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Some Excellent Graphic Novels

A collection of some of the most intelligent and challenging books in the medium.

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Neil Gaiman

Signal to Noise

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Originally serialized in The Face, Signal to Noise is the story of a film director dying of cancer. His life's crowning achievement, his greatest film, would have told the story of a European village as the last hour of 999 A.D. approached -- the midnight that the villagers were convinced would bring with it Armageddon. Now that story will never be told. But he's still working it out in his head, making a film that no one will ever see. No one but us.

Signal to Noise is a poignant story, rich in humanity, depth, and communications theory! A beautifully designed and printed book, showcasing McKean's stunning artwork and Gaiman's story, Signal to Noise will make you re-evaluate your thinking about the potential of the medium and a book you will be proud to share with your friends. They will thank you for it!

27.13mb

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Black Orchid

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About the same time that Neil Gaiman took a little-known hero called the Sandman and created the rich mythology of Dream and the Endless, he reinvented another obscure character, Black Orchid, a plant-based heroine with ties to the likes of Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing. In this three-part story, Gaiman gives a whole new slant to the character, replacing a standard, gimmicky vigilante with a thought-provoking new entity entirely.

Gaiman's story is brilliantly and expressively told through the art of Dave McKean. McKean employs very little color in his art -- most of the characters and settings are painted in shades of grey. Orchid moves through her drab surroundings in hues of purple. Other colors accent the landscape -- glints of light, flecks of blood, shades of leaves.

Black Orchid is a beautiful tale, though at times violent, and I wonder why this character has been ignored in the years since its release. She deserves to see the light of day again. Soon.

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Violent Cases

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Both Gaiman's precise and nostalgic writing and McKean's lavishly painted art will challenge your ideas of what a comic book is. A narrator remembers his childhood encounters with an old osteopath who claims to have treated Al Capone. Gradually, 1960s England and 1920s Chicago begin to merge into a tale of memory and evil. This is the first published work of the acclaimed writer of The Sandman series; fans of that series should not miss this.

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Mr Punch

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McKean's art elevates the visuals above the basic flat 2D of most comics, most impressively his use of photographic elements, adding depth and a sense of realism. It more than compliments Gaiman's writing, demonstrating yet again why these two are one of the best creative teams in comics. McKean's work here is still some of the best of his career - sharp, inventive and captivating. The whole design of the book is something to behold, left down the twisting fonts, showing why he is the arguably the best when it comes to doing what he does, as well as the most prone to 'homage'.

Having the Punch and Judy puppets as the only "real" elements (apart from backgrounds and props) is a masterstroke. Mr Punch himself is a terrifying figure, a puppet, all pointy angles and staring eyes. Even his speech, larger than the other fonts, stands out against smears of white as he laughs and taunts. "That's the way to do it!" The characters are, for the most part, painted, except in the case of reflections, in photographs and half-recalled memories.

When the narrator is seen in the present day, it is in shadow (another form of puppetry), a silhouette through gauze, and mostly at funerals or weddings, the beginning and the ends of families. Most tantalisingly is the back cover of the book, where a small boy lies sleeping, helping the phantasmagorical atmosphere along. This combination of words and pictures create such an engrossing world that we are sucked left in, sometimes uncomfortably as we witness the exploits of the clearly mad Mr Punch and the parallels in life.

Gaiman has said that MR PUNCH is the work he is most proud of, which, looking at his body of work, is saying something. It's a dark and unsettling look at how we perceive that strange and exciting time known as childhood long after we've grown up.

And that's the way to do it.

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Only the End of the World Again

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Innsmouth is a dark and creepy place, brimming with a rich history of magic and evil. Lawrence Talbot is an adjuster who has set up shop in Innsmouth, and he isn't quite prepared when the fat man comes to his office and tells him the world may be ending, and that a certain lupine creature may be the Elder Gods' instrument of destruction. Now, whether he wants to be involved or not, Lawrence is embroiled in the malevolence that is running through the town, and may himself be the werewolf in question.

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Creatures of the Night

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From the New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman comes a brand new hardcover collection, featuring two magical and disturbing stories lushly adapted to comics by veteran painter Michael Zulli (The Last Temptation). Newly rewritten by Gaiman for this graphic novel, these two ominous stories from the authors award-winning prose, Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions, feature animals and people not being quite what they seem. In The Price, a black cat like a small panther arrives at a country home and is soon beset by mysterious and vicious wounds. What is he fighting every night that could do this, and why does he persist? The Daughter of Owls recounts an eerie old tale of a foundling girl who was left with an owl pellet as a newborn on the steps of the Dymton Church. She was soon cloistered away in a local convent, but by her fourteenth year word of her beauty had spreadand those who would prey upon her faced unforeseen consequences.

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The Wolves in the Walls

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Truth be told, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's picture book The Wolves in the Walls is terrifying. Sure, the story is fairytale-like and presented in a jaunty, casually nonsensical way, but it is absolutely the stuff of nightmares. Lucy hears wolves hustling, bustling, crinkling, and crackling in the walls of the old house where her family lives, but no one believes her. Her mother says it's mice, her brother says bats, and her father says what everyone seems to say, "If the wolves come out of the walls, it's all over." Lucy remains convinced, as is her beloved pig-puppet, and her worst fears are confirmed when the wolves actually do come out of the walls.

Up to this point, McKean's illustrations are spectacular, sinister collages awash in golden sepia tones evocative of the creepy beauty in The City of Lost Children. The wolves explode into the story in scratchy pen-and-ink, all jaws and eyes. The family flees to the cold, moonlit garden, where they ponder their future. (Her brother suggests, for example, that they escape to outer space where there's "nothing but foozles and squossucks for billions of miles.") Lucy wants to live in her own house...and she wants the pig-puppet she left behind.

