond and Allan
Quatermain - both played by Sean Connery in the movies.
I have to wonder about Allan and Mina's clothing choices: Allan
in the trench coat reminds me of the hard boiled detectives of film
noir and Mina is dressed like one of that genres femme fatales."
Panel 4. “Just like your grandfather.”
This is confirmation that Campion Bond,
seen in the previous volumes of League, is James Bond’s
grandfather.
Panel 5. “Is this what it’s come
to? The British adventure hero? Pathetic.”
While it is logical that a 19th century
British adventure hero (Mina) would find the 20th century
British adventure hero (Bond) unsavory and pathetic, the statement
might also be seen as a metatextual comment by Moore on the way
in which 20th century British adventure fiction, certainly of the
first half of the century, overtly displayed biases (see Page 79,
Panel 2, for example) which were mostly hidden during the 19th century.
Jason Powell corrects me: "You
say that this dialogue belongs to Mina, but it looked to me that the
word balloon was attached to Allan. This struck me as more resonant,
since Allan Quatermain is much more the quintessential British adventure
hero, and as such more likely to pass judgment on what the archetype
has "come to.""
Tristan Sargent writes,
"I'm not sure if it's intentional, but this line actually struck me as
alluding back to the first League series. Allan was, after all,
a largely wretched figure in that series, drawing similar comments from
Mina - but in particular Moriarty gives a withering condemnation of Allan
in issue 6, which I felt Allan's comments here directly recalled, perhaps
ironically."
Panel 7. “If he’d been German,
he’d have been loyal to Hynkel.”
See Page 47.
Panel 8. “Eurasia” is a reference
to 1984. Eurasia, which is Europe, Russia, northern
Africa, and the Middle East, is the enemy of Oceania. (Sometimes the enemy of Oceania, as Pádraig Ó
Méalóid correctly notes).
“Social– Nuclea– by Gust–“ is a reference
to to H.G. Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come (1933),
a future history of the world in which a benevolent dictatorship
emerges following a deadly plague. In The Shape of Things to
Come a Wellsian stand-in, Gustave de Windt, writes a book, Social
Nucleation, which
was the first exhaustive study of the psychological laws underlying
team play and esprit de corps, disciplines of criminal gangs,
spirit of factory groups, crews, regiments, political parties,
churches, professionalisms, aristocracies, patriotisms, class
consciousness, organized research and constructive cooperation
generally. It did for the first time correlate effectively the increasing
understanding of individual psychology, with new educational methods
and new concepts of political life. In spite of its unattractive
title and a certain wearisomeness in the exposition, his book became
a definite backbone for the constructive effort of the new time.
Titus Cobbet is a reference to Wells’
The Shape of Things to Come. In The Shape of Things
to Come a bicyclist, Titus Cobbett, travels through a ruined
Europe and England observing the desolation. He also reports on
the death of a “European Aviator,” which could be what the headline
on Page 10, Panel 9 is referring to.
I don’t know what “–ipley” might be a
reference to. Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley, possibly?
“The Th– Oligarchial Emm–“ is a reference
to The Theory and Practice of Oligarchial Collectivism,
which in 1984 is “a terrible book, a compendium of all
the heresies” and is written by the dissident Emmanuel Goldstein.
Pádraig Ó Méalóid adds,
"I noticed this description of The Book, as Winston Smith refers to Emmanuel
Goldstein's book: "A heavy black volume, amatuerishly bound, with no name
or title on the cover." If you leave aside the "amatuerishly bound" bit,
this is probably a good description of the book I'm looking at with the dustjacket
off, and probably is a good description of the book that Mina and Alan
are reading, too."
Panel 9. “–stasia” is a reference
to Eastasia in 1984. Eastasia, which consists of China,
Japan, Korea, Mongolia, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, and
the Middle East, is the smallest and newest of the three superstates.
“Atrocity Pamphlet” may be a reference
to the J.G. Ballard novel The Atrocity Exhibition (1970).
Chris Nichols, among others, wonders if this is a
reference to Charlie Stross' Atrocity Archives: "The Atrocity
Archives" deals with British Intelligence's use of and battles against
the occult. During the novel, the protaganists visit the Atrocity Archives,
a secret museum in the Hague housing the relics of the Nazis' gruesome
occult rituals."
Pádraig Ó
Méalóid corrects us: "According to page 121 of my black Penguin
Classic edition of Ninteen Eighty-Four, "Julia's unit in the Fiction Department
had been taken off the production of novels and was rushing out a series
of atrocity pamphlets." This was all in preparation for the forthcoming
Hate Week."
“Manor Farm” is a reference to George
Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945), in which the revolution
of the talking animals takes place at Manor Farm.
I’m not sure what “Harry Blake” might
be a reference to. Jonathan Carter wonders if it might be a reference
to Sexton Blake's ne'er-do-well brother Harry, who was introduced
in a story in either 1905 or 1907. Philip &
Emily Graves agree: "It must be Sexton Blake's elder brother Henry.
From the Blake Bibliography,
which says for 1907: "By far the most important event reported this
year is Blake's encounter with his long-lost elder brother, Henry."
