Dedicated Neil Gaiman Section

Marvel 1602

Oh what a fantastic book this is! One of my favourite amongst all my collections of graphic novels. This is Neil's vision of the Marvel Universe in the year 1602.( The book has a nice smell to it, literally)

"1602 is a triumph. The Marvel universe hasn't been this engrossing in ages." - Entertainment Weekly

Strange things are stirring in England. In the service of Queen Elizabeth, court magician Dr. Strange senses the bizarre weather plaguing the skies above is not of natural origin. Her majesty's premier spy, Sir Nicholas Fury, fends off an assassination attempt on the Queen by wing warriors rumored to be in service to a mad despot named Doom. News is spreading of "witchbreed" sightings - young men bearing fantastic superhuman powers and abilities...

Andy Kubert does a fantastic job on the artwork and the stunning graphics more then compliments the story line. Only Gaiman's mind would have thought of matching the superheroes power into 1602's setting. There are 2 versions to this book, the hard cover one and the non hard cover. I got the hardcover one, the  woodcut cover is to die for.

The story's pace is excellent and makes for an interesting, intellectual and exciting read. All contributors to this story complement each other quite well, making 1602 an essential part of any comic library. It is a little pricey though but cost conscious reader can always opt for non hard cover edition.

Midnight Days
 

Midnight days is really more of a mish mash collection of Neil Gaiman's previous works. These are 5 never seen before tales. These were works when Gaiman was young, in every sense of that word.

In SANDMAN MIDNIGHT THEATRE, the golden age Sandman investigates an age-old mystery -  and, for the only time, comes face to face with his namesake, Dream of the Endless.

In HOLD ME, trench coated mystic John Constantine faces a ghost haunted by a very modern kind of loneliness. In BROTHERS, the Swamp Thing's extended family meets a flower-power loving geek and the decidedly unamused U.S. government. In SHAGGY GOD STORIES, a half sane plant-man plumbs the mystery of existence. And finally, in the never-before-published JACK-IN-THE-GREEN, the Swamp Thing of another time confronts the horrors of his world - large and small.

"Sandman Midnight Theatre," is a masterpiece. Gaiman proves his ability to seamlessly incorporate other DC characters within his milieu while retaining there inherent characteristics. Truly inspired stuff, if you don't mind wading through the rest.  Jack-In-The-Green was quite complicated and fans with no prior Swamp Thing background would most likely be left scratching their heads.

Sandman: The Dream Hunters

This is one very unique book by Gaiman. This is actually an adaptation of a popular folklore tale in Japan. He stumbled upon this story while researching his translation of Hayao Miyazaki's film Princess Mononoke. It does not follow the traditional comic kind of storey telling. It is more of one page of story, one page of graphics and they don't mix. Neil Gaiman morphs the story into the world of Dreaming

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 central characters are the Fox and the Monk, and the Sandman only plays a peripheral role. But an excellent peripheral role at that.

So the story goes that the fox tries to temp and seduce the monk by turning into the form of a woman. Gradually, she falls for him. Meanwhile over in Kyoto, an evil rich master of Yin-Yang is haunted by fears and nightmares (mainly through his own insecurities). He tries to find solace in his command of sorcery. He finds out of the inner peace the monk has and sends monsters and demons to capture and kill him to bring peace to himself. The fox learns of this and begins her mission to save the man she secretly loves and whom she so admired.

It is also the first time Gaiman works with Yoshitaka Amano and full credit to the Japanese for the wonderful illustrations that can tell a story by themselves. These paintings make the story come alive on the page and create a sense of past and wonder that could only be hinted at with words alone. It is unlike anything done before in Sandman or anything I've seen in Japanese Manga. A beautiful work of art.

He also does his best in retaining the original story whilst weaving some Sandman elements inside. Kudos to him for that.

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