Eventually she talks her family into moving back into the once-wolfish walls, where they peek out at the wolves who are watching their television and spilling popcorn on slices of toast and jam, dashing up the stairs, and wearing their clothes. When the family can't stand it anymore, they burst forth from the walls, scaring the wolves, who shout, "And when the people come out of the walls, it's all over!" The wolves flee and everything goes back to normal...until the tidy ending when Lucy hears "a noise that sounded exactly like an elephant trying not to sneeze." Adult fans of this talented pair will revel in the quirky story and its darkly gorgeous, deliciously shadowy trappings, but the young or faint of heart, beware! (Ages 9 and older)

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The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish

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One day Nathan comes over with two goldfish named Sawney and Beaney. "I'll swap you them," says the little boy of the house. "What for?" asks Nathan. As it turns out, Nathan doesn't want anything that the boy and his little sister suggest for trading... not an old spaceship or even Clownie the clown. Finally, the boy has an idea, the kind of idea (like discovering "electricity or fire or outer space or something") that changes the whole world. He decides to swap his dad (the silent guy behind the newspaper) for two goldfish. After all, the boy brags, his dad is as big as 100 goldfish and he swims better than a goldfish ("Liar," says his little sister.) But Nathan agrees to take their dad anyway. When their mother gets home, she is very mad, and sends her kids over to Nathan's to get their dad back. Sadly, Nathan has already traded their dad for an electric guitar. Page upon hilarious page goes by, as the father is traded again and again. When they finally track him down, he is still reading the newspaper! (Mom makes them promise never to swap their dad for anything ever again, and they promise.) Comic masters Neil Gaiman and artist Dave McKean have created a wonderful graphic short story for all ages. The artwork is magnificent, funny, multi-textured, and scritchy--the perfect visual accompaniment to this hip, kid-friendly exploration of the perils of bartering family members.

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The Books of Magic

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Neil Gaiman's, 'Books of Magic,' is a must read for anyone entranced by the Sandman universe and even for those new to his stories and characters. This book is a complete standout both in writing and artwork. Comprised of 4 chapters spanning 200 pages or so, each chapter is masterfully illustrated by AAA artists like John Bolton, Charles Vess, etc. And we're not talking quickie pencil jobs either. Each and every panel in this book is absolutely gorgeous - utilizing lush paint-work, fantastic coloring and razor sharp lettering.

Fans of the Sandman series will particularly appreciate the storyline for its meta views of the Sandman universe. What readers are treated to is essentially a guided tour of the worlds (both in physical reality and nether regions) and timelines (the past, present and the absolute end of infinite time) occupied by the characters in the numerous volumes of the Sandman series. In a nutshell this series is grand and sweeping in every sense of the word(s) and it's absolutely beautiful to look at. Don't miss this one!

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Stardust an illustrated novel

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'It has been a l-o-n-g time since a book has so thoroughly transported me back to the world I used to live in as a child. That world, at its best, contained lots of fairy tales and magic, where anything could happen ... and usually did. In this case, it was Neil Gaiman's newest book, Stardust, that accomplished what so many other books have failed to do for me over the years. It touched places in my soul I had forgotten were there. Stardust is the story of one Tristran Thorn; half-mortal, half-Faerie. Raised by his mortal father and his wife along with his half-sister in the sleepy English village of Wall, the adolescent Tristran is eager to win the heart of his true love, Victoria Forrester. Since she doesn't love him and hopes to dissuade his attentions, she tells him she will be his if he captures and brings back a falling star that she has seen fall out of the sky, a task she clearly thinks is impossible.'

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The Sandman Collection

01 - Preludes & Nocturnes

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Neil Gaiman's The Sandman was launched in 1989. This extremely popular series was bound into ten collections. Featuring Dream of the Endless.

There are seven brothers and sisters that have been since the beginning of time, the Endless. They are Destiny, Death, Dream, Desire, Despair, Delirium who was once Delight, and Destruction, the one who turned his back on his duties.

Preludes and Nocturnes begins the series. In it, Dream, escapes his prison. He must go on a quest to find the tools of his office, his helm, pouch and ruby. The journey will take him - and us - through the gates of hell itself. It will also teach Dream an important lesson about relying on tools, and introduce us to the other star of the series, Death.

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02 - The Dolls House

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The immense popularity of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series is due in large part to the development of his characters. In The Doll's House, the second book of the Sandman magnum opus, Gaiman continues to build the foundation for the larger story, introducing us to more of the Dream King's family of the Endless.

The Sandman returns to his kingdom of the Dreaming after nearly a century of imprisonment, finding several things out of place; most importantly, an anomaly called a dream vortex has manifested itself in the form of a young girl who unknowingly threatens to rip apart the Dreaming. And there's the smaller matter of a few nightmares having escaped. Among them is Gaiman's creepiest creation: the Corinthian, a serial killer with a miniature set of teeth in each eye socket. Because later volumes concentrate so much on human relationships with Gaiman's signature fair for fantasy and mythology, it is sometimes easy to forget that the Sandman series started out as a horror comic. This book grabs you and doesn't let you forget that so easily.

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03 - Dream Country

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The third book of the Sandman collection is a series of four short comic book stories. What's remarkable here (considering the publisher and the time that this was originally published) is that the main character of the book--the Sandman, King of Dreams--serves only as a minor character in each of these otherwise unrelated stories. (Actually, he's not even in the last story.) This signaled a couple of important things in the development of what is considered one of the great comics of the second half of the century. First, it marked a distinct move away from the horror genre and into a more fantasy-rich, classical mythology-laden environment. And secondly, it solidly cemented Neil Gaiman as a storyteller. One of the stories here, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," took home the World Fantasy Award for best short story--the first time a comic was given that honor. But for my money, another story in Dream Country has it beat hands down. "A Dream of a Thousand Cats" has such hope, beauty, and good old-fashioned chills that rereading it becomes a welcome pleasure.

