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I'm pleased to say that this is my first post in the long years of lurking around this community!
Seeing as this is a community heavily invested in the trials and tribulations of heroes and their nemeses, there will surely be no small representation in today's category. But on meditating on the subject further (and retreading Alan Moore's fantastic, overstuffed graphic novel, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), I was reminded of an even older rivalry predating superhero comics: That of Sherlock Holmes, great detective, versus James Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime.
So then! Here are seven pages from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume 1, Issue 5.

For those who like context, this is Alan Moore's rendition of the final scene of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes short story, The Final Problem. (Also another note that most of my knowledge of the literary references of the series is supplemented by This website, just in case any of you with a copy of The League and feel like tracking down all those weird little details.)

This page and the preceding one are what makes them worthy of this post. Two intelligent men of highly polar moral views, almost amiable in their dialogue as each makes their characters clear: Moriarty is animated and sinister beneath his joviality, Holmes calm and composed as he writes his (presumably) last, fateful letter to Watson, who was led away by the ruse described in panel 2.

(According to the aforementioned annotations website, Sherlock uses baritsu in this scene, a Japanese form of wrestling.)


From Arthur Conan Doyle's next Holmes story, The Adventure of the Empty House: "I am not a fanciful person, but I give you my word that I seemed to hear Moriarty's voice screaming at me out of the abyss."


This scene, done in flashback, then reverts back to the "present day" of the story, in which Moriarty and Bond are speaking in length on their plans while thinking back on the "fateful day" in Switzerland - all while the Invisible Man listens, unheard. It's a great set-up for a bad guy - Moriarty is shown as brilliant, more than a little demented, and worse than that, actually a figure in the workings of the British government. And it is the one scene where Sherlock Holmes is shown, though he is referenced a few times later on in the lore of the LoeG.
I'd like to take a moment to thank the mod team for coming up with these daily themes - it's great inspiration for first time posters!
Seeing as this is a community heavily invested in the trials and tribulations of heroes and their nemeses, there will surely be no small representation in today's category. But on meditating on the subject further (and retreading Alan Moore's fantastic, overstuffed graphic novel, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), I was reminded of an even older rivalry predating superhero comics: That of Sherlock Holmes, great detective, versus James Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime.
So then! Here are seven pages from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume 1, Issue 5.

For those who like context, this is Alan Moore's rendition of the final scene of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes short story, The Final Problem. (Also another note that most of my knowledge of the literary references of the series is supplemented by This website, just in case any of you with a copy of The League and feel like tracking down all those weird little details.)

This page and the preceding one are what makes them worthy of this post. Two intelligent men of highly polar moral views, almost amiable in their dialogue as each makes their characters clear: Moriarty is animated and sinister beneath his joviality, Holmes calm and composed as he writes his (presumably) last, fateful letter to Watson, who was led away by the ruse described in panel 2.

(According to the aforementioned annotations website, Sherlock uses baritsu in this scene, a Japanese form of wrestling.)


From Arthur Conan Doyle's next Holmes story, The Adventure of the Empty House: "I am not a fanciful person, but I give you my word that I seemed to hear Moriarty's voice screaming at me out of the abyss."


This scene, done in flashback, then reverts back to the "present day" of the story, in which Moriarty and Bond are speaking in length on their plans while thinking back on the "fateful day" in Switzerland - all while the Invisible Man listens, unheard. It's a great set-up for a bad guy - Moriarty is shown as brilliant, more than a little demented, and worse than that, actually a figure in the workings of the British government. And it is the one scene where Sherlock Holmes is shown, though he is referenced a few times later on in the lore of the LoeG.
I'd like to take a moment to thank the mod team for coming up with these daily themes - it's great inspiration for first time posters!
no subject
Date: 2010-12-10 10:50 pm (UTC)Just because it's a battle to the death doesn't meant that courtesy and manners shouldn't be observed.
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Date: 2010-12-10 10:53 pm (UTC)Moriarty's overabundant affection for their surroundings is really what makes the scene for me. "It is Olympian! We tread on the borders of mythology!"
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Date: 2010-12-10 10:56 pm (UTC)Sherlock's great moment is writing the letter to Watson. His attention to detail is grand.
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Date: 2010-12-10 11:39 pm (UTC)Of course, it could be worse. In the BBC's "Sherlock" series, Moriarty sees Watson as Holmes' *pet*.
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Date: 2010-12-11 02:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-10 11:07 pm (UTC)And it's being followed up with a novel length of the same sort of thing! :)
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Date: 2010-12-10 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-10 11:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 01:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 01:53 am (UTC)...But, hey, thanks.
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Date: 2010-12-12 08:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-10 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 01:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 12:21 am (UTC)Holmes Judo flips his ass over a waterfall, he lands ON HIS HEAD on the way down, and he manages to not only survive, but climb up part of the way to curse Holmes.
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Date: 2010-12-11 01:35 am (UTC)But that's what you do when you're a detestable, iron-willed crime leader. :D
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Date: 2010-12-12 08:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 12:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 01:17 am (UTC)Also, Moore did a great job of recapturing the feeling of Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes.
Quick qestion;
Date: 2010-12-11 05:04 am (UTC)And I'll say it again; Moriarty is the most overrated villain in the history of literature.
Re: Quick qestion;
Date: 2010-12-11 07:47 am (UTC)Re: Quick qestion;
Date: 2010-12-11 07:52 am (UTC)It was posted in July, though... that's almost half a year ago, not a month or two. Still, my bad!
Should've saved my energy to repost the Moon Knight/Bushman confrontation in the Huston run..
Re: Quick qestion;
Date: 2010-12-11 09:30 am (UTC)Re: Quick qestion;
Date: 2010-12-12 04:23 am (UTC)Re: Quick qestion;
Date: 2010-12-12 08:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 06:49 am (UTC)That being said, this is indeed a good scene, and 'LoEG' Moriarty is quite a memorable villain.
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Date: 2010-12-11 09:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 11:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 01:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 02:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 05:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 10:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-12 05:36 pm (UTC)He's mentioned in passing in a few other stories, but only as a reference to the past.
Watson never even meets Moriarty at all, aside from catching a glimpse of him.
Moran himself only appears in "The Adventure of the Empty House"
no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 08:26 am (UTC)I have to admit that I found Moore's retelling of Sherlock and Moriarty's final battle rather flat and lacking, and I think it's unfortunate that this will be many reader's introduction to "The Final Problem." The dialogue spells everything out and feels like a heavy-handed pastiche of Doyle, who was usually less purple. And Moriarty cursing out Holmes is out of character and crass. If I have to see the final confrontation between these two dramatized, I'll take the Granada version any day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoNwlBEXg5s
I have to agree with psychopathicus_rex as well--Moriarty only appears in "The Final Problem" and "The Valley of Fear," and there are more memorable villains in the canon, such as Charles Augustus Milverton and Baron Adelbert Von Gruner. But they don't have any pop cachet.