User blog:DarkClaw3/PE Proposal: Hawley Griffin

Recently, I've rekindled my love for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic series, and, since I've been itching to make another PE Proposal, it seemed fitting to suggest one of the comics' most notorious characters: Hawley Griffin, aka the Invisible Man.

A warning now that this post contains some graphic imagery...

What is the Work?
Written by Alan Moore (yes, that Alan Moore) and illustrated by Kevin O'Niel, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen centers around a group of "extraordinary" individuals gathered to protect the interests of the British Empire. The first two volumes in the series (the only ones that we'll be focusing on here) center around the first League—composed of Allan Quartermain, Mina Murray, Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, and Griffin—first having to stop the war between James Moriarty and Fu Manchu, before subsequently having to foil the Martian invasion of earth.

Who is He?
Like the character from the original novel, Griffin was a scientist who had turned himself invisible in an experiment; the only difference being that this Griffin had escaped death by leaving behind the albino man that he had first transformed as a guinea pig to be beaten to death by the mob chasing after him. Following this, Griffin took up residence in Rosa Coote's Correctional Academy for Wayward Gentlewomen, where he used his invisibility to take advantage of the female students until he was captured by Mina, Nemo and Quartermain. Not long afterwards, Griffin joins the League in exchange for a pardon for his crimes, a search for a cure to his invisibility, and a large sum of money and helps in their mission to steal the Cavorite (an anti-gravity metal) back from Fu Manchu. Under Nemo's orders, Griffin then spies on Campion Bond and finds out that the League's employer, "M", is actually Moriarty, and so informs the rest of the team—but not before murdering an innocent police officer for his coat first. He subsequently joins them in riding the Victoria air balloon up to Moriarty's ship in order to stop it's assault on Manchu's Limehouse, although doesn't actually take part in the battle; instead staying back on the balloon and nearly taking it for himself in order to escape.

In the next volume, Griffin takes part in the League's investigation of a crashed Martian vessel and thus witnesses the beginning of the Martian War. Assured that humanity might lose the war, Griffin approaches some of the Martians and manages to join up with their plans in order to save himself and rule the world alongside them. He steals some of Britain's plans to fight back against the Martians following this, and additionally beats Mina unconscious when she comes across him before fleeing. Ultimately, the Martians begin to gain the upper hand thanks to Griffin's treachery, although he doesn't end up being able to share the world with them as planned—due to the fact that Hyde (who has been able to see him since Volume 1) catches up with him and proceeds to literally rape him to death in revenge for what he did to Mina. A few pages later, Griffin's invisible blood becomes visible once more as he finally passes on (and judging by Nemo's reaction upon discovering his corpse, its probably for the best that the reader isn't shown what's left of him).

Why Does He Qualify?
I think it speaks volumes about a character when the first time we see them they are literally in the middle of raping a young woman. Mind you, raping a young woman after it has been established that he is responsible for raping several other young women before. I could probably just leave this summary at that, but somehow Griffin has even more terrible qualities.

As we've established, he is a remorseless serial rapist and murderer with an obvious sadistic streak; using his invisibility to suit his own desires. Needless to say, being the Invisible Man, he has hundreds of different possible ways to get around committing his various crimes; but unsurprisingly, he always seems to choose the most brutal methods possible. Again, on his way back from spying on Moriarty, he makes a quick stop to violently bludgeon an innocent policeman—splitting his skull open and splattering his blood over the curb—all because he was cold and wanted his coat. To make matters worse, when confronted about his murder, his justification is simply "Well forgive me. I'd rather thought we were a covert military unit, but it seems we are instead a knitting circle!" And then, when Mina discovers him stealing Britain's attack plans, he beats her to the point of vomiting and forces her to grovel for him before finally knocking her out.

He's a huge misanthrope as well (“God, what a squalid thing humanity can be! Would that they all might vanish and be made invisible instead of I.") and has absolutely no regard for anything but himself, being a total coward who is willing to sacrifice the entire League just to save himself. And that, of course, leads into his betrayal to the Martians, where he proves he is willing to doom all of humanity both in order to save himself and rule the world (well…"rule" in the sense that he'll be the only person left). Not only does he steal the plans for London's defenses for the aliens, but is shown advising them on how to take out the Nautilus by sabotaging the river. Because of this, the Martians are able to demolish most of London and kill presumably hundreds of people—and we're shown one of them attacking a train filled with people evacuating the city, leaving only a boy named Jimmy Grey alive. The rest of the passengers...not so much.

Redeeming Qualities?
None to speak of. Griffin is truly only out for himself (I mean, the image above makes that pretty clear, doesn't it?) and he's willing to betray his team, his planet and the entire human race just to save his own invisible skin. Even accounting for all of his more heroic actions in Volume 1 (which would all be rendered null by his betrayal anyway), they can easily be traced back to some kind of personal gain—as, of course, he was helping to steal back the Cavorite only in exchange for a potential cure, pardon and cash; and while the reason he spied on Bond and Moriarty's plans for Nemo isn't exactly explained, it was more than likely out of fear that he could be harmed by any usage of the Cavorite (as Nemo explains to him early on that, even with his invisibility, he could still possibly die in any aerial bombings brought on by it).

I really says a lot about him when the closest thing he gets to any sympathy from the audience is when he is being brutalized and then raped by Hyde; however, even with how disturbing the scene is, Hyde points out that most of London has been destroyed because of his treachery a few panels beforehand. Coupled with the fact that Griffin is a serial rapist anyhow, his death comes across as more karmic than anything else.

Heinous Standard?
This is a little tricky, considering that the League has some nasty villains as a whole. Hell, a whole issue before Griffin is even introduced, Mina is assaulted and nearly raped by two thugs; so it isn't as if that particular crime isn't uncommon in the League's world. However, Griffin stands out from the likes of Moriarty, Jimmy Bond and Oliver Haddo in the brutality of his crimes (do we need to bring up the details of that policeman's corpse again? I'd rather not) and the damage they end up causing. I mean, Haddo wanted to awaken the antichrist in order to destroy the world, but his actions never caused visible mass death and destruction like Griffin's betrayal did.

Verdict?
A yes from me.