Page 38. Panel 2. The figure on the left, Norton, has a not-coincidental visual similarity to Iain Sinclair.
Adam Bezecny adds, “the picture of Norton on Page 38, Panel 1, is similar to a picture of Norton on page 91 of Slow Chocolate Autopsy, one of the parts more similar to a graphic novel. He is facing away from the reader in the same casual pose, surveying.”
Colin McKeown writes, “Also worth noting that his dialogue is written in the Sinclair style. Sinclair's prose is noted for these clipped and pithy remarks.”
Stephen Lavington writes, “a lot of the cryptic references in Norton's speech spring directly from the cooption of Iain Sinclair's writing style as well as appearance. This would make sense, as Sinclair's non-fiction is a dense collage of passing references and wordplay which attempts to capture the tangential/subliminal links of his psychogeography. This is aptly fitted to the speaking-style of a man perpetually flitting through history. Sadly this does not explain the answers to the "crossword clues" dialogue.”
Paul Hostetler contributed this quote from Alan Moore about Norton:
Well, Norton was one of Iain’s alter egos. I think he has a limp that Iain had at the time when he was writing at the time, which he’s since got rid of and sorted out. Iain had, I consider, made himself fair game by making his semiautobiographical Norton character and making him this time-traveling prisoner of London, which struck me as a very interesting character to use in a book like “Century” without doing the immortal thing to death. We’ve got another character that can turn up in any age that we want as long as it’s in London. So that was good. In some of Norton’s dialogue, we’ve got a bit of a departure from the world of The League, because Norton is clearly existing in a world where he kind of knows that everything is fiction. Some of his references, although it escapes the characters, are to real events.
The striking figure in the middle is Boudica (?-60/1 C.E.). Boudica was a Queen of the Iceni tribe of East Anglia, England, and led an uprising against the Romans. The historian Cassius Dio describes Boudica as follows:
In stature she was very tall, in appearance most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice was harsh; a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips; around her neck was a large golden necklace; and she wore a tunic of divers colours over which a thick mantle was fastened with a brooch.
(Not that it should surprise anyone that Kevin O’Neill gets things like this right, of course)
Alex Hughes points out (as I should have) that Boudica was “responsible for attacking the Roman settlement of Londinium (later London) and burning it to the ground.”
Ian Gould adds, “Boudica’s revolt was provoked by the rape of her daughters – which ties into Jenna’s story.”
Panel 4. Joe Clark writes, “Could this be Robin Hood, with Little John, Maid Marion and someone else in the background? If not, Ivanhoe and crew?”
I think Ana Vidazinha has it right:
I believe the left figure is King Alfred.
BATTLE BRIDGE, St Pancras - is at the north end of Gray's inn lane nearly a mile from Holborn and west end of Pentonville nearly three quarters of a mile from the Angel Islington. It is now called King's Cross after a new edifice so called which is now erecting at the intersection of the roads. It is said to have received its former name as having been the site of a sanguinary battle between Alfred and the Danes. (in A topographical dictionary of London and its environs By James Elmes)
Here's a photo of a statue of King Alfred:
Page 39. Panel 1. Ian Gould (Peter Borowiec also caught this) adds, “the character on the far right is William Shakespeare. The corpulent chap with the pie might be Jack Horner. From the Wikipedia entry:
In the nineteenth century the story began to gain currency that the rhyme is actually about Thomas Horner, who steward to Richard Whiting, the last abbot of Glastonbury Abbey before the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII of England. The story is reported that, prior to the abbey's destruction, the abbot sent Horner to London with a huge Christmas pie which had the deeds to a dozen manors hidden within it and that during the journey Horner opened the pie and extracted the deeds of the manor of Mells in Somerset. It is further suggested that, since the manor properties included lead mines in the Mendip Hills, the plum is a pun on the Latin plumbum, for lead. While records do indicate that Thomas Horner became the owner of the manor, paying for the title, both his descendants and subsequent owners of Mells Manor have asserted that the legend is untrue.
