Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill are both calling it a day on their legendary comic careers. Both have left an undeniable mark on comic culture with works that are considered must reads. It is only fitting that their comic swan song is also the conclusion to The League of Extraordinary Gentleman – their best known and acclaimed collaboration. But this is no low key affair as Moore and O’Neill are looking to make their comic finale an explosive one.

The Tempest aims to tie up all the threads and loose ends from the three preceding volumes as well as The Black Dossier and the Nemo trilogy. This first issue alone jumps from headquarters of British Military Intelligence, the fabled Ayesha’s lost African city of Kor and the domed citadel of ‘We’ on the devastated Earth of the year 2996. It is a manic plot that switches both narrative and art styles at the drop of a hat but as you’d expect, Moore and O’Neill make sure everything works and add their usual level of authenticity.

O’Neill in particular excels in jumping between the different time periods and tweaking his art to fit the setting (whilst slipping in all those literary easter eggs we’ve become accustomed to). As you’d expect, he does an excellent job in depicting the futuristic and pulpish aspects, but it is the segments focusing on the 2996 future that really stand out. They have the look and feel of the great sci-fi comic/pulp stories of the past giving off more than a little Buck Rogers/Flash Gordan vibe. Additionally, the Seven Stars comic within a comic is a great tribute to the comics that Moore and O’Neill followed in their younger years and hearkens back to some of Moore’s early comic work at the start of his career. This is all aided by the overall presentation which includes fictional advertisements for various whacky products resembling the ones that packed the pages of comics in years past, and the editorial style which is admittedly a take on Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s approach for Marvel in the 60s whilst also paying tribute to legends of classic British comics.

Any fans of The League of Extraordinary Gentleman will definitely be satisfied by this beginning of the end, and anyone who has yet to discover the series should not miss this opportunity to see two legends bring their comic careers to a close in true style.

The League Of Extraordinary Gentleman Volume 4: The Tempest #1 is out now from Knockabout

9690000029500 – P/B £4.25