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04 - Season of Mists

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In many ways, Season of Mists is the pinnacle of the Sandman experience. After a brief intermission of four short stories (collected as Dream Country) Gaiman continued the story of the Dream King that he began in the first two volumes. Here in volume 4, we find out about the rest of Dream's Endless family (Desire, Despair, Destiny, Delirium, Death, and a seventh missing sibling). We find out the story behind Nada, Dream's first love, whom we met only in passing during Dream's visit to hell in the first book. When Dream goes back to hell to resolve unfinished business with Nada, he finds her missing along with all of the other dead souls. The answer to this mystery lies in Lucifer's most uncharacteristic decision--a delicious surprise.

There is something grandiose about this story, in which each chapter ends with such suspense and drive to read the next. This book is best summed up by a toast taken from the second chapter: "To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due."

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05 - A Game of You

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You may have heard somewhere that Neil Gaiman's Sandman series consisted of cool, hip, edgy, smart comic books. And you may have thought, "What the hell does that mean?" Enter A Game of You to confound the issue even more, while at the same time standing as a fine example of such a description. This is not an easy book. The characters are dense and unique, while their observations are, as always with Gaiman, refreshingly familiar. Then there's the plot, which grinds along like a coffee mill, in the process breaking down the two worlds of this series, that of the dream and that of the dreamer. Gaiman pushes these worlds to their very extremes--one is a fantasy world with talking animals, a missing princess, and a mysterious villain called the Cuckoo; the other is an urban microcosm inhabited by a drag queen, a punk spam couple, and a New York doll named Barbie. In almost every way this book sits at 180 degrees from the earlier four volumes of the Sandman series--although the less it seems to belong to the series, the more it shows its heart.

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06 - Fables and Reflection

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Perhaps the title of the book provides some clues to the over-arching themes of these stories. However, there is more at hand than the conflict between reality and fantasy that is to be expected in anything whose main character is the bringer of dreams. In 'Fear of Falling,' a young actor finds his courage in a frightening dream. And in 'Three Septembers and a January,' we are given the tale of Joshua Norton, the Emperor of the United States, who found happiness in the give of insanity. Then it suddenly is July in revolutionary Paris. Thermidor tells the story of a woman bearing the head of Orpheus, due to sing the song that will end one dream and begin another.

Next, a book shows a werewolf lost in a dream of love the path to its reality love. In 'August,' a Roman emperor gains the secret of how to hide from his fears. 'Soft Places' finds Marco Polo wandering the desert separated from his caravan. Or perhaps, he is only wandering in his mind. The grand piece of the book is a lengthy retelling of the legend of Orpheus, which provides some explanation for the future wanderings of his disembodied head. In 'Parliament of Rooks,' the arguments of Cain and Abel invade the sleep of a young child. In the final story Haroun al Raschid, the ruler of Baghdad, bargains with the Lord of Dreams for a special kind of eternity.

All the stories are linked by theme and variation, as well as the presence of the Sandman. Perhaps, intentionally, the relationships are vague and hard to pin down, using the touch of chaos to enhance the dreamlike quality. Of course, the advantage is to the author, who needs to tell only enough to keep the reader interested. In addition to the drawn illustrations, the book makes excellent use of digital and photographic work to enhance the effect of the stories themselves. The overall design, the product of Dave McKean, is remarkable, enhancing instead of competing with the stories themselves.

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07 - Brief Lives

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Delirium, the youngest of the Endless, who was once Delight, needs a change. She decides to find her missing "prodigal" brother. She begs Dream to accompany her and surprisingly, (for reasons we don't discover til later) he agrees. But their prodigal brother is none other than Destruction, and as Dream and Delirium soon learn, few can seek Destruction unscathed. One of Gaiman's many skills is the use of doublespeak, and this story is no exception. It is a brilliant interplay of past accounts and current journeys, mirroring each other.

"What's the name of the word for things not being the same always.....there must be a word for it. The thing that let's you know time is happening. Is there a word?"

"Change" replies Dream, and that is the basis for this story. It marks the realization of what Dream boths needs and yet cannot accomplish - he must change to survive, or cast about the seeds of his own future destruction.

"Brief Lives" is the glory of an already impeccable series. It is for me, the jewel in the crown of the entire Sandman saga. It manages to be haunting, thrilling and hysterical all at the same time.

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08 - Worlds End

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Like Fables and Recollections and Dream Country, World's End is a collection of individual stories that have little do with the Sandman arc. Unlike its predecessors, however, there is greater continuity between the stories.

The stories within World's End are all linked to a singular event: travelers gathering 'round and exchanging their weirdest, most interesting tales (admittedly, an almost done-to-death literary device). Gaiman breathes new life into this convention by inserting a dizzying amount of layers into the storytelling function. In a wonderfully witty Introduction, Stephen King compares the collection to "nested Chinese boxes:" stories existing within stories within stories. Gaiman really flexes his writing muscles here, constructing highly imaginative parallel universes that eerily mirror our own world (fans of Gaiman will note that "A Tale of Two Cities" borrows heavily from the essay he wrote for the SIMCITY 2000 game). He also inserts his most shocking plot twist to date at the end of the book, which forms the basis of the last two books on the Sandman collection and is guaranteed to pique the continued interest of the Sandman readership.

