At times, as the penultimate episode of Moore's superlative pulp epic moves towards a 21st century apocalypse, his characters are battling their own ennui as much as reincarnated sorcerer Oliver Haddo. The League  whose members have included Prospero, Gulliver and Jekyll  have tussled with Martians and James Bond and are now whittled down to an immortal, incestuous trio. Allan Quatermain sees opium on every corner, Mina Murray is doing her damnedest to jive-talk with the hippies, and Orlando is pining for Agricola and Sinbad. The 60s setting gives Moore the chance to freshen up his warped literary references with Soho strip joints, superheroes, Get Carter and Rosemary's Baby, while his centrepiece sees a Stones-like band play a rather flat pastiche of Sympathy for the Devil as the astral plane yawns above Hyde Park. Some of the urgency has departed with the rest of the ensemble cast, but while perplexed first-time readers are advised to dig out the earlier volumes, even a below-par Moore produces moments of marvel, and fans won't be let down by the latest instalment of this clever, lurid saga. JS