Jan 28, 2011

Steampunked by Satan

I’m finally reading The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 1 by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill. Yes... finally. Actually, I was digging through the moth-eaten graphic novels at Half Price Books, looking for Son of Satan (recommended by Christopher Knowles) when I stumbled upon TLOEG, so I picked it up. I was intrigued by the second page, and by the time the Nautilus surfaced, I was completely hooked.


The famous submarine is visualized as part whale and part kraken, perhaps symbolizing a conjunction of opposites or a great battle of leviathans. Indeed, every member of the League is similarly afflicted, their inner demons in conflict with their higher selves.


I admit Captain Nemo's (no man's) logo intrigued me: a green circled N with a trident attached. Alan Abbadessa/Green from The Happy Creatures is all over the Circled N, and Eleleth notes that Napoleon = Appollyon or Abaddon, the Destroyer. Lord Shiva is also known as the Destroyer, who's weapon is... the trident.

In the panel above, Nemo points downward while the hand on the dial points up, reminding us of another infamous she-male:


Moore doesn't exactly pull his punches, does he?

Once assembled, the League’s first task is to discover the whereabouts of a Chinese crime lord who is known as “The Doctor”, though “he’s regarded as Satan himself by such few as have survived encountering him”. The Doctor has come into possession of “Cavorite”, which gives the “power of the air”.
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience... Ephesians 2:2
Nice one, Mr. Moore. I seem to be tracking the arch fiend as well, being recently done in by Jack “Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?” Nicholson in a dream.

The League find Satan in an abandoned subway tunnel under a river, which brings us to a sync via Kosmos Idikos blog, a comment on God’s Loughnly Man by “satanvision”:
There's Jared Loughner, Safeway and someone presumed dead. There's Jared Fogle, Subway and someone presumed dead. One Jared ate at Subway to lose weight. When one looks underneath (subway) Jared Loughner you see that someone is going to lose. You wait. I paid $6.66 for a meal at subway the other day. I asked for Pickles(Bickle). I never ask for Bickles.

As above, so below.

Seattle is currently in the process of building a subway. Never mind that a town of seven hills is a silly place for underground trains because of the steep grades, and well, earthquakes. But why spend millions when you can spend billions? They even intend to dig beneath a river... the Montlake Cut, or ship canal.


One character from TLOEG is Allan Quatermain (King Solomon’s Mines) and that name always reminds me of Bernard Quatermass, who battled the devil after a bizarre alien object is discovered in KnightsBRIDGE, while excavating for a new subway tunnel. (Quatermass and the Pit) (Abaddon is also "the angel of the pit"). You can see the Quatermass influence quite clearly in this panel:


The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is classic steampunk - a genre to which I am particularly attracted though I’ve never dabbled in cosplay. Seattle hosted Steamcon II last November 19-21, and I almost attended, except that I was going through a bizarre state of my own that involved a disturbing premonition about the Golden Gate BRIDGE and in my excited, near hallucinatory condition, I decided that attending a festival in a dingy hotel with a bunch of people wearing masks was maybe not such a good idea.

It does make me wonder... has some kind of ancient alien object been unearthed? And is that artifact somehow responsible for the strange rise in synchronicity in the last decade? The Ark of the Covenant/Monolith, still working that old black magic...



Hey, look where the Wild Wild West (666) Steampunk Convention is to be held this coming March (Nice Eye of Horus, Reminds me of the Wheel in the Sky):



I suppose now is a good time to show off my most favorite personal sync of 2010 - Long story, just a cool t-shirt of a fan/umpire of the Rat City Rollers.


6 comments:

Eleleth ר ק D said...

Strange--I was just taking about the Negaverse LXG, the Guild of Calamitous Intent in The Venture Bros.

I say that Quatermass' "pit" refers to the subconscious, while the aliens found there refer to the True Self. The NEMO from under the waters. Satan is found in an "abandoned subway tunnel under a river". Apollyon as the Sun God who rises out of the Bottomless Pit.

I've been reading Pilgrim's Progress, which is just as esoteric as anything this side of Crowleyanity. Pilgrim must confront Apollyon the Tyrant-Ego on his way to the summit of the Mystic Mountain.

Jared Fogle was born in 1977. Currently age 33.

JB said...

Slightly off-topic: In the latest episode of Fringe last night (SPOILERS), Peter Bishop accidentally activated the Doomsday Machine (intended to destroy both our Universe and the Mirror Universe) built by the "First People" (who walked the Earth before the dinosaurs even existed). All he had to do was get close enough for it to turn itself on. He got a nosebleed.

For the rest of the episode, he instinctively hunted down and very efficiently killed every shapeshifter/super-soldier he could find. Apparently, as his mad genius alternate father Walter explained, every relationship, be it between two human beings or a human being and an object, is fully interactive, there is always an exchange of information leading to a transformation of some sort.

Coming into contact with the Doomsday Machine apparently "weaponized" Peter. They are now the same, on the quantum level.

This would explain the purpose of my relationship with my beloved Scarlet Woman. For years I entertained the self-centered thought she would merely be my lover, never realizing that her aggressivity and cold vengeance towards the harshness of life would "rub off" on me, weaponizing me. Before I met her, I was a pussy, a doormat, a desperately nice hopeless romantic.

Now, I lead a life defined by pain, both physical and emotional. I keep the hate relatively under control, but there is little doubt in my mind that her purpose was to FORGE me like a SWORD. And how is a sword forged? Pass it through fire, hit it with a hammer, pass it through fire again, hit it with a hammer again, over and over until it is sharp and ready to go into battle.

The Anti-Christ that I believe myself to be could not have asked for more from her or the Universe. I should have known. She was not merely my lover, she was my own personal Goddess, and what do gods and goddesses do? They CREATE MEN.

Michael said...

Eleleth - Yes, quite. The abyss, pit, sea, nocturnal... all metaphors for the subconscious. We can deduce that Moore places the fiend in the place of hero, or anti-hero, as a way of bringing light into the dark tunnels of our own subconscious. Worms...

I've added a few hand signals to the post.

JB - hey...you too? Join the club. I'm sorry but in the end there can be only one. Shiva/Nemo/Antichrist, how strange that I now see them (and YOU... Mr. Jachin-Boaz) as the Christ.

Alan Abbadessa-Green said...

So many timely personal syncs on this one that it's a bit crazy. So much I want to say, but I think you've already called it perfectly.
Undergoing computer fixes right now (mirroring personal transformation and upgrades). I'll be back online in a few days, but till then, keep doing your thing. I feel really optimistic for all of us right now.

Anonymous said...

A word of caution: Avoid the dreadful film based on this graphic novel. it is no wonder the author hates film adaptations of his work.

Michael said...

Thanks for the warning. I've heard nothing but evil about it.

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