A bit about: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a graphic novel series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O’Neill. It began as a nod to nineteenth-century adventure stories, but soon morphed into a literary celebration of superhero proportions. That practically begs for a list, wouldn’t you agree?  So here it is. We’ve {hopefully} covered all works of fiction—still accessible in one format or another—that inspired the stories, characters, or illustrations of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

We’ve also included the names of the characters referenced in the series—so when it comes to reading The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, you’ll know who to look for. We could have mentioned where to find them—but what fun would that be?

The value: The Extraordinary Fiction reading list is a treasure trove for myriad reasons. One, it deflates a bit of puffery from Literature elitists—proving comics or graphic novels can be more than mere fluff. For those who already love the series, it allows for added dimension. And it offers a wide variety—from children’s tales to nothing of the sort—variety that makes for one amazing adventure.

Download list: Extraordinary Fiction

Sindbad the Sailor | Anonymous

• Sindbad

Thousand and one Nights (The Arabian Nights) | Various translations

• Scheharezade

Fantômas | Marcel Allain & Pierre Souvestre

• Fantômas

Peter Pan | J.M. Barrie

• Captain Hook

The Threepenny Opera | Bertolt Brecht

• Pirate Jenny
• Mack the Knife

Histoire de Babar (The Story of Babar) | Jean de Brunhoff

• Babar the Elephant

The Thirty-Nine Steps | John Buchan

• Richard “Dick” Hannay

The Pilgrim’s Progress | John Bunyan

• Christian

The Song of Book of Quong Lee of Limehouse | Thomas Burke

• Quong Lee

A Princess of Mars | Edgar Rice Burroughs

• John Carter
• Dejah Thoris

Alice in Wonderland | Lewis Carroll

Through the Looking Glass | Lewis Carroll

• Alice

Don Quixote de la Mancha | Miguel Cervantes

• Sancho Panza
• Don Quixote

Journey to the West | Wu Cheng’en

• Sun Wukong, The Monkey King

Fanny Hill | John Cleland

• Fanny Hill

Pinocchio | Carlo Collodi

• Pinocchio

The Deerslayer | James Fenimore Cooper

• Natty Bumppo

Moonchild | Aleister Crowley

• Moonchild

Oliver Twist | Charles Dickens

• Artful Dodger

The Adventure of the Empty House | Arthur Conan Doyle

• Colonel Sebastian Moran

The Adventure of the Final Problem | Arthur Conan Doyle

• Professor James Moriarty

The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter | Arthur Conan Doyle

• Mycroft Holmes

The Lost World | Arthur Conan Doyle

• Professor George Edward Challenger

A Study in Scarlet | Arthur Conan Doyle

• Sherlock Holmes

Casino Royale | Ian Fleming

• Jimmy Bond

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Ian Fleming

• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Dr. No | Ian Fleming

• Julius No

The Wind in the Willows | Kenneth Grahame

• Mr. Toad

The Ivory Child | H. Rider Haggard

• Lady Ragnall

King Solomon’s Mines | H. Rider Haggard

• Allan Quatermain

Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future | Frank Hampson

• Dan Dare

The Floating Island | Richard Head

• Captain Robert Owemuch

The Gateway of the Monster | William Hope Hodgson

• Thomas Carnacki

The Sandman | E.T.A. Hoffman

• Olympia

The Amateur Cracksman | Ernest William Hornung

• A.J. Raffles

Les Misérables | Victor Hugo

• Jean Valjean

The Bostonians | Henry James

• Olive Chancellor

Doctor Sax | Jack Kerouac

• Doctor Sachs

On the Road | Jack Kerouac

• Dean Moriarty
• Sal Paradyse

Kim | Rudyard Kipling

• Kimball “Kim” O’Hara

Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Cambrioleur (Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Thief) | Maurice Leblanc