A number of people pointed out that Horner has Billy Bunter’s pants and conjectured that Horner is Bunter’s ancestor. Blair Breeding writes, “The fat man holding the pie, is Georgie Porgie from the rhyme and the old lady appears to be Judy (from Punch and Judy),”
Lance French adds that this scene takes place at the Globe Theatre, hence the presence of Shakespeare.
Jeff Newberry writes, “The fellow on the right of the frame has got to be William Shakespeare. My feeling is that Shakespeare’s taking in this scene of slapstick and that it will find its way into one of his comedies, though I can’t reference the play to seal the deal.”
Greg Daly writes, “I had initially assumed Shakespeare himself, but I can't help but think of how we were told in Black Dossier that Greyfriars had been a nursery for spies since 1500 or so. Could it be Jack Wilton, the League's version of Sir Francis Walsingham?”
Denny Lien writes, “Presumably that's Shakespeare at the right, watching his fellow Londoners to get inspiration for plays (a fat thief and glutton = Falstaff, a cheerful gravedigger (?) =gravedigger in HAMLET ??)”
Blair Breeding writes, “Before Norton appears before Mina and Raffles we see him witnessing a Fat boy running with a pie and then in the next panel of Norton we see him in what looks like the aftermath of a great destruction. This could be a reference to the 'gluttony' which caused the great fire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Boy_of_Pye_Cornerand http://www.flickr.com/photos/ehowson/228447694/ ”
Panel 2. The “George M. Plummer” mentioned on the wanted poster is a reference to George Marsden Plummer, Scotland Yard inspector gone wrong and one of Sexton Blake’s arch-enemies.
Panel 3. Colin McKeown writes, “Man with masked face could be George Turnbull.”
John Andrews (Peter Dyde also caught this) says, “King's Cross was built on the site of a small pox and fever hospital, which may explain why the character in the middle is covering up his face.”
Tom Proudfoot disagrees: “The rosy glow makes me think this maybe after the Great Fire of London (1666) and I’m guessing that it could be Christopher Wren taking to the workmen?”
Panel 4. “...since Allan and I were in Arkham.”
This event was described in Black Dossier.
The “Great Nort–“ is a reference to the Great Northern Railway, a major British railway company whose London hub was King’s Cross.
Page 40. Panel 2. “Gaslight understudies.”
I confess to being a little mystified by this. I can see Raffles being described as an understudy to Arsene Lupin–Lupin was, after all, the better Gentleman Thief, as a character, as a thief, and in story terms. (Maurice Leblanc, Lupin’s creator, was a better writer than E.W. Hornung, Raffles’ creator). But who would Mina be an understudy to? Van Helsing? Or perhaps to late 20th century popculture characters like Buffy? Although on later reflection...perhaps 1910 Mina et al are understudies to the later version of the League, the Century: 2009 version, rather than understudies to the earlier Victorian version. Maybe Norton sees the 2009 version of the League as the ultimate one?
Ian Gould says, “’Gaslight understudies’ may mean that Carnacki et al are “understudies” to the better known and more flamboyant 1890’s LOEG with Hyde, Griffith and Nemo. Or it might in some way be a reference to the play and movie Gaslight (known as Angel Street in the US) which is set in London and involves a man attempting to drive his wife insane as part of a scheme to cover up a murder.”
Dave van Domelen says, “He may be comparing the 1910 iteration of the League unfavorably to the one seen in vol 1. Panel 3: He may be referring to the dead trail of the massacre later in this issue, which was not related to the Moonchild dreams.”
Robert Dempsey says, “I read it as an implicit criticism of the relative inferiority of the 1910 League to the 1898 version. There is arguably less literary “firepower” present in this league, a trend which continues into the ‘50s, and which I guess could be read as a commentary as a decline in the power of the British Empire as embodied in the power of its literature.”
