League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - ALLAN QUARTERMAIN
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This image depicts the cover of King Solomon's Mines, a novel by H. Rider Haggard. It was in this story that Haggard created the character Allan Quartermain. Image online via Amazon.
Allan Quartermain, famous literary hunter/explorer, is the hero of H. Rider Haggard’s novel King Solomon’s Mines. First published in 1885, that story was followed by sequels including Allan Quartermain, in 1887. The fictitious hero’s exploits were serialized in Longman’s Magazine before the novel was released in book form.
Conceived in the late 19th century by an Englishman who thought more of colonial conquests than indigenous competence, Allan Quartermain (Haggard’s literary hero) has a Victorian attitude toward the people of Africa where his exploits occur. Alan Moore, author of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, gives Quartermain a very different vision and mission.
Long popular as a dramatic hero, Allan Quartermain has previously been played by at least three Hollywood stars:
- Cedric Hardwicke in the 1937 version of King Solomon’s Mines,
- Stewart Granger in 1950's universally acclaimed, award-winning movie of the same name; and
- Richard Chamberlain in 1985's rendition of King Solomon’s Mines.
But in this story, Allan Quartermain cannot achieve his objectives without the considerable help of others.
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