Nemo: The Roses of Berlin

No writer has brought me more reading pleasure than Alan Moore and please note, I didn't say COMIC BOOK writer. I own a total of three DC Absolute editions and two of them are Alan Moore's and it would have been three out of four except I missed my window of opportunity on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Absolute Edition. Moore is my favorite writer period but it has been a long time since I have given any new material from him five stars. Starting with The League of Extraordinary Gentleman the Black Dossier, continuing through the three Century books and now the two Nemo it's been a bumpy ride. Moore has inspired me to read dozens of classic books based on the characters he's included in his stories. The problem is the more I find out about these characters the more problems develop and none more than Janni Nemo.I have complained in the past that Moore demands a TON from the reader. The original two volumes were awesome but they included well known characters and even in those cases Moore took the time to establish who they were. The problem is that in later books Moore uses increasingly obscure characters with little to no background. If a reader read "Nemo: Heart of Ice" and had never heard of Tom Swift Jr. they would just assume he was a villain in literature. Except he isn't. He is a classic unimpeachable good guy. I understand that Moore needs to make adjustment to weave all these disparate characters together but Janni Nemo should never exist. If you read Jules Verne's "The Mysterious Island" it is established that the death of his family is the motivating factor in Captain Nemo's life. Everything he did including building the Nautilus was a result of his familial loss. The existence of Janni destroys Nemo's raison d'etre. I've done my homework on trying to understand better the characters Moore has used but now it leads me to question how much Alan Moore himself knows about these characters.So if I put aside all my issues with the usage of characters is this a well written book? Alan Moore remains the greatest comic writer ever and the scripting is excellent it's in the plot where these books have been underwhelming. Janni and Broad Arrow Jack raid a MASSIVE futuristic underwater Nazi base filled with Nazi sleep commandos (ok, that's officially cool). The base is being run by the female robot from Metropolis and Princess Ayesha from the previous book, `Heart of Ice'. There are a whole new group of characters for me to look up including Dr. Mabuse, Robur the Conqueror, Dr. Caligari, Dr. Rotwang and Adenoid Hynkel. Besides Robur these are all characters from cinema rather than literature with Hynkel being a humorous tweak from Moore (look the name up on Wikipedia). I probably enjoyed this book more than the previous four books (and way more than Black Dossier) but this might be due to lowered expectations. Heart of Ice was mostly one long chase and this book is pretty much just a 56 page cat and mouse game between Janni Nemo and the team of Ayesha and the Metropolis Robot.This book is not going to break its way into my top 20 favorite Alan Moore books but it was an enjoyable read. What I enjoy most about this series is finding characters and then looking them up on Wikipedia to find out more. As I said I've read a ton of books including `The Steam Man of the Prairies', Tom Swift, Jules Verne and tons of others so in that respect this series has inspired me to become more literate. I just hope that this series is not Moore's Swan Song because he certainly has demonstrated far more writing prowess in the past than what is displayed here. Let me add that love it or hate it this is a lovingly crafted book that even includes threaded binding which is a very nice touch.Addendum: Inspired by this book I went and watched The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which is considered one of the great films of the silent era. It did add somewhat to my enjoyment of the book. The one page splash that introduces Caligari and the "Sleep Soldiers" uses the same odd angles as the film which was considered a very influential film of German Expressionism. That was a great artistic nod that few people would notice. The Sleep Soldiers are a reference to Cesare the Somnambulist that Caligari used as a killer. On the other hand Caligari only acquired Cesare by chance and showed no ability to actually CREATE a sleeping killer. The look of Caligari differs from the film quite a bit which is weird because that would seem like a slam dunk. Also, the twist ending of `The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' pretty much makes his appearance here quite impossible. Still, it was fun researching the character.Addendum 2: I watched Metropolis, The Great Dictator and Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler. The biggest surprise was how much I loved the Dr. Mabuse film. As someone with a very short attention span I cannot believe how much I enjoyed a four and a half hour silent film from 1922 Germany but it really was amazing. Metropolis and Dr. Mabuse were both directed by Fritz Lang but I was far more impressed by Mabuse. It's clear that Moore is not sticking to the source material. For instance in this book Dr. Rotwang designed Metropolis but there is no indication in the movie that this is so. Also, the Moloch Machine didn't actually exist and was a hallucination of the main character in the film. Moore also creates a problem by having Adenoid Hynkel's Tomainia in the same universe as Adolph Hitler and Germany since Hynkel and Tomainia were clearly intended to BE Hitler and Germany.Addendum 3: I read Jules Verne's Robur the Conqueror and The Master of the World. Moore seems to have gotten Robur's smallish `Terror' mixed up with the much larger `Albatross'. The `Terror' was only about 30 feet long. One could claim that this was a new LARGER `Terror' except that Robur in this book is described as young and the `Terror' wasn't created until he was older. This `Terror' is significantly larger than even the 100 foot `Albatross' which itself had no weapons of defense. Technologically wise Moore's `Terror' is far beyond anything Verne wrote about while Robur himself comes off as much weaker than the literary character.