Josiah Shoup says,
Whereas I do like the idea of Alan Moore giving props to Arsene Lupin, I don't think that the High Priest of Glycon thinks as highly of the character as I do; I can't remember if it's in The Black Dossier or the Almanac in volume two, but at one point Moore refers to Fantomas as Lupin's "superior in crime," which is a comparison I disagree with; Fantomas's crimes are only "superior" to Lupin's if you give bonus points for a high body-count, and Lupin has crossed swords with Sherlock Holmes, which has to count for something!
And speaking of the Detective, I think that Norton is calling Raffles an understudy of Sherlock Holmes. The Raffles stories came out in the wake of Holmes's popularity, and they were written by Conan Doyle's brother-in-law. Also, E.W. Hornung makes use of a Watson-esque, first-person narrator. Hornung also uses the Conan Doyle trick of writing post-mortem stories about A.J. Raffles by setting them at a time before the character died, which is just like Doyle making The Hound of the Baskervilles a prequel to "The Final Problem."
I think it's more than fair to call Raffles an understudy of Holmes in light of all that.
As for Mina Murray, I think Norton meant that she was a "gaslight understudy" of Count Dracula. You could look at her time spent with the Count as an eduction of sorts, and she was brought into the League back in volume one primarily because M. was intrigued by her prior association with the Romanian monster. I think that the lady has proved herself quite a bit since then, but I still think it's fair to call her an understudy of the Count.
Stu Shiffman says,
I wonder if Moore was thinking of the Raffles pastiche series by Barry Perowne that appeared in the 1970s in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and were collected in several volumes, Raffles of the Albany (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1976) etc. I like them a lot! Perowne (real name Philip Atkey (1908-1985)) had previously revived the character in the 1930s pulps, updated to that period, but this later series was set in the Victorian/Edwardian period with the return of Raffles after the Boer War.
And then there was Farmer with his wonderful pastiche "The Problem of the Sore Bridge - Among Others."
Bill Thomson writes, “"Gaslight" is possibly a reference to the play of that name by Patrick Hamilton (an author much admired by Iain Sinclair). Moore has stated that every word uttered by Andrew Norton has significance but I've yet to work out what this one might be.”
Panel 3. “Coffins at Carfax.”
This is a reference to the events of Dracula.
Tom Wright adds, “In the non-fiction book London Orbital, Iain Sinclair repeatedly talks about both the coffins at Carfax and the Martian landing at Woking.”
“Blood for oil.”
“Blood for oil” was the charge leveled at the American government for its involvement in both wars with Iraq. (Not sure how it applies here).
Peter Borowiec (John Pickman also noticed this) has it, I think: “I assume that "blood for oil" refers to the war in Qumar that will appear in part three.”
Bill Thomson writes, “"Blood for Oil", a chapter on Sinclair's London Orbital is entitled “Blood & Oil” and elucidates futher the links between Dracula and London.”
Tim Chapman takes it further: “'Blood for oil' is a reference to the relevant section of Sinclair's' London Orbital' - 'The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, scarlet lights at dawn and dusk, is a ladder for vampires. A ladder on which blood is turned into oil. And back again. [...] A lake of black oil in the place of Carfax. [...] Blood and oil. Carfax and Esso.'”
“Patrick Keiller mapping the Martians’ crater.”
Patrick Keiller is a British filmmaker and author best known for his film Robinson in Space (1997), in which the unseen Robinson tours London. (Tony Williams points out that Keiller first did this in his film London). Presumably one of the sites Robinson sees in the film is one of the craters created by the Martians in their League v2 attack?
Tim Chapman writes, of Sinclair’s London Orbital: 'In his 1997 film, Robinson in Space, Patrick Keiller's narrator takes Robinson on an outing to inspect the Martian's crater, at Horsell Common, near Woking.' (p251) Kings Cross features in the 'X marks the spot' chapter of Sinclair's' Lights out for the territories'.”
“Dead trails. Abandoned panics.”
I have no idea.
