League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Classic or Dud?

yikes

Black Dossier better than first two volumes imo, stronger emotional core, more evocative and if you're gonna do metafiction you might as well have an axe to grind. Also suspicious of how so many ppl got off the LOEG train as soon as it started being critical of fanboy faves.

the first two volumes worked because they had characters that were firmly engrained as part of the national consciousness who could also be defined as latter day super- or science-heroes.

Not really sure how Performance or some random Ian Sinclair novel compares to that

Not really sure how Performance or some random Ian Sinclair novel compares to that

None of these are part of any LOEG team; the first two volumes feature plenty of characters that aren't super or science heroes outside of the team, too.

Fanboy faves ?

Unsurprisingly, Moore doesn't make it through Providence without a rape scene.

(The book itself is fine, the issues are a recasting of various Lovecraft short stories but it falls apart in the end.)

iirc Black Dossier was very badly received at the time it came out. I agree with sic though, that after the first two volumes it only really becomes about metatext and format jokes which Tempest probably does better than the preceding volumes (and I don't think the Janni books are necessarily much worse than those surrounding them).

“Fanboy faves” = James Bond?