The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century is the third volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill. Co-published by Top Shelf Productions and Knockabout Comics in the US and UK respectively, Century was published in three distinct 72-page squarebound comics.
Structure The third volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a 216-page epic spanning almost a hundred years and entitled 'Century'. Divided into three 72-page chapters, each a self-contained narrative to avoid frustrating cliff-hanger delays between episodes, it takes place in three distinct eras, building to an apocalyptic conclusion occurring in the present, twenty-first century. The characters and themes thread through all three episodes, in which the characters of Mina Harker, Allan Quatermain and Orlando feature prominently, alongside W. Somerset Maugham's Aleister Crowley-analogue Oliver Haddo and Iain Sinclair's London-bound time traveller Andrew Norton, from Slow Chocolate Autopsy.
Moore has stated that the move from DC Comics/WildStorm/America's Best Comics has been liberating, and that the work on Century is "freed from the conventions of boys' adventure comics", allowing for a work that is "a lot more atmospheric", building slowly to "a tremendously bloody climax".
Chapter 1: What Keeps Mankind Alive? The story begins in 1910, twelve years after the first and second volumes. On Lincoln Island, the dying Captain Nemo asks his estranged teenage daughter, Janni Dakkar, to become the new captain of the Nautilus after his death, but she refuses and leaves his side. She stows away on a passing ship, which sails to London, and taking the name "Jenny Diver" she gets a job at a wharf-side hotel. Jack MacHeath – portrayed as a combination of The Threepenny Opera protagonist MacHeath and real-life serial killer Jack the Ripper – arrives in London on the same ship and murders a prostitute.
Allan Quatermain and Mina Murray (who have both become immortal after bathing in the Fire of Youth) continue to work for the British Government as part of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, along with new members Orlando, Thomas Carnacki and A. J. Raffles. Carnacki has frequent visions of an upcoming disaster where many people will die, and a cult plotting the creation of a "Moonchild" destined to initiate Armageddon. He recognises one of the men in his visions as paranormal detective Simon Iff, and the League go to a gentlemen's club Carnacki and Iff regularly attend to learn more about him. One of the club's members, Zanoni, reveals that Iff was an associate of Oliver Haddo, an occultist who died in 1908 but whose cult remains active. Mina and Allan later discuss the situation with Mycroft Holmes, the head of British Intelligence, who advises them to investigate the Haddo cult's headquarters near King's Cross railway station and suggests MacHeath (whom British Intelligence knows is Jack the Ripper) will be responsible for the deaths Carnacki foresaw.
At King's Cross, Mina and Raffles meet time traveller Andrew Norton, but he offers little help and speaks almost entirely in riddles referencing events in the far future. As he disappears to another time, Norton promises Mina they will meet again in 1969. Meanwhile, Orlando, Allan and Carnacki break into the Haddo cult's headquarters, but are caught by the leader Karswell Trelawney. When they confront the cult about their plans, Trelawney claims what Carnacki has been seeing is either inaccurate or a future event yet to happen, but Carnacki inadvertently gives them a crucial piece of information by mentioning the name of a woman who has yet to join the cult. Elsewhere, Janni is mistreated by the staff and guests of the hotel, but when Ishmael appears with news of Nemo's death, she still refuses to join the Nautilus crew and demands he leave. That evening, Janni is raped by a group of drunk men, and is later aided to her room by Suky Tawdry (another character from The Threepenny Opera). Distraught and eager for revenge, she decides to fulfill Nemo's dying wishes and fires a flare to summon the Nautilus, which is docked nearby.
The next day, MacHeath is brought to the gallows to be hanged without trial, as Mycroft is worried that a trial might reveal the involvement of the 14th Earl of Gurney (the protagonist of the 1968 play The Ruling Class) in the original Ripper murders and cause a scandal. As MacHeath sings his final plea from the gallows, the Nautilus (now painted black and with Nemo's skull nailed to the forecastle) emerges from the Thames and destroys every building on the waterfront. The crew descend to loot and murder while Janni – accepting the role of captain – orders them to kill the men who raped her. Mycroft receives news of the Nautilus attacking the London docks, as well as a letter from the Earl of Gurney confessing to all the Ripper crimes, so he orders for MacHeath to be freed without charge and sends the League to the docks. When they arrive, Orlando fends off the pirates with Excalibur, and amidst the chaos Mina runs into Janni, who recognises her from her previous visit to Lincoln Island in 1898. As the Nautilus departs, Janni invites Mina to join the crew should she ever decide to forsake government work. Mina berates the League for their reckless actions, and as they leave the ruined docks, MacHeath and Suky sing an altered version of What Keeps Mankind Alive? mocking the League for their failures.