I’m not sure what the folder with the
stylized letter is a reference to. Philip & Emily Graves write, "We think that
the 'stylised letter' could be Martian, and that this is a Martian/English
reference work."
I think the book below that reads “Moreau,”
which is a reference to H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr.
Moreau (1896). Dr. Moreau appeared in League v2.
“Gustave de Windt” is a reference to H.G.
Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come. (See the note to
Panel 8 above).
I’m not sure what “-oy Cars” might be
a reference to. Philip & Emily Graves
write, "We suspect that "-oy Cars-" is Roy Carson,
a 1940s-50s "square-jawed hardboiled quasi-private eye" created
by prolific detective-fiction cover-artist Denis McLoughlin." Andrew Kunka adds a link to Carson's entry
on the indispensible Thrilling Detective
site.
“St. Merri-- Hospital” is a reference
to John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids (1953). The
Day of the Triffids is a science fiction, horror, post-apocalyptic
novel in which a race of carnivorous plants, the triffids,
cause the downfall of human civilization. The opening of the novel
occurs in St. Merryn’s Hospital.
Page 17. Panel 1. “...how
much vipers like Lime actually know...”
See Page 78, Panel 9 for more on “Lime.”
“Drake” is a reference to John Drake,
the protagonist of the ITC tv (not BBC--thanks to Zoltán
Déry for the correction) series Danger Man (1960-1962).
John Drake is an Irish-American spy for a department of NA.T.O.
who carries out missions for his superiors even though he often
disagrees with them. The Prisoner, which starred Patrick McGoohan
(who played John Drake), is unofficially the sequel to Danger Man.
In David McDaniel’s Who is No. 2? (1968) it is confirmed that
Drake is No. 6, The Prisoner.
David Alexander McDonald
writes:
David MacDaniel's novel is ephemeral, and it was repeatedly stated
by McGoohan and various members of the production that The Prisoner
is not, in fact, John Drake (despite the John Drake picture X'd
out at the beginning of the show.) These statements from
the production end (most recently on the 40th Anniversary
DVD release) are hobbled a tiny bit, however, by the appearance of
an actor playing a character named Potter in both Danger Man and
The Prisoner, albeit the character being quite different in each iteration,
by the original reference in the story treatments to the Prisoner as
"Drake" (he was referred to as P as pre-production and production went
on) and by the repurposing of an unused Danger Man script, "The Girl Who
Was Death," in the last four episodes of the series -- and there's that
passing reference there to "Drake." But the official line is that
the Prisoner wasn't Drake. More entertainingly, the producers
have been known to speculate that, given the final episode, the
series actually took place with in a virtual reality, or entirely in
the Prisoner's mind while he was drugged to the gills.
Philp & Emily Graves write:
On the 'Drake as Prisoner' suggestion, it should be noted that,
although McGoohan and others denied that they were the same
character, George Markstein, co-creator of (and script editor
on) The Prisoner stated on several occasions that they WERE. One
suggestion for the purported confusion is that the character (and
name) of John Drake were created and owned by Ralph Smart, so overt
identification of the two was either impossible for legal reasons,
or undesirable as the rights were not McGoohan's.
Win Eckert writes, "in addition to David McDaniel's novel,
the Drake-Prisoner identification was confirmed in the third PRISONER
novel, A DAY IN THE LIFE by Hank Stine."
“Meres” is a reference to Toby Meres, who appeared in the
British tv series Callan (1967-1972). David Callan, the
protagonist, is a bitter, aging assassin for the British S.I.S.
Meres is Callan's partner. Lee Barnett corrects my original description
of Toby Meres and writes that Meres is "not so much less-skilled, as
he is a cold blooded psychopath who enjoys the more violent aspects
of the work, whereas Callan hated it, even though the latter was so
bloody good at it." David Alexander McDonald writes:
I adored Callan -- bitterly cynical, wonderful work from
Edward Woodward. Meres wasn't Callan's superior, though
-- he was his peer (as
was Cross, after Anthony Valentine left for
a while.) Meres was an arrogant, impulsive, and thoroughly
sociopathic twat, a former public schoolboy and Oxford graduate
who certainly had ambitions beyond his station; he was, however,
unlikely to assume the position of Hunter, which Callan did for
a while. In the initial story, "A Magnum For Schneider" (based
on James Mitchell' stage play, and done as an Armchair Theater
episode) Meres (played by Peter Bowles rather than Valentine) is asigned
to keep an eye on Callan, and then set him up for the police to arrest
once he's completed his mission -- Callan promptly turns the
tables and leaves Meres for the cops instead. As a result
Callan ends up with his dossier assigned to a Red File (hence the novel
version being called A Red File For Callan; the movie adaptation,
with Peter Egan as Meres, is just called Callan.) The series
generally partners Callan and Meres, with Callan as often as not managing
to screw Meres over. All the same, I wouldn't call Meres
less skilled or less adept than Callan -- Callan's conscience often
gets in the way, although he can summon a vicious coldness when he
needs to. If anything, Meres is sometimes a little exciteable
because he enjoys his work. Cross, on the other hand, was
less adept and more vulnerable, which eventually causes his death.