Brian Beriman writes, “This is the end of book one where they have reached a dead end and have given up on Carnacki's visions--they have abandoned their panic to find the truth.”
Panel 4. "Crowley Manque."
As Denny Lien, among others, points out, Crowley doesn't exist in the world of League, Haddo does. So this means that Sinclair exists in our world as well as the world of the League.
Panel 5. “July Seventh. Paradise backpackers. A constellation of cigarette burns on Archer’s back. The stars are right.”
“July Seventh” and “Paradise backpackers” are references to the Islamic suicide bombers who killed 52 people on July 7, 2005. Each of the three attacked trains had recently left King’s Cross St. Pancras railway station. I’m not sure what “a constellation of cigarette burns on Archer’s back” is a reference to–the constellation of Sagittarius is “the Archer,” and “the stars are right” might be a reference to Sagittarius’ alignment on 7/7/2005. Of course, “the stars are right” is a cliche in cosmic horror fiction.
Gary Wilkinson (also noted by Lee Horner) writes, “I though it might have referred to Jeffrey Archer - who was infamously photographed paying off a prostitute, Monica Coghlan. I had thought it was at Kings Cross but google tells me it was Victoria. I think the state of his back being a feature in one of the trails about it? But I can't find anything on cigarette burns... and I think it was acne, anyway. So that's probably all barking up the wrong tree. Two links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Coghlan#Jeffrey_Archer and http://www.nypress.com/article-4027-monica-coghlan-the-tiny-hooker-with-the-big-trick.html
Joe McNally adds,
Many of Norton's gnomic utterances - Keiller, Litvinov, Archer, King's Cross - refer, however obliquely, to Iain Sinclair's own literary obsessions and his collection of non-fiction essays "Lights Out For The Territories" in particular. It may or may not be coincidence that Alan Moore's "From Hell" is quoted and discussed extensively throughout the collection.
The "constellation of cigarette burns on Archer's back" is probably to do with disgraced British peer and popular novelist Jeffrey Archer; Kings Cross has historically been a centre of prostitution, and Archer's reputation finally fell following the revelation that he had lied under oath about having visited prostitutes during the course of a libel prosecution against a British newspaper. Part of the evidence at that original trial dealt with a supposed pattern of 'marks' on Archer's back; he was invited to remove his shirt in court, but demurred. Sinclair tried - and failed - to meet with Archer during the writing of "Lights Out..."
Bill Thomson adds, “"the constellation of cigarette burns on Archer's back" undoubtedly refers to the British politician Jeffrey Archer who in the late 1980s sued for libel a newspaper which had alleged he had availed himself of the services of a prostitute named Monica Coughlin. During her evidence on behalf of the paper, Coughlin mentioned the existence of distinctive markings on Archer's back. Thanks to an infamously partial summing up by the trial judge, the case was settled in favour of Archer. Some years later, Archer was convicted of perjury and jailed. Monica Coughlin was killed in a hit and run "accident". Read into this what you will....”
Darren Maughan adds a clue: “The stars - could be a reference to the newspaper The Daily Star which alleged (later proved correct when Archer was convicted of perjury) of sleeping with a prostitute. Archer sued the Star and won a record libel award.”
Tim Chapman adds that “Sinclair describes his meeting with him at Archer's penthouse flat (which was previously owned by John Barry and features in the classic Vincent Price film 'Theatre of Blood') in Lights out.”
Panel 6. “Misplaced memorials.”
I trust one of my British readers can fill me in on what Moore is referring to. Is there a misplaced memorial at King’s Cross? There are memorials to veterans of World Wars One and Two–anything else?
Greg Daly writes, “I can think of at least one misplaced memorial at King's Cross, which is the sign for Harry Potter's platform 9 and three quarters. Obviously, this should be between platforms nine and ten, but in the station it's between platform eight and nine. This is because JK Rowling was clearly unfamiliar with King's X when she wrote the books, as 9, 10, and 11 are a separate section from the rest of the station. The 9 and three quarters sign is up on a wall. There's a useful explanation and picture at the Wikipedia entry.”
