Mechanical Menagerie: Here Kitty, Kitty!
Steampunk Book Review: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 2
Your favorite cohort of Steampunk heroes is back in another installment of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen!
Our story starts on the surface of Mars where literary heroes Gulliver Jones (Lieut. Gulliver Jones: His Vacation, 1905) and John Carter (Princess of Mars, 1917) are organizing a resistance against an alien race of foreign origin that is trying to invade. All too quickly their struggle ends with the aliens on their way to the homeland of those who oppose them: Earth.
We meet up with Ms. Murray, Allan Quartermain, Captain Nemo, The Invisible Man and the ever so dubious Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde when they are called in to investigate an impact crater in the countryside. Tentacled aliens make short work of the white flag waving humans who try to make contact, and the league retreats for the evening. The Invisible Man slips unseen through the darkness (like a dark unseeable slippy thing) to meet with the aliens in secret, and through the ingenious use of scribbling pictures in the dirt he becomes their ally. After getting his intell, the aliens mount an attack from craters all over England using the giant walking tripods they built to protect their soft, molluscky bodies.
While Nemo and Hyde keep London safe from the attacking hordes, Mina and Allan are sent on a mission to retrieve a special weapon from the infamous Dr. Moreau (The Island of Dr. Moreau, 1896). Relationships are reshaped and bodies broken in the pages leading up to the exciting conclusion of this installment of Alan Moore‘s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
I liked this book, but I preferred the first “LXG”. There were some very interesting moments between Hyde and Mina, and between Mina and Allan, but I wanted an enemy that was less unambiguously evil than killer aliens that just wanted to blow stuff up. The double crossing and false identities in the first one made for an interesting and complex story, which was really what I was looking for in my sequel rather than a romantic entanglement between the doddering Quartermain and Mina. (Yep, there is totally grandpa sex in this book) I usually really like to see my characters grow and change, but it is tricky with this concept of bringing all of these fully-formed characters together because too much deviation by Moore could feel like a betrayal to the original.
In addition to the main story, there is an additional material like the New Traveller’s Almanac that informs the reader all about the world of LXG and more literary reference fun.
If you haven’t read it, check out my reviews of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 1.
Mechanical Menagerie: Under the Sea
Automatons need not be confined to human-shaped robots when the whole animal kingdom is out there for mad scientists to toy with! I absolutely love the combination of the organic with the constructed so I am always collecting cool images of “mechanimals.” If you have an image to share or you see something that has been mis-attributed please let me know by leaving a comment below.
Click on any thumbnail to open a gallery of larger images. You can also see lots of Steampunk octopus and squid in my Steampunk Sourcebook: Cephlapods post.
Check out this amazing video by Pes Film, whose 2013 “Fresh Guacamole” was nominated for an oscar. .
Some Steamy Offerings From Lost Bohemian
I was visiting a friend over the holidays and told her about this blog and what Steampunk is all about. Her reaction?
“All of that stuff that I really like, it has a name! And that name is Steampunk.”
Welcome to the fold, sister.
She was so inspired after our little chat that she created a beautiful, hand painted decorative plate, which is available for $250. You can reach her through her Lost Bohemian Facebook page.
And in addition to drawing and painting, she is also a world-class crocheter. I found this adorable scarflet for $40 just today on her website. Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
Be Still My Clockwork Heart
For the most part, I find the valentine heart shape to be overused and cliche in the same way putting the word “dream” on everything is super lame. But, I had faith that there were Steampunk artists out there that would give me some interesting, evocative and beautiful heart-themed art and jewelry to enjoy so in honor of the impending feast of St. Valentine I created this gallery of Steampunk hearts. Most of these lovelies are available for purchase. Click on the thumbnails to open a larger gallery or hover over the them to get the artists’ names (most are from Etsy).
Steampunk Sourcebook: Cephlapods
What is it about our many legged friends that makes them a popular trope in Steampunk?