Oh, and after Callan, brainwashed, kills a Hunter at the end of series
two, it's Meres that shoots Callan -- and then proceeds to show concern
and care, which is really rather freaky.
Damian Gordon writes, ""Drake and Meres" long shot really
but the two names together remind me that a game not as often played
as "was Number 6 really John Drake?" is "was The Equalizer Robert McCALL
really David CALLan?"
Panel 4. Gadgets
and weapons contained in and concealed by James Bond’s pens
are a recurring part of the Bond canon.
“The Me– Police C– George— Died on t–
August 1898"
Philp & Emily Graves write, "The deceased
Police Constable George D[ ] may very well be the
one killed by Hawley Griffen back in LoEG V1I5. Furthermore (or
alternatively) George D[ ] may be a reference to George
Dixon of Dock Green, played by Jack Warner from 1955-76." Jonathan
Carter and Christopher Reynolds wonder if this is a dedication to
the policeman killed by the Invisible Man in League v2. But I think David A. Simpson has it right: "Jack Warner’s
first appearance as PC George Dixon was in the film The Blue Lamp; since
Dixon was killed in that film, that may be what the plaque refers to."
Panel 7. Philip & Emily Graves write,
"In the 1967 (Actually around 9 years later) film "You Only
Live Twice", Bond has a cigarette with shoots a jet-powered projectile."
Page 18. Panel 2. The
obelisk is Cleopatra’s Needle, the celebratory obelisk originally
constructed for Pharaoh Tuthmosis III, ruler of Egypt’s 18th
Dynasty from 1504-1450 B.C.E.
Martin Campbell writes, "The car is a Vauxhall Victor (F-Type). This would
have new in 1958, as the model was introduced the previous year. It was exported
to North America as a Pontiac. The Glamcabs from Carry on Cabby
were actually Ford Cortina Mark 1."
Panels 2-4. “Glamcabs” is a reference
to the film Carry On Cabby (1963). Glamcabs is a taxi
company in competition with Speedee Taxis, the service operating
by Charlie Hawkins, Carry On Cabby’s protagonist.
It is possible that the driver here is
Anthea, from Carry On Cabby, played in the film by Amanda
Barrie.
Panel 5. Pádraig Ó Méalóid
writes, "The Gentlemen's Lavatory is possibly a reference to Carry On Screaming,
in which Charles Hawtrey plays Dan Dan, a toilet attendant in an underground
toilet like the one in the picture."
Panel 7. “He must meet women with
names like that all the time.” As indeed Bond does.
Page 19. Panel 1. “Birnley
Fabrics” is a reference to the film The Man in the White
Suit (1951). In the film Sidney Stratton invents a fabric,
later called Birnley Fabrics after the mill owner who produces
them, that never gets dirty or wears out.
I’m assuming that the characters in this
panel, as in many others in Black Dossier, are references
to British comics, but I’m unable to place the references.
Panels 3-5. “Mr. Kiss” is
a Michael Moorcock’s Mother London (1988), a novel
about post-WW2 London. One of the main characters is fading theater
performer and professional mind-reader Josef Kiss.
Huw Morgan writes, "Is it just
me, or does 'Mr Kiss', the gentleman that Allan and Mina meet briefly outside
their lodgings, look a very great deal like the actor Robert Morley?"
Page 20. Panels 2-8.
The landlady stumped me, but not you lot. Chris Roberson, usedcarsrus,
and Ian Warren, among others, point out that "The landlady is clearly
Mrs. Cornelius, from Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius stories and elsewhere,
and her children the younger versions of Jerry, Frank, and Catherine
Cornelius, who had the same sort of complicated, incestuous relationship
hinted at here."
Panel 2. Pádraig Ó Méalóid
writes, "In 1984 the landlord of the room that Winston Smith and Julia
are renting is Mr Charrington, so there's the possibility that this Mrs
C is an echo of that, possibly meant to be his wife, nd that by implication
Mina and Alan are possibly renting the same room that Winston and Julia
are in, or at least there are in a parallel to it. Certainly they seem to
be using it for much the same purpose, which is reading the Forbidden Book."
Later, Pádraig added, "In the book, there's a woman hanging
out the washing just below the window of Winston and Julia's room. This
could possibly be Mr Charrington's wife. She is described thus: '... a monstrous
woman, solid as a Norman pillar, with brawny red forearms and a sacking apron
strapped around her middle...' This is also a reasonable description of
Mrs C here."
Panel 3. “Anyroad” is a northern
British variant of “anyway.”
Page 21. Panel 1. The
“Holborn Empire,” a.k.a the Royal Holborn, a.k.a. Weston’s
Music Hall, was a major music hall in Holborn, in central London.
Peter Sanderson notes that "Lewis and Clark"
are a reference to "Al Lewis and Willie Clark, the fictional
vaudeville team in Neil Simon's 1972 play "The Sunshine Boys," which
was made into an MGM film released in 1975. "Lewis and Clark" were
based on the real life vaudeville team of Smith and Dale (Joe Smith
and Charles Dale)."
I’m unable to place the “Professor Donnol”
reference.