I really enjoyed the diversity of the art; to note, the visually arresting rectangular and vertically arranged panels done by Alec Stevens in the aforementioned lead story "A Tale of Two Cities;" John Watkiss' crispness and use of clean lines; the tasteful, subdued tones of Michael Zulli and frequent Sandman collaborator Dick Giordano in "Hob's Leviathan."

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09 - The Kindly Ones

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Simply put, "The Kindly Ones" is a study of Morpheus' collapse, and, as such, follows the conventions of tragedy. And in true tragic fashion, Morpheus' downfall is precipitated from within: in this case, an unerring commitment to his office and the responsibilities contained therein, even when adhering to those principles ensures his inevitable demise. Clever as he is, Gaiman never truly indicates why Dream so resolutely marches towards this fate: is Morpheus punishing himself for the sins of his past; does he believe we all have predestined ends, and his particular position obligates him to make choices consistent with it, consequences be damned; is he simply not as insightful as he appears, and naively making choices that are destroying him? Although, by this point, he has appeared in nine volumes, Dream continues to elude facile generalizations of his character and remains deliciously enigmatic. Even the lot of Morpheus at the end of this volume is uncertain; death and life appearing to be rather fluid and interchangeable concepts, much like the ankh symbol worn by his adorable, and equally paradoxical, older sister, Death.

As Mikal Gilmore notes in this insightful Introduction to "The Wake," the title not only points to those 'kindly' ladies, the Furies, but others whose acts of kindness (Hippolyta, Thessaly, even Morpheus) similarly precipitate Morpheus' fall, either purposely or not. It is remarkable Gaiman has constructed a character whose humanization and kindness eventually destroys him. You certainly won't find this level of psychological sophistication in your average run-of-the-mill comic title or novel.

This volume gets my vote for the pick of the series; not an easy task when you consider the immense quality of its predecessors. But there's a sense of urgency in the unfolding of the plot, a self-awareness that things are coming to an end, leading to the inescapable conclusion that this title is the crescendo of the Sandman library. All the unresolved plotlines in the earlier volumes flourish here and result in the climactic conclusion. We learn that the fate of Morpheus is intertwined with the fate of the series itself, and I for one can't think of a more appropriate ending.

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10 - The Wake

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This collection concludes the original run of the Sandman. It is a fitting finish to the series, with enjoyable stories and some remarkable artwork.

John Muth's "Exiles" is next to last in the book, and is a real treat. Part of its topic, an extreme of loyalty, is quielty touching. The look of this piece, however, is what makes it, ink-drawing in a style inspired by Asian classics. The style is quite unlike the watercolors that Muth has used so well (e.g. in Moonshadow), except in its wonderful expressiveness.

The final piece in this book, "The Tempest" returns to an earlier story and Shakespeare and concludes it. Charles Vess illustrated this in the manner of which he is master: elegant pen work and muted color.

"Wake" is a satisfying end to the original series. Even after the series' long run, it maintains the highest standards of artwork and storytelling. If you enjoy comics at all, you're sure to enjoy this.

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Death - The High Cost of Living

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The High Cost of Living is a continuation of Harvey Award-winning fantasy writer Gaiman's series detailing the cosmic duties of a loose family of seven immortals. Not quite Gods, they embody realms of psychic experience: Dream, Desire, Despair, Destiny, Delirium, Destruction and Gaiman's very popular character, Death. Reaper, yes; but Death's not very grim as she goes about her business visiting the just-about-to-die and ushering them into their new existence. In this story she meets Sexton, a teenager contemplating suicide, and they end up searching New York City to find a witch's heart (the old hag hid it centuries ago, it's a witch tradition), so the old girl can hide it again. Up pops the Eremite, an evil wizard type, out to steal Death's mysterious necklace, who makes the usual threats against life and limb. Gaiman has created a character sweetly at odds with her modbid duties; dressed like a Satanic rocker, she's as pretty as a cheerleader and even more upbeat. While Gaiman brings a gritty urban contemporaneity to the fantasy genre, the story also suffers from a TV script-like sensibility--danger-defying quips, the good-hearted overweight black neighbor, melodramatic villain. Nevertheless the combination of wry mystic immortal and MTV slacker produces an engaging chemistry. Top-notch production, and although the illustration is a bit stiff, it's stylishly rendered and very nicely colored. The introduction is by pop singer Tori .

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Death the Time of Your Life

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A tale of music, mortality, friendship and death is told in a graphic novel designed for mature readers by author Neil Gaiman. Spinning off from the popular Sandman Library, this is the story of Foxglove, a rising star of the music world who must wrestle with revealing her true sexual orientation as her companion, Hazel, is lured into the realm of Death.

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Sandman: The Dream Hunters

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Sandman fans should feel lucky that master fantasy writer Neil Gaiman discovered the mythical world of Japanese fables while researching his translation of Hayao Miyazaki's film Princess Mononoke. At the same time, while preparing for the Sandman 10th anniversary, he met Yoshitaka Amano, his artist for the 11th Sandman book. Amano is the famed designer of the Final Fantasy game series. The product of Gaiman's immersion in Japanese art, culture, and history, Sandman: Dream Hunters is a classic Japanese tale (adapted from "The Fox, the Monk, and the Mikado of All Night's Dreaming") that he has subtly morphed into his Sandman universe.