۞ Monster Cephlapods have been the major focus of several classic works of Science Fiction and Fantasy such as H. P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulu, Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the 1830 Tennyson poem The Kraken. There is also a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story called Horror of the Heights that features a flying tentacled monster. In more recent times both the Kraken and Cthulu-like monsters have made appearances in Hollywood blockbusters like Hellboy and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (though you also get a good look at the Kraken after it is death in Pirates of the Caribbean: World’s End).
۞ Their bodies are also reminiscent of complex machines. The long skinny tentacles are like wires or tubes and their movement is powered by water, not unlike steam vehicles. As a bonus their bodies kind of look like they are wearing a helmet and goggles all the time, and if Steampunk had an official symbol I’m pretty sure it would be a pair of goggles (or maybe a gear).
۞ Brian Kesinger, the talented artist behind Otto and Victoria and the book Walking Your Octopus: Your Guidebook to the Domesticated Cephlapod, did an interview for ComicMix.com, and when asked about his choice to draw an octopus as a couture pet he answered:
“I find octopuses extremely fun to draw. It is a real challenge inventing eight different things for them to do in every image. They are nature’s original multi-tasker and they certainly have captured the imagination of a lot of people. Along with the squid and other Cephalopods, octopuses seem to be a sort of theme animal for steampunk so when I set forth trying to render an image of a high class Victorian lady and her boutique pet the choice was obvious. What was not obvious was how popular Otto has become since I first drew him a year ago. He has inspired fan art, tattoos and I’ve even seen girls cosplay Victoria and conventions around the country! And for that I am so grateful and it keeps me drawing octopus.”
Cephlapods are fascinating creatures that are about as far away from human as you can get.
۞ I used to work at an aquarium so I got a chance to spend lots of time observing octopus and my personal favorite cuttlefish. These invertebrates can move in three dimensions, jetting around the water column and feeding on smaller animals.
They are also totally visually stunning. Undulating tentacles aside, many of them can change color and shape at will, which makes them masters of disguise. Want to have your mind blown? Check out the PBS documentary below for more information about cuttlefish camouflage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Qlq8DBtl4
I’ve collected just a sampling of the Steampunk art featuring our many-legged friends out there on the interwebs. In most cases you can get the artist’s name by simply hovering over each image and you can open a gallery of larger images by clicking on any thumbnail. If you see something that is mislabeled or you know who is behind one of my unlabeled entries please let me know so I can give the artist the credit s/he deserves.
Click on any thumbnail to open the gallery of larger images.
Neo-Victoriana at Hom Furniture
My parents just bought a townhouse so my mom wanted some help shopping and I was happy to oblige. We went to Hom Furniture and I found a surprising amount of decor that could be considered Neo-Victorian or Steampunk. I took some pictures on my phone of my favorite items. This particular Hom store also had a pseudo-balcony that was lined with cupboards that looked like library shelves so it helped at to the Steampunk feeling due to all the books in the interior design.
This table below and the side table set above really caught my eye.
But most of what I found was wall art like the pieces below.
Steampunk-inspired Assemblage Clocks by Yours Truly
Irene Adler clock
I started making Steampunk-inspired clocks about a month ago using mixed metals, fabric and scrapbook paper. This one is definitely my favorite so far and the only one I have kept for myself. The rose in the center of the clock mechanism acts as the second hand and rotates as the clock ticks. (You can see my posts about Steampunk scrapbook paper by Graphic 45 and Die Cuts with a View by clicking on the links.)
This clock was a gift for my sister-in-law because she collects vintage maps and loves to travel. (Please forgive the image quality. I’ve been messing with the camera settings for a while and I can’t get it to cooperate, but it is high time I got to post some of my own art!)
Around the World in 80 Days Clock
This last and most recent clock was a wedding gift for a friend.
Time Stands Still Clock by ForWhomTheGearTurns
Any feedback or questions are very welcome, feel free to leave me a comment below.
For Whom the Gear Turns 