“Archie Rice” is a reference to the John
Osborne play The Entertainer (1957), later made into
the 1960 film The Entertainer. In the play and film Archie
Rice is an aging, hard-luck vaudevillian entertainer.
If “lifting you on wings of song” is a
reference rather than just an entertainment catchphrase, I’m
unaware of it.
“Fevvers” may be a reference to the protagonist
of Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus (1984). Fevvers
is a Cockney circus aeralist and showgirl who has wings.
Damian Gordon clears up my confusion:
“Mr. J. Stark The Incredible India Rubber Man” is a reference
to Janus Stark, a Victorian superhero who appeared in the
British comics Smash and Valiant (1969-1973). Stark
has very rubbery bones, which gives him superheroic abilities which
he uses to fight crime." Pádraig Ó
Méalóid adds, "Much as it grieves me to disagree with Damian
Gordon, JS actually ran in Valiant until March 1975, and of course gets
a walk-on part in Wildstorm’s Albion, which was plotted by Alan Moore, and
written by Leah Moore & John Reppion. Lots of useful information about
Stark here."
“Comedy of –rthur -e Washboard -tkins
with -er Drawers” is a reference to Paul Whitehouse’s character
Arthur Atkinson, played by Whitehouse on the BBC tv show The
Fast Show (1994-2000). Arthur Atkinson, a parody of real-life
radio comedian Arthur Askey, is a nonsensical comedian, one of
whose catchphrases is “Where’s me washboard?” and one of whose characters
is “Chester Drawers.” Pól Rua corrects my mistake: "Chester
Drawers wasn't a character portrayed by Arthur Atkinson, but rather
his less successful and put-upon second banana."
Tim Anselm adds, "'The Fast Show' book revealed that Arthur
Atkinson was a Nazi sympathiser (The 'Arthur Atkinson' story included
an archive photo of Arthur with "the founding father of National Socialism
himself". So presumably Mina got herself a bargain: the League-verse's
Hynkel-worshipping 'Atkins' was surely unpersoned. Thank Goldstein for
proles and their flea markets."
Pádraig Ó Méalóid
writes that the pink rabbit in the center of the panel, to the right of
the iron, is "Pink Rabbit from the book When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
(1971) by Judith Kerr. This was a semi-autobiographical novel about her
childhood, when they had to leave Germany as her father was a wanted man.
They had to go suddenly, so many things got left behind, including their
toys. Anna, the protagonist of the book, imagines Hitler playing with their
games compendium and with Pink Rabbit."
Panel 4. “Or perhaps his tie-clip’s
really a radio.”
I’m unaware of Bond ever having a radio
transmitter in his tie-clip. However, such a device appeared
in the American tv series Search (1972-1973). John
Soanes and Dennis Walker note that, in "America," Simon and Garfunkel
sang, "I said be careful his bowtie is really a camera."
Page 22. Panel 1. Damian
Gordon corrects my confusion here: “Baz” is a riff on the British
laundry detergent Daz. Philip & Emily Graves and Guy Lawley,
think that it is just Daz, and I'm reading it wrong. (Quite possible.
Me old eyes just ain't what they used to be. And the rheumatiz is killin'
me....) Mark Irons writes, "On pg. 22 p. 1, the laundry soap is definitely
"Daz"; the box is seen in full panel 5 of the preceding page."
Panel 2. In 1984 an “unperson”
is someone who has been killed by the government and had his
existence officially deleted and erased from all records. Pádraig Ó Méalóid writes,
"I'm going to slightly disagree with you on this, only on the basis that
an Unperson does not necessarily have to be dead to have their existence
officially deleted. A bit like now, really..."
KS writes,
Not only a reference to 1984, this also
reminds me of the modern term of nonperson. "A non-person is a person or
a member of a group who lacks, loses, or is forcibly denied social or legal
status, especially basic human rights, or who effectively from a point of
view of traceability, documentation or existence, ceases to have a record
of their existence within a society."
Unfortunately, this is one of several similarities with the Big Brother-era
England of fiction and today's actual Europe (and the Western World in general),
a protagonist on the so called "War on Terrorism" and a "Fortress" guarding
its shores and cities against undesirable elements (immigrants) that the
aforementioned war causes. It's common that such undesirable people may be
abducted, tortured, illegally interrogated or disappear completely; or European
countries may cooperate and abet to such actions taking place (by some other
western power) in their territories.
Panel 5. In 1984 “pornosec”
is a section of the Ministry of Truth that produces pornography.
Pádraig Ó Méalóid
writes, "Julia worked for Pornosec at one point, which was a sub-section of
the Fiction Department: "She [Julia] had even (an infallible mark of good
reputation) been picked out to work in Pornosec, the sub-section of the Fiction
Department which turned out cheap pornography for distribution among the proles.
It was nicknamed Muck House by the people who worked there, she remarked.
There she remained for a year, helping to produce booklets in sealed packets
with titles like Spanking Stories or One Night in a Girls' School, to be bought
furtively by proletarian youths who were under the impression that they were
were buying something illegal."
Panel 6. The “Adventures of Jane”
was the movie version of Norman Pett’s comic strip “Jane,”
which appeared in the British Daily Mirror (1932-1959).