Like most fables, the story begins with a wager between two jealous animals, a fox and a badger: which of them can drive a young monk from his solitary temple? The winner will make the temple into a new fox or badger home. But as the fox adopts the form of a woman to woo the monk from his hermitage, she falls in love with him. Meanwhile, in far away Kyoto, the wealthy Master of Yin-Yang, the onmyoji, is plagued by his fears and seeks tranquility in his command of sorcery. He learns of the monk and his inner peace; he dispatches demons to plague the monk in his dreams and eventually kill him to bring his peace to the onmyoji. The fox overhears the demons on their way to the monk and begins her struggle to save the man whom at first she so envied.

Dream Hunters is a beautiful package. From the ink-brush painted endpapers to the luminous page layouts--including Amano's gate-fold painting of Morpheus in a sea of reds, oranges, and violets--this book has been crafted for a sensuous reading experience. Gaiman has developed as a prose stylist in the last several years with novels and stories such as Neverwhere and Stardust, and his narrative rings with a sense of timelessness and magic that gently sustains this adult fairy tale. The only disappointment here is that the book is so brief. One could imagine this creative team being even better suited to a longer story of more epic proportions. On the final page of Dream Hunters, in fact, Amano suggest that he will collaborate further with Mr. Gaiman in the future. Readers of Dream Hunters will hope that Amano's dream comes true.

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Grant Morrison

Batman - Arkham Asylum

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Arkham Asylum goes beyond just comic and comic book cliches and standards. It is, without doubt, the most complex and sophiscated graphic story treatment ever given to a superhero. Reading this 15 years ago, it sent a chill up my spine. Now it just envelopes me totally.

Morrison's writing is so deep, so rich that it's almost like a exploration of the complicated insanities that exist within the Batman and his numerous foes. But beyond this rich tapestry of psychological drama that unfoldes, is an outstanding backstory of Amadeus Arkham. At once tragic and haunting, it gives the reader a profound sense of understanding and appreciation of this most famous instituion in Gotham City.

If Morrison's writing is graphic literature as its supreme best, then McKean's art is simply without peer in this medium. Using an arsenal of styles and tools that includes paint and photography, McKean's artwork will leave you more than just spellbound. It literally is graphic art that is a masterpiece to behold. And this on every single page.

Perhaps the only left to be said of this is to get the new 15th Anniversary edition, which includes the original script and sketeches that gives a further understanding to the complexity that went into creating this masterpiece.

For myself, it will rank as the best Batman story, even above The Dark Knight Returns, which I thought was unsurpassable. 15 years on, and this remains the pinnacle in superhero storytelling.

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2000ad Crisis - The New Adventures Of _Hitler_

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Adolf _Hitler_ was a short, frustrated painter with a funny moustache. He also instigated the largest wholesale slaughter of human beings this century. Anyone capable of changing one of the most civilised nations on the European continent Into a well-disciplined, precision abattoir could only inspire a mythology of personality of the grandest proportions within our collective evaluation. Fairly or unfairly, this is the way we account for deeds beyond our comprehension.

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF _HITLER_ is an attempt to bring these points home by not copping to the iconisation of _Hitler_ and by revealing the true face of fascism. Fascism lives. It lives in your neighbourhood. It lives in the mechanical blood-lust of the speeding motorist as he accelerates to meet the pedestrian. It lives in the licensing of individual will for the sake of conformity. It lives in the unquestioning adherence to bureaucratic instructions. It lives in the hand that hits a loved one. It lives in the compulsive need to control other people. It lives in the preference for structure and systems at the expense of human beings. It lives in racial generalizations. In effect, fascism lives in each and every attempt by people to categorise or dehumanise other people.

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Alan Moore

V for Vendetta

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Words by Alan Moore - Art by David Lloyd - Published by DC Comics (US), Titan Books (UK) - First published 1988 - Originally published in Warrior Magazine and as V for Vendetta 1-10

Describing where V for Vendetta lies in the comics cannon is tricky. Without wanting to over-state its importance, this particular reviewer considers it as fascinating and enjoyable a piece of serious science fiction as George Orwell's 1984 and Rildey Scott's Blade Runner. On our first reading, over 10 years ago, it really felt that big, that important and that much of a classic. Rereading it, despite the fact that the dark near-future predictions remain thankfully off mark, the distopian vision remains as horrific and potent as ever.

V for Vendetta

We won't expose too much of the story, as the unfurling mystery is a roller-coaster ride of twists and turns. It's set in a fascist, post-apocalyptic Britain, with a cowed population ruled by a police state that, like Orwell's, is always watching. Like a modern day Guy Fawkes, the story's lead character (known only as 'V') is committed to bringing down the government of his day. We see his plans unfold through the eyes of Evey Hammond, an innocent and impressionable young woman V rescues from the clutches the corrupt police force.

Because all culture is controlled by the state, V is a cultural oasis, allowing Moore to flex his erudite muscles, quoting liberally from literature, music and other media. This can be overwhelming at times, though it serves the purpose of enhancing the stark difference between the sparse official media controlled by the state and church, and the rich cultural heritage that is kept hidden from the populace.

David Lloyd uses gorgeous subtle shading throughout the book, creating a gloomy London bathed in an inky wash. At times this can evoke a sense of noir thirties nostalgia, again showing the debt it owes to George Orwell, while simultaneously twisting everything into a gloomy futuristic world of overt control.

This is book has an eloquence and beauty to it, stemming from both the writing and the artwork, both of which are at the peak of their craft. The book remains one of Alan Moore's finest works, no mean feat considering we consider Moore to be up there amongst the all-time best writers to grace comics with their work. If you're interested in the medium, this book is an absolute must. And if you're new to comics, this provides an excellent place to start for anyone who likes edgy science fiction thrillers, especially if they like their sci-fi to come with a little politics, a little culture and the odd explosion.