• Arsène Lupin

The Story of Doctor Dolittle | Hugh Lofting

• Doctor John Dolittle

The Call of Cthulhu | H.P. Lovecraft

• Kutulu

The Haunter of the Dark | H.P. Lovecraft

• Nyarlathotep

The Statement of Randolph Carter | H.P. Lovecraft

• Randolph Carter

The Magician | W. Somerset Maugham

• Oliver Haddo

Bulldog Drummond | H.C. McNeile

• Hugo Drummond

Moby-Dick | Herman Melville

• Ishmael

The Condition of Muzak | Michael Moorcock

• Mrs. Cornelius (aka “Mrs. C”)

The Final Programme | Michael Moorcock

• Jeremiah “Jeremy” Cornelius

Kane of Old Mars | Michael Moorcock

• Michael Kane

The Scarlet Pimpernel | Emma Orczy

• Lady Marguerite Blakeney
• Sir Percival Blakeney

Nineteen Eighty-Four | George Orwell

• Gerard O’Brien
• General Sir Harold Wharton (aka Big Brother)

Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor | Mervyn Peake

• Captain Slaughterboard

The Murders in the Rue Morgue | Edgar Allan Poe

• Auguste Dupin

Some Words with a Mummy | Edgar Allan Poe

• Count Allamistakeo

Pollyanna | Eleanor H. Porter

• Pollyanna Whittier

The Tale of Peter Rabbit | Beatrix Potter

• Peter Rabbit

The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu | Sax Rohmer

• Fu Manchu

Varney the Vampire | James Malcolm Rymer

• Sir Francis Varney

Captain Blood | Rafael Sabatini

• Peter Blood

The Tempest | William Shakespeare

• Ariel
• Caliban
• Prospero

Frankenstein | Mary Shelley

• Frankenstein’s Monster

Slow Chocolate Autopsy | Iain Sinclair

• Andrew Norton

The Sexton Blake library| Anthony Skene

• Monsieur Zenith

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | Robert Louis Stevenson

• Edward Hyde
• Henry Jekyll

Treasure Island | Robert Louis Stevenson

• Long John Silver

Dracula | Bram Stoker

• Jonathan Harker
• Wilhelmina (Harker) Murray

Gulliver’s Travels | Jonathan Swift

• Lemuel Gulliver

Doctor Syn: A Smuggler Tale of the Romney Marsh | Russell Thorndike

• The Reverend Dr. Christopher Syn (aka Captain Clegg)

Rupert Bear series| Mary Tourtel

• H-9 (Rupert Bear)
• H-11 (Algy Pug)
• H-14 (Tiger Tim)

Mary Poppins | P.L. Travers

• Mary Poppins

Can You Forgive Her? | Anthony Trollope

• Plantagenet Palliser, the elder
• Plantagenet Palliser, the younger

The Warden | Anthony Trollope

• Septimus Harding

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer | Mark Twain

• Tom Sawyer

The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls and a Golliwog | Florence Kate Upton

• Galley-Wag

20,000 Leagues under the Sea | Jules Verne

• Captain Nemo

Around the World in Eighty Days | Jules Verne

• Phileas Fogg

Five Weeks in a Balloon | Jules Verne

• Samuel Fergusen

Journey to the Center of the Earth | Jules Verne

• Arne Saknussemm

Robur the Conqueror | Jules Verne

• Jean Robur

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ | Lew Wallace

• Judah Ben-Hur

The First Men in the Moon | H.G. Wells

• Selwyn Cavor

The Invisible Man | H.G. Wells

• Hawley Griffin

The Island of Doctor Moreau | H.G. Wells

• Alphonse Moreau
• Teddy Prendrick

The Time Machine | H.G. Wells

• The Time Traveller

The War of the Worlds | H.G. Wells

• Lavell
• Stent

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm | Kate Douglas Wiggin

• Becky Randall

The Picture of Dorian Gray | Oscar Wilde

• Dorian Gray

Extricating Young Gussie | P.G. Wodehouse

• Bertram Wooster
• Jeeves

Orlando: A Biography | Virginia Woolf

• Orlando

What Katy Did | Sarah Chauncey Woolsey

• Katy Carr

Nana | Émile Zola

• Anna Coupeau