Jane is an ingenue who is often inadvertently disrobed. Also
see the Tijuana Bible at the back of the Black Dossier. Guy
Lawley writes, "The whole sequence of Mina undressing and bathing is
a definite nod to the comic strip Jane, a very close echo of at least one
(and probably several) sequence(s) in the strip; very close to the style
of the strip too."
Pádraig Ó Méalóid
schools us Colonials on Jane:
Norman Pett's "Jane's Journal: The Diary
of a Bright Young Thing" first appeared in the Daily Mirror on December
5th 1932, with his wife as the model. In 1938 Don Freeman came on board
as writer, and in 1939, when his wife decided golf was more interesting
than posing for him, Pett found the model who was to become Jane in most
people's eyes, Christabel Leighton-Porter. C L-P also played the role of
Jane in the 1949 film version of the strip, The Adventures of Jane. In 1948
Pett's assistant Michael Hubbard took over as artist, and the last strip,
when Jane finally married her long-standing boyfriend Georgie, was on October
10th 1959.J
Jane was revived in a BBC television series, simply called "Jane," starring
Glynis Barber, which ran from August 1982 to September 1984.
As Leighton-Porter's obituary in The Telegraph put it, "Jane was forever
shutting her skirt in doors, reaching for her towel in the bath, or romping
unclad in tropical ponds. Even the slightest breeze could reduce her to
a bra and frilly cami-knickers."
Jane's popularity with the troops during the Second World War is such
that it is said that in 1943, on the first occasion that she lost all her
clothes, the British 36th Division immediately gained six miles.
An anecdote from this site
is worth repeating:
Christabel's favorite moment from the fame of being Jane occurred when
the sexy showgirl, for once demurely dressed, met the then Lord Chamberlain.
"Tell me my dear," asked the head of the royal household, "what do you do
in your act?" "Well," explained Christabel, "at one stage I turn my back
to the audience, take off my bra, and then cover my breasts with my hands
as I turn 'round." There was a momentary silence, before the King's sidekick
replied, "You must have very large hands."
This action is to some extent mirrored by Mina in Page 23, panels 1 &
2.
However, in the world of LoEG, perhaps the Daily Mirror did not actually
run the cartoons, and rather the original appearance was the 1949 film,
which would fit in with the chronology of the story rather well. Presumably
when AQ refers to "that 'Adventures of Jane' series" he is referring to
possibly a collection of Tijuana Bibles (TB) similar to the one bound into
this, based on the film, which would have been produced by Pornsec.
Panel 7. "You don't seriously imagine Jane's
real? Some chap at Pornsec wrote the lot, I bet."
Danny Sichel writes, "notice that, during Mina's one full-frontal-totally-exposed
pose, she's scornfully doubting the premise of the Jane series. "You don't
seriously think Jane's real?"" Pádraig
Ó Méalóid writes, "The fact that Mina's pose is very
similar to some of Jane's poses in the cartoons, while Mina's is simultaneously
denying the likelihood of Jane's existence is well done. There is also a
huge difference between Mina's casualness about her nudity in 1958 and her
extremely prim and proper attitude in 1898."
Panel 8. I realize that that is
probably a tiger on the mug, but it might also be a reference
to Korky the Cat, star of a comic strip in the British comic
The Dandy from 1937 to 2005. Jonathan Carter and Myles Lobdell
think that it's Tony the Tiger. Greg Baldino says,
"yes, that is a box of Frosted Flakes with Tony the Tiger on it. It's
based on the original version of the character drawn by Martin Provensen,
who did the original Kelloggs' character designs." Philip & Emily Graves agree: "After a closer look,
the 'mug' looks more like a box, further implying that this is less
a concealed reference as simply a box of (Tony the Tiger emblazoned) Frosties,
which first appeared in 1952 - although the design was different."
Pádraig Ó Méalóid writes, "In 1984, it turns
out that a picture on the wall - of St Clement Danes Church on the Strand
- was actually a disguised viewing apparatus, leading me to wonder if the
picture here is a reflection of that? Probably not, as it would have a church
on it, rather than a man and a boy... Besides the box of Frosties behind
AQ, the box with SA... SA... on it is probably Saxa Salt, and the sauce bottle
beside that look a bit like it might be YR Sauce."
Page 23. Panel 1. The
“B.B. Years” is a reference to “the Big Brother Years.”
“Cavor” is a reference to "Professor Selwyn
Cavor," from H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon
(1901). Cavor appeared in League v1.
Panels 3-4. “...he’d been to Jamaica
earlier this year...apparently he was there sparring with
some mad scientist. Distant relative of our old Limehouse adversary,
I’m told.”
This is a reference to Ian Fleming’s Dr.
No (1958). In the novel Bond is sent to Jamaica to recover
from having been poisoned by Rosa Klebb in From Russia With
Love. In Jamaica Bond comes into conflict with Dr. Julius No,
a Chinese-German scientist and Russian agent.
The implication that
Dr. No is related to Fu Manchu is a new one, although, as
Myles Lobdell points out, "Ian Fleming publicly admitted that Dr.
