Lost Girls Hardcover – July 28, 2009

I am going to say Lost Girls was an oddly wonderful graphic novel. For those who want to call it porn, go right ahead. In my opinion, I think those who call it porn are degrading this book. I think of this more as erotica or a work of art. Yes, there is a ton of sex within the pages of this book and yes, it gets very graphic at times, but I think calling this porn is totally missing the point of the book. If you think this is porn then it sure has a lot going on for a simple sex story. It is actually smart if you read between the lines.I will be honestly I was afraid to read this comic book with all the sex. It has been on my list for a long time though. I love Alan Moore and the things he creates. The weirder the comic, the better I like it I find. Lost Girls had a ring of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and his Promethean. The biggest reason I wanted to read this book was the fact used the stories of Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan. Like the LXG comic books. It is like Promethean in the fact the art changes in each chapter, making it seem like there is several artist when there is only one.The plot of the book is a “what if” type of story. What if Alice, Dorothy, and Wendy meet each other for the first time? Alice is now an elderly woman who serves as the wisdom for the group, Wendy is a middle-aged woman and married to a prudish man, and Dorothy is now a young adult out exploring the world. They are no longer children trapped in fantasy worlds, but women with deeper desires and questions. It is the start of the First World War, they meet in Austria at a hotel where they tell stories of their past while exploring there sexual needs. It is all fun and games until the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie are shot.I love how Alan Moore a Melinda Gebbie work together on Lost Girls. For Moore, this book is fairly easy to follow, unless you go down the rabbit hole and focus only on the sex. It is interesting how Moore writes women in his stories too. Usually there are very few, but they are usually the strongest compared to the men. Look at Mina form LXG or Silk Spectre from Watchmen for example. Unlike his other books, I did noticed a slight feminist side to Moore's writing, especially towards the end where the women were praising Alice for not having enough men in her life. I do wonder if Moore did this because he was working with his wife.The other thing about this book that surprised me was how it was intellectual. All I kept hearing about was the sex and controversy behind this book. No one bothered to go into the style of the book or how this was not just a story about sex. It rather shows me that the world still shames anything that involves sex or they put it down. Yet, when people like me read this kind stuff, I also see that it is about religious and moral questionings, social class, literature, the arts, history, realism, insanity, and loss of childhood innocence.The other part I liked about this book was how Moore wrote each character form each story using a non-fanatical element to them. In the Alice in Wonderland parts Alice is at a boarding school and her schoolmates have names of flowers. She is sexually harassed by her PE teacher who is is the counterpart of the Queen of Heart and the Red Queen. In the Wizard of Oz parts, Dorothy is at her farm with three farm helpers (similar to the MGM movie). She as an attraction to her Uncle Henry who is also the Wizard and she fears her Aunt Em who is also the Wicked Witch. With the Peter Pan, parts Wendy and her brothers are playing in a park and meet a boy named Peter. She fears a Captain who tries to rape her, but he fails.I just love the artwork in this book too. Melinda Gebbie does a wonderful job with her paints and colors. Some of the pages in this book should be framed and hung somewhere. Sometimes nudity and sex can bother me in a comic book. Mainly when the artist draws it as something dark and shameful to look at, but not with this book. Yes, some of the acts are horrific in real life, but as Monsieur Rougeur says, you have to decide that what is real and that which is fake. If you think like that, this book will not bother you as much.Honestly if you are a fan of Alan Moore and like his dark twisted mind, I highly recommend this book.