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Watchmen

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It may seem hard to imagine today, but back in 1985, nobody was particularly familiar with the idea of superheroes with human emotions, psychological problems, or anything other than square jaws and simple morals. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's Watchmen helped change all that. It's a story about ordinary people who, by design or accident, decide to wear costumes and fight crime. The resulting alternate future turns the superhero genre on its head, questioning the validity of caped crusaders in a realistic world spanning 50 years.

Watchmen is an extraordinary piece of work. It is designed to be read at least twice - there's no way you could get the most out of this in one reading, as so much is built up before we have a chance of noticing it. On first read, you may find yourself smacked in the face by an awesome ending. Second time through, you'll wonder how you could have missed all those clues.

Watchmen

Every cut in the action is linked to the next scene, often with overlapping dialogue and meaning. Symbols, from pyramids to the famously defaced smiley, pervade the artwork, providing visual references to the story's themes. Images as simple and everyday as falling objects are laden with depths of meaning by a process of association and repetition, so that reading the book and piecing everything together is a blatant intellectual challenge to the reader. Pulling together the strands of the book as you read through is as satisfying as completing the last clue in a crossword or placing the final piece in a jigsaw puzzle.

The book is aimed at people who are familiar with the superhero genre, as there's a lot of stuff in here that those with little knowledge of the medium will be forced to ignore. Because the book deconstructs the genre, a working knowledge of it is essential. This means it isn't particularly accessible to the beginner and, despite its deserved classic status, it would not be an easy starter for someone unused to the form.

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From Hell

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The mad, shaggy genius of the comics world dips deeply into the well of history and pulls up a cup filled with blood in From Hell. Alan Moore did a couple of Ph.D.'s worth of research into the Whitechapel murders for this copiously annotated collection of the independently published series.

The web of facts, opinion, hearsay, and imaginative invention draws the reader in from the first page. Eddie Campbell's scratchy ink drawings evoke a dark and dirty Victorian London and help to humanize characters that have been caricatured into obscurity for decades.

Moore, having decided that the evidence best fits the theory of a Masonic conspiracy to cover up a scandal involving Victoria's grandson, goes to work telling the story with relish from the point of view of the victims, the chief inspector, and the killer--the Queen's physician. His characterization is just as vibrant as Campbell's; even the minor characters feel fully real. Looking more deeply than most, the author finds in the "great work" of the Ripper a ritual magic working intended to give birth to the 20th century in all its horrid glory.

Maps, characters, and settings are all as accurate as possible, and while the reader might not ultimately agree with Moore and Campbell's thesis, From Hell is still a great work of literature.

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Batman - The Killing joke

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*Batman: The Killing Joke*, apart from being Tim Burton's favorite comic book, is Alan Moore's most concentrated achievement (working in a shorter format), and, rare amongst adolescent passions, gives me the same pleasure today as it did when I was a wee boy. It is a dark, visual poem, running the gamut from high episodic drama to an interesting attempt at sentimentalism in its (definitive?) portrayal of the Batman/Joker dichotomy. Sure, Moore often falls back on trite phrases and mechanical epithets, but the book's strengths far outweigh my elitist quibbles, both in conception, writing, and visual delivery.

Illustrator Brian Bolland has touched the limits of what can be done in the mainstream comic medium, surpassing even Dave Gibbons in *Watchmen* (that undisputed *Citizen Kane* of graphic novels). I've counted roughly 230 individuated facial expressions in this book's 48 pages, every cameo and minor character penciled, inked, colored, storyboarded into life, the backdrops brimming with nuance and articulated detail, the coloring as lurid and suggestive as Steven Soderbergh's color-coded triple-narrative in *Traffic*. The Joker alone is granted 62 articulated facial expressions (19 during the course of his pre-Joker psychodrama), ranging from bright, sportive lunacy (each facial shot individuated) to an almost genuine grief and sadness towards the end. The spinal-paralytic Barbara Gordon, who appears in only 26 panels, is granted a dramatic reality remarkable given her minor role in the story. The portrait of her staring in bemused horror at the Joker (standing in the hallway with Hawaiian shirt, camera, and revolver), while the scene turns "orange" in anticipation of bloodshed, is the most memorable facial expression I've ever seen rendered in a comic book. As a close runner-up, the Joker's hang-dog look on page 41, as he asks Batman sincerely, "Why aren't you laughing?", is the only *convincing* moment of unfeigned sadness the Joker has ever given us, in any comic book.

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Yuggoth Cultures and other growths

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The magical mind of Alan Moore is unleashed in this new monthly series which weighs in at a super-sized 40 pages per issue! Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths features tons of Alan's classic short sequential comic book stories that have been long out of print, stories that have never before been seen, and special developmental sections with original script pages and comments from Alan and the creators! This debut issue features the amazing Nightjar, a story written 20 years ago to run in legendary British comic anthology Warrior Magazine, but never fully drawn. With art by Bryan Talbot, the first part of the story is finally illustrated and sees print here along with Moore's notes on where the series was originally going to go. As a special bonus, we include Alan's original script. Nightjar is a true lost gem that fans have been dying to see for two decades, polished for publication for the first time ever! Also in this issue is the story Zaman's Hill, originally written for Moore's aborted novel titled Yuggoth Cultures, now seen in sequential form by master illustrator Juan Jose Ryp! Fans of Alan Moore rejoice, many prayers are finally answered in this career-spanning series from the finest wordsmith in the industry! More Moore surprises to be announced on this career-spanning series.

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Issue 2

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Issue 3

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The Courtyard

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A tale of dread and psychological horror from one of the medium's acknowledged masters with Alan Moore's The Courtyard. The two issue mini-series began in January 2003 published by Avatar with story by Alan Moore, art by Jacen Burrows (Bad World, Scars), and sequential adaptation by Antony Johnston and Moore. Alan Moore's The Courtyard joins an Avatar Press schedule that includes projects from several high-profile creators in the coming months including Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, and other projects from Moore himself.