No was directly inspired by his reading Sax Rohmer at Eton. See
John Pearson's 1966 biography The Life of Ian Fleming." Neil
Chester adds, " I was just wondering if the line about Dr No being related
to Fu Manchu isn't, in part, sparked by the fact that Fleming wanted his
cousin Christopher Lee to play Dr No and, of course Lee also played Fu
Manchu."
Panel 5. “I wonder if he’s still
alive? The Devil Doctor?”
“Not in England. The
party purged Limehouse in ’48.”
In The Shadow of Fu Manchu (1948)
Fu Manchu has relocated to New York. He would not be active
in Limehouse for a number of years.
Panels 6-7. "Something's tucked inside have fallen
out."
"Never mind. Probably nothing important."
Steve Higgins writes, "I figured these lines were references to the fact
that Moore originally intended there to be additional supplements included
in the HC, including the vinyl single, which DC nixed."
Panel 7. "God, look at this dust! This hasn't been
opened for ages."
Keith Kole writes, "Call me crazy, but I have to wonder if
the Black Dossier didn't fall backwards through time. The last entries
are dated 1957, one year before the story starts. How much dust can accumulate
in a year?"
Panel 9. “Are you sitting comfortably?
Then we’ll begin.”
“Are you sitting comforably? Then I’ll
begin” was the opening phrase of Listen with Mother
(1950-1982), a BBC radio program for children. Joseph Nevin points out that Moore used this line in V
for Vendetta.
Jonathan Carter writes, "Mina and Allan reading
the Black Dossier in bed might be a deliberate parallel to 1984's
Winston and Julia reading Goldstein's book in bed."
Page 24. This
is all written in newspeak, with newspeak logic.
Gunnar Harboe writes, "While clearly a joke on
Newspeak, the text here is also poking fun at the legalese found in copyright
notices, legal disclaimers, end-user license agreements (EULAs) and all the
other small print we supposedly agree to whenever we pick up a book, play
a DVD, install software, or take the plastic wrapping off pretty much anything.
There's also a reference here to T.H. White's The Once and Future King,
with the famous dictum "Everything not forbidden is compulsory."
Page 25. For more on
“H.W.” see Page 83.
“Greyfriars” is a reference to Greyfriars
School, from the hundreds (well over a thousand) of British
story paper stories set there and written by “Frank Richards,”
a.k.a. Charles Hamilton. Greyfriars is a British public school
whose students, including Billy Bunter and the Famous Five, have a
wide variety of adventures, from student revolts to attacks by Yellow
Perils.
Myles Lobdell notes, "Greyfriars
School is most famously and originally from Thackeray's novels
(the Newcomes among others). It was not original to Charles
Hamilton, although Hamilton did move the school from Surrey to
Kent."
Pádraig Ó
Méalóid writes, "It's probably truer to say that Frank Richards
simply borrowed the name, rather than suggesting it was the same school."
“R.K.C.” See Page 83.
The “Holmes brothers” are a reference
to Sherlock Holmes and Mycroft Holmes. Sherlock appeared
in League v1 in flashback. Mycroft has appeared in both
League volumes.
“Bessy.” See the notes to Page 86.
“Gerry O’Brien.” See the notes to Page
13, Panel 2.
“Oliver Haddo” is a reference to W. Somerset
Maugham’s novel The Magician (1907). Haddo was based
on Aleister Crowley, and Crowley later used “Oliver Haddo” as
a pseudonym. In The Magician Haddo (a version of Dr. Moreau)
attempts to use magic to create life.
Pádraig Ó
Méalóid writes, "W Somerset Maugham met Aleister Crowley in
Paris in 1897, and they disliked one another on sight, apparently. Maugham
recollects meeting Crowley in this extract from
A Fragment of Autobiography, written nearly fifty years later, which
was included with later editions of The Magician."
“Trump” See Page 29.
“Prospero” is a reference to William Shakespeare’s
The Tempest (1611). In the play Prospero, a wizard
and the deposed Duke of Milan, gets up to hijinks on an island.
“Fanny Hill” is a reference to John Cleland’s
Fanny Hill, Or, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1749).
Fanny Hill, one of the most notable early works of English pornography,
tells of Mistress Hill’s erotic exploits.
I’ve been unable to determine whether
“Humphreys” is a reference to a real-life person or a fictional
one, and to who. Myles Lobdell believes that it is a reference
to "Mrs. Humphrey's, a print shop owner in late Georgian, Regency
England. Made famous in cartoons by Theodore Lane and James
Gillray."
“Les Hommes Mysterieux” means “The Mysterious
Men” in French. “Der Zwielichthelden” means “The Twilight
Heroes” in German.
Eduard Hapsburg writes,
"does it make sense to point out to Alan Moore that the TWILIGHT HEROES
are written wrong in German several times in the BLACK DOSSIER? It is
DIE ZWIELICHT-HELDEN (with a dash, I'm afraid), definitely NOT "DER Zwielicht..."
and much more definitely not "Zweilicht". Except, of course, if Alan
Moore is poking fun at wrong spelling of german in old war comics ("Donner
und Blitzen!!")."