This is a book which realizes that sex is complicated, and that people have complicated feelings about their sexual experiences -- some negative, some positive. Does that make this art? Not necessarily, but it does provide some depth to the characters. Whether it is enough -- well, you be the judge.The quality and style of the illustrations (along with storytelling techniques) change hugely throughout the chapters. Visually, it offers quite a variety. Does that make this art? Again, not necessarily, but it is one component of interesting art. Does it effectively amplify the story? Maybe.The sexual re-interpretation of the various back-stories is a new twist -- at least, it is to me -- and provides a genuinely different way of understanding these familiar details. Does that make this literature? Not necessarily ... but that is one of the qualities good literature can offer.What separates this from literature/art? For starters, it can easily be criticized for being a work which trades in the substance of arousal -- visual depictions of beautiful bodies in sexual activity. It is not realistic (though it must be admitted that realism is not a necessary quality for literature or art).Can pornography as literature work? Well, it certainly is intriguing in concept. As others have commented, this book does engage in some prurient humor -- not all the time, but sometimes. There are many visual puns as well. More critical might be its general mood of decadence, on the lines of CABARET but with more sex and no songs. The overall result is generally disturbing ... but that is the intended impression: self-absorbed people are not healthy people.So DOES IT WORK???? Partly yes and partly no. I would compare it to a film like Y Tu Mama Tambien, which similarly takes place against a backdrop of increasing political unrest. YTMT manages to get its point across faster, but there the sex interrupted the action; in LOST GIRLS, sex is the action, because everything is interpreted in terms of sex: desire, arousal, play, friendship, trust. And guilt, fear, self-image, personal transformation. And these are entirely self-referential perceptions.So if I were the editor, there is very little I'd be cutting out; if the reader is willing to 'go with it', then it all seems to belong. Others have commented how they could not 'go' with various aspects; they are not wrong. If a reader has strong feelings about some aspect of sexual interaction, there's a good chance they'll find a trigger here. This book was not written to deal with every aspect of sexual trauma -- that wouldn't be possible -- and omitting any potential trigger would render this book non-existent.In conclusion: it's not great literature, but it is interesting -- if you can stomach the trip it takes. It's not a necessary trip, nor a life-changing one, so you don't have to take it. Proceed with caution. If you find it's not for you, admit it and leave it aside.

This book means a lot to me if only because of the extreme personal circumstances under which I nearly lost it to the Chinese government and the lengths I went to in order to keep it, and other books they deemed inappropriate. If you add my legal fees to the already steep cover price, it's by far the most expensive book I own. I don't regret it for a moment. The stories it tells are fascinating, and represent a truly imaginative, often disturbing twist on the classic stories of Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. The idea of having three characters experience sexual awakening in different ways and meet each other in their adulthood is truly unique and original. I enjoyed the illustrations that accompanied the story and my enjoyment wasn't mere base pleasure in something "pornographic" (though that's hard to avoid). It was in the way the stories overlap, the way the women change throughout the years, the way their modern stories and the looking glass contrast with their childhood recollections, and the way World War I looms over everything as a malignant spectre. This book now also perfectly represents to me what it means to be free -- free to take classic characters and change them, free to express art through sensuality, and free to read what you want to read without fear of reprisals and without the need to explain yourself to a bunch of Chinese customs inspectors. I grant this book 5 stars for its incredible power to defy the censors and to inspire me to fight for what's right.

bit dissaponting,art work not great.buy from the fire instead,m moore.

a most extraordinary piece of fine literature and delightful images. you can't even begin to imagine what you're missing out on.

O livro é de uma qualidade impecável, com muitas artes extras. É a chance de ler esse material sem pagar o preço de um rim pela edição brasileira esgotada. É uma história erótica sobre as heroínas do Mágico de Oz, Peter Pan e Alice no País das Maravilhas. Essas três heroínas vão ter aventuras sexuais e se conhecer durante a história. Sensacional. Os desenhos são bem detalhados mas num estilo meio cartunesco antigo. Foram feitos pela mulher de Alan Moore, Melinda Gebbie.

Verdaderamente una obra unica, aqui Moore da rienda suelta a esa sexualidad implicita tan caracteristica de su trabajo, gran arte pintado, es 1 obra 100% para adultos, imperdible para aquel que se precie erudito del arte en su forma de comic.

Alan Moore rocks the comic book/graphic novel industry again.Watchmen was awesome. Lost Girls is a nice thick, high quality book. Its a beauty. Totally worth it. Great story. Awesome artwork.