"Alan Moore is among the very best writers of the last twenty years," notes fellow writer Warren Ellis. "Antony Johnston is one of the best of the new generation of writers. Jacen Burrows is probably the best new artist of the last year. On the basis of the amassed talent alone, The Courtyard is explosive."

"The Courtyard was my attempt to write a story within the mythology of H.P. Lovecraft that did not try to regurgitate Lovecraft's style," says creator Alan Moore. "It was an attempt to write a Lovecraftian story that was set in what was then the near future rather than in a Lovecraftian Era. As such, I thought it was a very successful story and it has always been a little favorite of mine in terms of my horror output. I am looking forward a great deal to seeing what Jacen does with the Avatar version."

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The Birth Caul

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THE BIRTH CAUL is nothing less than a treatise on the human condition. A birth caul is a membrane occasionally present on the face of a newborn. Alan's mother was born with one. Her mother kept it. These are the things we pass on. The small, fragile things we are born with. That's what the book's about. What we grow up with. Eddie captures perfectly that which makes the performance work; the changes in scale, from the vulnerable human moments to the grandiose scope of life's structure. It's about magic. It's about invocation of something, about a shaman's conversation with the great and secret things lurking at the back of their own brain, about the genetic incantations of the vast skein of life we're brought out into in our silvered veils. It's possible that the commercial arena Alan usually works in is considered too small a thing to contain writing like this. THE BIRTH CAUL is one of the strangest, most astonishing and heartbreaking things Alan Moore has yet written. Eddie Campbell's organic, emotional art and great innovative abilities make it more than an adaptation. Campbell makes it a whole work of comics, an experience no other medium could emulate. It is as much his as Alan's. This is where Alan Moore's power has been hiding. Listen.

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Frank Miller

Batman - The Dark Knight Returns

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No story in the Batman world is probably more important than Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. This story was released in 1986, and was responsible for the rejuvenation of Batman as a dark character, and for the comics industry as a whole.

Vowing upon his parent's death to rid the city of the criminal element, the Batman has, over the years, fought crime in its many macabre forms...

For the last ten years no one has seen or heard from him...

that is, until now...

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Batman - The Dark Knight Strikes Again

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.... But then the public actually read "DK2." Reviewers called Miller's minimalist artwork "hastily drawn." Lynn Varley's super-bright digital colors were described as "green, flavored mouthwash." Worse, readers didn't like how Miller mocked the very mythology of superheroes that made his original book so powerful. As Bob Lipski, a cartoonist who works at DreamHaven Books and Comics in Minneapolis, says, "A lot of fans feel that Miller wrote ["DK2"] as a big 'XXXX you' to everyone."

This isn't exaggeration. In one widely viewed image on the Web, the cover art of the first issue ?which shows Batman's gloved fist making a power-to-the-people salute ?is altered so that Batman's middle finger is extended.

Which is a shame, because in between the hype and the hate, "DK2" makes as revolutionary a take on what troubles the comic books industry as Miller's original novel did. The reason Miller struck a cord in the mid-'80s with "The Dark Knight Returns" is that comic books weren't living up to their potential. American culture had long valued visual arts, such as movies, and literary arts, such as novels, but the mixing of the two was considered the stuff of adolescent boys.

Miller refused to accept this. Instead of emphasizing hyperkinetic action over plot and character development, as comics had done for years, Miller created complex characters to whom readers responded. Bruce Wayne went from a silly playboy to a borderline psychotic obsessed with dying a good death. His nemesis, the Joker, became a demon bent on fulfilling a perverse love for the Batman by killing him.

In many ways, "The Dark Knight Returns" mirrored the new way America viewed heroes. It was like seeing an RKO cowboy serial from the 1940s suddenly turn into Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning Unforgiven.

Yet the revolution Miller started has gone to excess, as today's comics have grown increasingly dark and serious. Call it the Dark Knight syndrome ?a belief that today's superheroes must be even grittier than Miller's Batman in order to succeed. This means that the joy comics used to provide ?such as imagining how much fun it would be to turn invisible, or to fly ?is lost. And this, in essence, is what Miller is attempting to provide with "DK2": a return to joy in comics.

Most comic book fans are upset with "DK2" because Miller dared to approach one of their favorite superheroes in, well, a comic-book manner. But why shouldn't he? If Batman is on some serious-minded pedestal, it is because Miller put him there.Just as "The Dark Knight Returns" opened a comic book door to the darker aspects of human life, so does "DK2" show how to return fun to comics. It also makes a kind of tangled sense. In a world where Sept. 11 happens and the Justice Department wants postal workers to monitor un-American activity, perhaps the only way a superhero can save the day is to look around, have fun and laugh.

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Hard Boiled

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There are some writer and artist teams that seem perfect together. Frank Miller and Geof Darrow don't fit that pattern. We're used to seeing Miller take both writing and art roles, creating gritty noir stories that are spare and earthy, bathed in little more than light and shade. Geof Darrow's coloured work can be contrastingly bright and colourful, with an attention to detail that verges on the insane. You'd think that putting these people together to make a comic could end up being a left mess. Instead, it achieves near perfection.

Hard Boiled has a post-Blade Runner human-like robots and consciousness plot, which might not be the most original of tales but is treated with maximum style and panache by Miller's sparing pen. This leaves Darrow to fill the gaps with his stunning artwork, filled with minute detail that'll have you poring over each frame, watching the individual pieces fly off crashing cars and disintegrating robots. Oh, and people. An awful lot of people get hurt.