“Rt. Hon. Bertram Wooster” is a reference
to the immortal Jeeves & Wooster stories of P.G. Wodehouse.
See Page 116 for more.
“Joan Warralson” is a reference to W.E.
Johns’ Worrals, who appeared in a number of stories in Girl’s
Own Paper and eleven novels from 1940 to 1950. She is a
smart, independent, patriotic, and fearless pilot for the Woman’s
Auxiliary Air Force during World War Two. She is a member of the
1946-1947 League. (See Page 148 below).
“Sal Paradyse” is a reference to Sal Paradise,
the narrator of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road (1957). On
the Road, the major novel of the Beat movement, is a stream-of-consciousness
account of Kerouac and his friends traveling across America.
“Dr. Sachs” is a reference the titular
character of Jack Kerouac’s Dr. Sax (1959). Dr. Sax
is a scientist who travels to Lowell, Massachusetts, to destroy
the Great World Snake, a Jörmungandr-like monster.
Page 26/On the Descent of Gods
1. "Haddo is what you'd call a 'black
magician' who worked for us during WWII."
Robert Scott Martin writes, "the specifics of Crowley's
wartime activities are controversial, but a good account is here.
(As trivia, the Ian Fleming connection apparently resulted in
Le Chiffre from Casino Royale being based on this particular
"shady character.")"
Myles Lobdell notes that "On the Descent of Gods'
is taken from Charles Darwin's paeon to human evolution, the Descent
of Man."
The “fire at his Staffordshire estate in 1908”
is a reference to the finale of The Magician, in which
Skene, Haddo’s mansion, burns to the ground.
"...finally died destitute
in Hastings a few years ago in 1947."
Robert Scott Martin notes that Haddo shares a death
year with Crowley.
I believe “The Solstice” is a reference
to Aleister Crowley’s magazine The Equinox (1909-1913,
then intermittently). The Equinox is the official magazine
of A:A:, the magic order Crowley established in 1907.
“...my own Liber Logos, dictated by an
unseen presence in Cairo during 1904.” This is a further reference
to things Aleister Crowley-an. “Liber Logos” means “Book of
the Word” and is an analogue for Crowley’s own Liber Al vel
Legis, the “Book of the Law,” which was supposedly dictated
to Crowley by the Egyptian god Horus in Cairo in 1904.
Jamaal White writes, "Liber legis was supposedly dictated
by Aiwass (Crowley's holy guardian angel who in this case served as
a middleman for 3 different gods nuit, hadit and ra hoor khuit (horus)
although it did anounce the aeon of horus."
The “Elohim” are, in Genesis 6:2, a kind
of angel who take the “daughters of men” for wives. Jason
Adams writes, "In several cases in the Hebrew Bible, Elohim seems to
refer to the God of Israel. (It is the third word in the Hebrew text
of Genesis, for example.) In other instances, as you noted, it seems
to refer to a class of angelic beings that came to Earth to mate with
human women. I've read some theories that the use of Elohim, a word that
can be a plural noun, in the early biblical texts is a remnant from even
sacred texts of ancient polytheistic religious traditions of the Middle
East. Additionally, the Raelian Movement (a UFO/sex cult) interprets Elohim
to mean "those who came from the sky"--extraterrestrials that created
life on Earth."
The “Great Old Ones” are a reference to
the works of H.P. Lovecraft. In Lovecraft’s “Cthulhu Mythos”
stories the Great Old Ones are a group of alien god-like beings
of enormous size and power who transcend our understanding of
time and space. They are currently imprisoned or sleeping but can be
awakened by cultist worshipers.
“Johannes Suttle” is a reference to “Subtle,”
from in Ben Jonson’s play The Alchemist (1610). Subtle
is a rogue who poses as an alchemist.
In the fictional literary history of the
Necronomicon (see below) as described by Lovecraft,
the only reference to a 16th century translation is this, in
Lovecraft’s “The History and Chronology of the Necronomicon":
“A still vaguer rumor credits the preservation of a 16th century
Greek text in the Salem family of Pickman; but if it was so preserved,
it vanished with the artist R. U. Pickman , who disappeared early
in 1926.”
In the works of Lovecraft “Abdul Alhazred”
is the unfortunate 8th century Arab writer of the Al-Azif,
which later became known as the Necronomicon (see below).
Alhazred is known as the “Mad Arab” in the Lovecraft stories,
and for good reason.
“Necronomicon” is a reference to the Necronomicon,
which in the works of Lovecraft is a tome of forbidden knowledge
so horrifying that it drives those who read it mad.
“Yuggoth” is, in the works of Lovecraft,
another planet. In “The Whisperer in Darkness” Lovecraft describes
Yuggoth in this way:
Yuggoth... is a strange dark orb at the very rim of our solar
system... There are mighty cities on Yuggoth—great tiers
of terraced towers built of black stone... The sun shines there
no brighter than a star, but the beings need no light. They have
other subtler senses, and put no windows in their great houses and
temples... The black rivers of pitch that flow under those mysterious
cyclopean bridges—things built by some elder race extinct and forgotten
before the beings came to Yuggoth from the ultimate voids—ought to
be enough to make any man a Dante or Poe if he can keep sane long enough
to tell what he has seen...