Hoping to make sense of the Nemo series, I read _Nemo: the Roses of Berlin_ with the expectation that it would provide some context or give some insight into the truly bizarre and nonsensical  Nemo: Heart of Ice . I was again let down. I was impressed - and suprised - by the lengthy amount of German used in the first few pages. While my German is a bit rusty, I was able to muddle through the dialogue - I would be frustrated and a little upset had this not been the case (although a quick download of a translator ap would solve the problem just as easily, I suppose.)At the risk of spoiling the story, I will write in broad strokes: the plot had some gaping holes (how it was leaned that Nemo would show when and where she did was never fully or clearly explained). Unlike the previous Nemo graphic novel, I enjoyed the allusions to Charlie Chaplin's  The Great Dictator - Charlie Chaplin Blu-ray  and Friz Lang's  The Complete Metropolis [Blu-ray ]. Allusions to other 1930s pop culture was also a treat (Orson Welle's "War of the Worlds" and the Hindenburg explosion) - it was nice to see Moore include these references given the relative lack of them in the previous Nemo book.At the risk of spoiling the story, I will write in broad strokes: the plot had some gaping holes (how it was leaned that Nemo would show when and where she did was never fully or clearly explained). How Nemo's daughter and husband were caught up with Hyster and the Nazis was also never clearly explained. I had a difficult time with this: the plot seemed hastily put together and was therefore half-formed. As usual, O/Neill's artwork was tremendous, but it didn't make up for an otherwise lackluster story.After so many brilliant and well-thought out graphic novels, it is a disappointment to see a story that feels as if it has been "phoned in". I honestly had hoped for much better than this from a demonstrably brilliant and talented duo.

Second in the trilogy. Not quite as good as Heart of Ice. Almost too quick a read for an Alan Moore story, if you have the translations of the German bits on hand.

This is the sequel to the graphic novel "Heart Of Ice" and follows through brilliantly. It is a great Steampunk story with superb illustrations done in the Art Deco style of the 1920s and 1930s. Fun characters, and a neat twist on real history - as well as the continuing adaptation of the story of the Nemo family!

Clever and funny as always, Alan Moore challenges the reader to recognize the numerous (almost forgotten/ true celebs) characters involved in this issue.On first view the story seems to be rather light but the amazing references game is quite a great work. This book is surely worth the money to buy it.

What, at this juncture, appears to be the last adventure in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series. Although, with Mr. Moore, things are never as they seem. A rollicking adventure that appears to tie up some loose ends and puts a stamp of finality on the League's history. Read, enjoy and savor the awesomeness of a great series that sets the bar very high for any other writers of the Captain Nemo legend.

Good tales, great art work, strange world. It must be Nemo. Piracy, with a vengeance. So sad about Jack, but life is like that.

I am an American comic reader. Moore really is too good of a writer for mere comic books, but this continuation of his LOEG universe shows us how his characters have moved on with the passage of time. Tinted with strong leanings on HP Lovecraft lore, this tale takes you on a great journey into the coldest corner of our real world.

This hardback version really feels and looks like the kind of "Boy's Own" annual that you could get in the 1950s - 1960s. No doubt this a big part of Alan Moore's past influences and the "retro" atmosphere is a big part of the appeal - not the sort of thing you can reproduce on a Kindle, this is all about the joy of a real book, that might have been read under the covers by a schoolboy.However, Moore's ironic twist is to make this very much an "adult" story in every sense of the word - no compromises are made and no punches pulled. It is graphic and not the sort of thing parents would really expect their children to be reading.A large part of the beginning is written in German with no translation - you are thrown in at the deep-end of an alternate history, in a strange world that is beautifully painted and realised. It has elements of the  German Secret Weapons of the Second World War (Greenhill Military Paperback) , as well as that regime's fascination with the Occult.All in all this is a visual and tactile treat, with great retro details and is part of Alan Moore's unique vision - maybe a bit short and not as good as recent editions, but these are always worth seeing in the hardback format. German Secret Weapons of the Second World War (Greenhill Military Paperback)

Great artwork as per usual but the story is spoilt by pages of conversation in german, also, I found this Nemo series to be short, basic and lacking in the intricate and complex plots that Alan Moore has produced in the past (from hell, watchmen, LOEG)A lot more could have been done with this character.

Great art and some nice gags but not as good as the first two volumes of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Still some Moore is better than no Moore.

Another great Nemo both k, good up quality hardcover great story & art work.

Highly recommended.