Gary Wilkinson writes, “There's a memorial to those who died in the fire. It was moved during the recent redevelopement of the station.”
Joe McNally adds,
Another chapter in Lights Out deals with Kings Cross. The"misplaced memorials" reference might be connected to the long-gone monument which gave the area its name - from the Wikipedia entry on Kings Cross:
In 1830 a monument to King George IV was built at the junction of Gray's Inn Road, Pentonville Road, and New Road, which later became Euston Road. The monument was sixty feet high, topped by an eleven foot high statue of the king, and was described as "a ridiculous octagonal structure crowned by an absurd statue". The upper storey was used as a camera obscura while the base in turn housed a police station and a public house. The unpopular building was demolished in 1845, though the area has kept the name of King's Cross.
James Burt writes, “In the Iain Sinclair edited collection City of Disappearances (which features Alan Moore, among others) there is a section called "Ernest So Far" (pp 561-571 in my paperback edition). This section is written by Anna Sinclair and is about a search for traces of a man listed on King's Cross's war memorial. On page 563 they take a detour to look for the memorial to those who died in the Kings Cross fire but it has been covered up in a renovation. With the completion of the renovation it is visible once more.”
Robin Layfield contributes the exact quote, from page 578:
The man explains: the memorial to the King's Cross disaster has been removed, put into store. Refurbishment. If we search hard enough we'll find an information poster: a memorial to the memorial. The fire, beneath the Piccadilly Line, on 18 November 1987, killed thirty-one people. The plaque has been taken to Acton, the London Transport Museum's Depot, where it can be viewed, by arrangement, on 'open weekends'.
Peter Slack writes, “It certainly describes the themes of much of Sinclair’s writing (and that of AM in Voice of the Fire and Jerusalem)."
“Forgotten fires.”
I’m assuming this is a reference to the King’s Cross fire on 18 November 1987, which killed 31 people in the King’s Cross St. Pancras station. I’m not particularly sure why this counts as “forgotten”–even I, American that I am, knew about it. (Is the King’s Cross fire memorial plaque in the station misplaced somehow?)
Richard East writes, “I think one forgotten fire may be the one Boudica caused during her sacking of London. I think Moore mentions it in the annotations in From Hell (Chapter 4).”
Andrew Brown writes, “You're right: the memorial to the victims of the Kings Cross fire was removed from the station to the London Transport Museum, where it could be viewed by appointment. This is according to Iain Sinclair in 'Fallujah London', in the anthology London: City of Disappearances, which Sinclair also edited and to which Alan Moore contributed apiece. Sinclair also tells of a man at the 'Information' kiosk at Kings Cross, who hadn't heard of the fire.”
“Rimbaud, Verlaine, lyric grease.”
Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) and Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) were two of the major French poets of the fin de siècle. Rimbaud & Verlaine lived for several months in 1872 and 1873 at 8 Royal College Street, which is less than a mile from King’s Cross.
Of “lyric grease,” which I admit to having failed to puzzle out, Blair Breeding suggests “Also 'LYRIC GREASE' may refer to the Lyric Theatre and grease paint worn by the actors.”
“Boadicea’s urban legend under platform ten.”
Boadicea (a.k.a. Boudica) is, according to urban legend, buried under platform ten of King’s Cross railway station. It was formerly believed that Boudica’s final battle was fought at the village of Battle Bridge, on whose site King’s Cross was later built. Boudica’s final battle was elsewhere, but in the world of League the final battle was at the eventual location of King’s Cross, which is why Norton sees her on Page 38, Panel 2.
“A quarter platform over, the franchise express, gathering steam.”
In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, the students embark for Hogwarts School of Wizardry at Platform 9 3/4 in King’s Cross.
Rev. Terry Fleming writes that “I believe the reason JK Rowling put Harry Potter's mystical portal at platform 9 and 3/4 was because of the legend that Boadecia was buried there.”