Michael Prior writes, "I always understood that
by "Yuggoth" the then newly discovered planet Pluto was meant, 'appropriately'
named after the Greek god of Hell/the Underworld. (Pluto was discovered
in February 1930, by which time Lovecraft started to write on
"The Whisperer in Darkness".)"
“Kutulu” is a reference to Cthulhu, one of the Lovecraftian Great
Old Ones and a being trapped beneath the Pacific Ocean. “Kutulu”
is one of the variant spellings of Cthulhu.
“A-Tza-Thoth” is a reference to Azathoth,
one of the Lovecraftian Outer Gods (more powerful versions
of the Great Old Ones). Azathoth, the “Blind Idiot God,” is
described in “The Whisperer in Darkness” in this way: “the monstrous
nuclear chaos beyond angled space which the Necronomicon had mercifully
cloaked under the name of Azathoth.”
“Shub-Niggurath,” in the works of Lovecraft,
is an alien being similar to the Great Old Ones. Shug-Niggurath
is the “Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young,” a fecund
being who gives birth to monstrosities.
“N’Yala-Thoth-Ep” is a reference to Nyarlathotep,
one of the Outer Gods in the Lovecraftian mythos. Nyarlathotep,
a.k.a. “The Crawling Chaos” and “The Three-Lobed Burning
Eye,” is an ill-defined and amorphous being who “had risen
up out of the blackness of twenty-seven centuries.”
“The Haunter of the Dark” is a reference
to the Lovecraft story “The Haunter of the Dark” (Weird
Tales, Dec. 1936). In the story a younger writer, Robert
Blake, has an unfortunate encounter with “the Haunter of the Dark,”
an avatar of Nyarlathotep. Micah Harris expands on this: " I didn't notice anyone
pointing out that Robert Blake in the "The Haunter of the Dark" is supposed
to be based on a young Robert Bloch. According to the "Encyclopedia
Cthulhiana," Lovecraft chose "Blake" as Robert's surname as a play on
"Bloch." Robert Bloch had killed a character who was supposed to be Lovecraft
in his story "The Shambler from the Stars" as a tribute of sorts (I believe
he got Lovecraft's permission to do so), so Lovecraft playfully did the
same to Bloch/Blake in "The Haunter of the Dark.""
“Elder Gods” is a reference to a class
of beings in Cthulhu Mythos stories written after Lovecraft’s
death. In Lovecraft’s fiction the Outer Gods and the Great Old
Gods are not deliberately inimical to humanity–rather, they are
simply uncaring, as we are beneath their notice. After Lovecraft’s
death August Derleth, in his story “The Return of Hastur,” proposed
that the Great Old Gods were evil and were opposed by “the Elder
Gods, of cosmic good.”
“R’Lyeh” is a reference to the city of
R’lyeh, submerged beneath the Pacific Ocean and home to Cthulhu,
who is not dead, only sleeping.
“Qlippothic” is a reference to the qlippoth,
the cause of evil and suffering in Jewish mystical traditions,
especially the Kabbalah.
In the Cthulhu Mythos the “‘Tcho-Tcho’
people” are an “abominable” race of short, hairless Burmese.
“Zara’s Kingdom” appears in Gilbert &
Sullivan's Utopia Limited; or, The Flowers of Progress
(1893).
Page 27/On the Descent of Gods
2. “The Arctic kingdom of Hyperborea” is a reference
to Hyperborea, which in Greek mythology was the land “beyond the
north wind,” far to the North. Myles Lobdell
adds, "I think it would be useful to also touch on the fact that Hyperborea
played an important role as a lost continent in theosophy (starting with
Madame Blatavsky, as touched on by De Camp in his book Lost Continents),
but, more importantly in this context that it was used by Clark Ashton Smith
as a setting for his "Hyperborean cycle" of short fantasy stories that have
become part of the Cthulu mythos; indeed, H.P. Lovecraft incorporated some
of the fantasy elements first introduced here into his later stories."
Peter Gilham noted that Hyperborea also appears in
Robert E. Howard's work.
“Crom” appears in the fantasies of Robert
E. Howard. Crom is the grim, brooding god worshiped by the
barbarian Cimmerians, of whom Conan is one.
The “Melnibonean Empire” is the decadent
empire from which came Elric in the “Elric of Melnibone” books
of Michael Moorcock.
“Lords of Order warring endlessly with
Lords of Chaos” is a reference to the Eternal Champion book
cycle of Michael Moorcock, in which Law and Chaos, represented
by the Lords of both, are in perpetual metaphysical struggle.
Arioch is one of the Lords of Chaos in
the Moorcock books. He is the “Knight of Swords” and is the
patron god of Elric.
Pyaray is another of the Lords of Chaos.
He is an enormous red octopus and is the “Tentacled Whisperer
of Impossible Secrets.”
"...devastation unimagined until last year's
development and demonstration by our allies in America of the Atomic bomb."
Greg Daly writes, "Oliver Haddo's 'On the Descent of Gods' is dated
1941