You'll need a strong stomach to handle some of the violence in this book but those that can cope are in for a roller-coaster ride of epic proportions. The story is hot, the art is phenomenal and the book is worth every penny you pay for it. Highly recommended and well worth struggling to try and get hold of.

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Art Spiegelman

Maus A Survivors Tale.

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Winner of the Pulitzer prize for literature, Art Spiegelman's "Maus: A Survivor's Tale" is a unique and unforgettable work. This two-volume set of book-length comics (or "graphic novels," if you prefer) tells the story of the narrator, Artie, and his father Vladek, a Holocaust survivor. "Maus" is thus an important example of both Holocaust literature and of the graphic novel. The two volumes of "Maus" are subtitled "My Father Bleeds History" and "And Here My Troubles Began"; they should be read together to get the biggest impact.

Artie is a comic book artist who is trying to create art that is meaningful, not just commercial. As the two volumes of "Maus" unfold, he gradually learns the full story of his father's history as a Jewish survivor of the World War II Holocaust. There is a complex "book within the book" motif, since the main character is actually writing the book that we are reading. This self-referentiality also allows Spiegelman to get in some satiric material.

The distinguishing conceit of "Maus" involves depicting the books' humanoid characters as having animal heads. All the Jews have mice heads, the Germans are cats, the Americans dogs, etc. It is a visually provocative device, although not without problematic aspects. To his credit, Spiegelman addresses some of the ambiguities of this visual device in the course of the 2 volumes. For example, Artie's wife, a Frenchwoman who converted to Judaism, wonders what kind of animal head she should have in the comic.

"Maus" contains some stunning visual touches, as well as some truly painful and thought-provoking dialogue. Vladek is one of the most extraordinary characters in 20th century literature. As grim as the two books' subject matter is, there are some moments of humor and warmth. Overall, "Maus" is a profound reflection on family ties, history, memory, and the role of the artist in society.

A fantastic and erudite essay on Art Spiegelman's Maus by Robert S.Leventhal can be found here:

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part 1 - "My Father Bleeds History"

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part2 - "And Here My Troubles Began"

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J.M. DeMatteis

Moonshadow

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Illustrator: Jon J. Muth

Year: 1985

Length: 464 pages

A fascinating story, touching, silly, and funny, lovingly illustrated by Jon J. Muth, about a young boy who, after growing up in a small and insular community where he was an outcast, is cast into a universe which he can never call home.

In the early eighties, comic books were suddenly beginning to take themselves seriously. Before this, there were islands of seriousness, such as Steve Gerbers Howard the Duck? but it was the early eighties that saw creators trying this sort of thing on a wide scale, culminating perhaps with Alan Moores Watchmen? Marvel Comics, recognizing that something was happening, even if they werent sure what it was, started an imprint called Epic Comics? where supposedly ground-breaking work would be published and co-opted by the House of Ideas.

Most of the stories there were just superhero stories on glossy paper, but in 1985, in January, came the first issue of a strange little thing titled Moonshadow 1? The cover was amazing. It looked like a watercolor or something, in dark blues and bright whites and fuzzy edges. Flipping through it, the inside was the same, and I couldnt place my finger on what was really, really odd for at least a few minutes. The text: the dialogue and captions were in mixed case, italicized. Almost... handwritten.

In 1985 this wasnt completely new, but it was still an amazing thing. Comic book text was all upper case. Hell, most comics still ended every single sentence in an exclamation point! This comic had periods, lower case, handwriting, watercolors, poetry.This comic even had naked people in it, lovingly drawn in watercolor.

Moonshadow 1?opens with poetry, captioned over a panel of clouds and a starry sky, descending to a stone house and an old man with a quill pen and a glass of wine.

Our aged narrator is well-read. And with that he introduces his story, about a young boy, raised in an intergalactic zoo by his hippy mother beneath the auspices of the globe-like Gl-Doses, one of whom is his father. His mother is Sunflower, born Sheila Fay Bernbaum, plucked from the Earth by the Gl-Doses for their zoo. He grows up with his mothers stuff-streaked cat,?Frodo, and his unwilling surrogate father, Ira the furry lecherous bear-like creature.

'He was a surly, cynical, lecherous grouch; a hairy sensualist who cared for nothing save filling his belly and fondling his genitals. He farted with malice, belched without shame, stuff where he pleased, and offended everyone.'

Young Moonshadow latches onto Ira, and Ira pushes the youngster away, until Moonshadow shares porn books from his mothers library (his mother didnt choose the books, his father did). So long as the smut supply lasted, Id found--a father!?

Just before his fifteenth birthday, his father sends him out into the world, with Frodo, Ira, and Sunflower.

And that was the end of issue 1. And Moonshadow, unlike most comics of the time and probably because of the intricate artwork, was not coming out monthly. Moonshadow 2 wasnt scheduled until two months later, and it was the most memorable wait for a comic that Ive ever had.

Throughout the entire twelve issue series Id re-read the previous books over and over waitingfor the next to come out. Twice, the next didnt come out on time and I had to wait another month still. The series began in the beginning of 1985 (labeled March, it would have streeted in January or maybe late December) and did not end until the very end of 1986 (labeled February 1987, it would most likely have streeted in December, a wonderful Christmas present two years later).

Moonshadow?bears resemblances to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series, but with much less emphasis on the odd and more on a normal man in a strange universe. Heavily influenced by earlier classics such as the poetry of William Blake, the stories of Lewis Carroll and Alexandre Dumas, and probably Douglas Adams as well, it begins each issue with the narrator quoting some important work. The second-to-last issue opens with Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot?and then sl

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