Chapter 2: Paint It Black In 1969, around eleven years after the events of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier, members of Oliver Haddo's cult murder Basil Thomas, a member of the rock band "Purple Orchestra". Mina, Orlando and Allan no longer work for the British Government and have spent the years since the events of The Black Dossier away from Britain, but the sorcerer Prospero summons them back to investigate Basil's murder. The Nautilus drops the League off at the White Cliffs of Dover, and returning to London they settle into their new base underneath a nightclub (which Mina had planned to use as the headquarters for a superhero team she tried to assemble in 1964). They speculate that the Haddo cult may be trying to create the Antichrist, following a previous failed attempt to do so in New York two years before. That night, Mina has a nightmare in which she is haunted by Haddo's spirit, leaving her disturbed and terrified. Meanwhile, mob leader Vince Dakin hires Jack Carter to search for Basil's killer as well, and Carter's investigations lead him to an occult bookshop owned by Kosmo Gallion, the current leader of the Haddo cult.
The next morning, the League meet with Jerry Cornelius, who tells them that Andrew Norton will reappear at King's Cross. When Norton appears, he continues to speak almost exclusively in cryptic riddles referencing works of fiction and events in the future, but he reveals that Haddo's spirit has been transferring into other bodies for years, including Karswell Trelawney and Kosmo Gallion, and directs the League's investigation towards a nightclub called the Flying Cylinder. Before leaving, Norton warns that by the time they meet again in 2009, the League will be "too late" to stop Haddo. Elsewhere, Gallion discusses the Haddo cult with Purple Orchestra's lead singer Terner, and promises him to become Haddo's new host body. At the Flying Cylinder, Mina meets and questions Gallion's partner Julia, who takes her back to her flat. They have sex, and Julia gives Mina a "tadukic acid diethylamide" pill.
Purple Orchestra holds a concert at Hyde Park in honor of Basil (which parallels the real-world death of The Rolling Stones member Brian Jones and the subsequent tribute concert), in which Terner reads poetry and sings a song based on "Sympathy for the Devil". From Julia's information, Mina learns that Haddo's spirit plans to transfer from Gallion to Terner at the concert, and she, Orlando and Allan go to Hyde Park to stop the ritual. Once they arrive, however, she realises that the actual ritual is occurring at Gallion's bookshop. While Allan and Orlando race to the shop, Mina stays at the concert and takes the tadukic acid pill, which gives her surreal hallucinations. Her spirit leaves her body and fights Haddo on the astral plane, but he overpowers her and reveals that the League's interference will not affect the planned birth of the Antichrist. At the bookshop, Jack Carter kills Gallion before the ritual can be completed. With his plan gone awry, Haddo is forced to enter the body of a man named Tom (who is heavily implied to be a younger Voldemort). Purple Orchestra releases a flock of bats into the crowd, and as Mina returns to her body she is driven insane by a hallucination of the bats chanting "Remember me?". She is taken away in an ambulance before Allan and Orlando can get to her, while Tom - now under Haddo's control - goes to King's Cross and passes through Platform 9 3/4.
Eight years later, in 1977, Allan and the female Orlando have still not reunited with Mina, and sit sulking in a bar. Allan has relapsed into drug abuse, and growing bored of his self-pity Orlando leaves him, planning to join the army once her gender changes again.
Chapter 3: Let It Come Down In 2009, the male Orlando is serving in the British Army and stationed in Q'mar. He receives a medal after apparently surviving a massacre, but he privately confesses to a fellow immortal soldier – Colonel Cuckoo – that he actually committed the massacre himself in a moment of violent madness. Returning home to London, which has become a dystopia rife with poverty and depression, Orlando's gender switches to female. Prospero – outraged by the League's continuous failure to stop Oliver Haddo – appears and reveals the Antichrist has already been born, therefore the League only has a limited time to prevent Armageddon. In desperation, Orlando approaches the elderly Emma Night, the current head of MI5, and offers her the secret to immortality in exchange for help finding Mina. After speaking with Night she is briefly reunited with Allan, who has become a homeless drug addict, but he panics and flees before she can talk to him.
Mina is staying in a psychiatric hospital run by the descendants of Rosa Coote, where she is medicated on strong sedatives. Orlando gets her out of the hospital and takes her off her medication, and as Mina's memories return, she remembers that she should meet up with Andrew Norton again. They try to convince Allan to help them, but he refuses and claims he no longer wants to live a heroic life. When Norton reappears at King's Cross, he guides Mina and Orlando through the hidden Platform 9 3/4, where they find the wreckage of a magical train full of decaying corpses. He explains the train is operated magically and its track leads to the school the Antichrist came from, but he himself is unable to join them. The train travels across Britain's underlying dream realm and stops at the ruins of a school for wizards. As Mina and Orlando search the ruins, flashbacks show the events leading up to the school's destruction. As a baby, the Antichrist (who is heavily implied to be Harry Potter but never referred to by name) was scarred with the mark of the beast on his forehead, and throughout the child's adolescence, Oliver Haddo tried to manipulate him into accepting his destiny by staging a series of adventures set in the school and portraying a nemesis for him to fight. The revelation of his true destiny drove the Antichrist insane and he went on a destructive rampage, destroying the school and killing all the staff and pupils. When Mina and Orlando return to London, Prospero urges them to confront the Antichrist and use Excalibur to signal for reinforcements. Meanwhile, Allan buys a gun and prepares to commit suicide, but ultimately decides not to.