Staying at home due to COVID is the perfect time to catch up on reading. Here are two primo graphic novels I practically inhaled this week:
THE NEIL GAIMAN LIBRARY VOLUME 1 HC
Dark Horse Books, $49.99
Normally an anthology is hit or miss, but this one is written entirely by geek royalty Neil Gaiman, which is sure-fire. And the art, while covering a wide range of styles, never veers into the unpalatable.
This book is the first in a series collecting the Gaiman stories adapted to comics (the second is already being solicited for Nov. 24). There are four stories, all of them well-developed standalones, all of them obvious examples of a master of his craft.
The first, "A Study in Emerald," is taken from a sub-section of genre fandom I didn't know existed, of stories that combine Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes with H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos.
Which is, on the surface, preposterous. Sherlock stories were entirely rational, whereas Lovecraft's milieu was madness and magic. The Holmes stories were set in the late Elizabethan and Edwardian eras in London, whereas Lovecraft wrote in the 1920s and '30s, with most of his tales set in New England.
But I'll be darned if it doesn't work magnificently. "A Study in Emerald" is, of course, a riff on the first published Holmes story, "A Study in Scarlet." The emerald is blood, but obviously not human blood, and London's master detective and his literary sidekick must track down the killer.
That is all I will say, because the story's big reveals are thrillingly cunning, and I will not spoil them for you. The art, by Rafael Albuquerque ("American Vampire"), is in a mannerly style that suits the subject matter perfectly.
Next is "Murder Mysteries," about a man who is visited by an angel and told the tale of the first murder in Heaven. There's a reason the angel has no wings, why he selected this fellow to hear his tale and why "Mysteries" is plural. Again, that's all I will say. But this story will have you thinking about it for days afterward.
The art is by P. Craig Russell, whose classic rendering is so striking that it disguises what a master he is at the development and pacing of a narrative. Once again, the artist is perfectly suited to the subject matter.
Next is "How to Talk to Girls at Parties," which was adapted to a 2017 movie with Elle Fanning and Nicole Kidman, so it may be the most familiar story here. But as is often the case, the movie wasn't nearly as good as its source, which allows the reader's imagination to go further than any moviemaker can.
The art here is by Brazilian brothers Fabian Moon and Gabriel Ba ("Casanova"), and is the most cartoonish found in the book. That shouldn't work but does, as the "girls" in the title are virtually otherworldly. If you've seen the movie, you know why.
Lastly is "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire," Set in a world predicated entirely on Gothic tropes — talking ravens, mad relatives in the attic, living eyes watching you from portraits, hidden rooms, windswept moors, etc. Our hero is a would-be literary lion whose "slice of life" stories bore even him, what with mysterious mansions, cruel but handsome aristocrats, imperiled young governesses and the like. It's only when he turns to fantasy — stories of our world, with mortgages and commuting and domestic arguments over money — that he feels fulfilled.
And yes, the art by Shane Oakley is suitably over-the-top Gothic.
Can't wait for Volume 2!
BLACKSAD COLLECTED STORIES TPB
Dark Horse Books, $29.99
Yes, another anthology. And another one cooking on all cylinders.
John Blacksad is a hardboiled private detective, a two-fisted gumshoe plying his trade in late 1950s New York. This is cinematic noir at its Mickey Spillaniest, with corrupt institutions, amoral politicians, femme fatales and sleazy underworld characters.
And they are all anthropomorphic animals.
No, wait! Come back! It's not important that they're animals, because creators Juan Diaz Canales (writer) and Juanjo Guarnido (artist) craft a world and its people so convincing that you'll forget the animal bit within a few pages. Promise!
Blacksad is a panther, all black with a white muzzle, which comes into play in this Jim Crow era. Most of the police are dogs or foxes, as you'd expect, and underworld characters are usually amphibians or reptiles. The women have very few animal traits — some whiskers, maybe, or cat ears — and are so human-looking (and gorgeous) that, as I said, you will forget the animal aspect entirely.
"Somewhere in the Shadows" follows Blacksad as he investigates the death of his first love, movie star Natalia Wilford. (She's a fox, I think. In all definitions of the term.) They had long since parted, but her murder burns in his gut as he pursues clues that take him higher and higher into the upper echelons of New York money and power. It's a story that would fit neatly in Raymond Chandler's oeuvre.
Next up is "Arctic Nation," and the title refers to a white supremacy group vaguely reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan. It's also made up entirely of arctic animals, who are, of course, snow white. Once again beautiful women are at the center of the story, but race and revenge trump the softer emotions — which is a commentary on our own world as well.
"Red Soul" tackles Red-baiting in the '50s, weaving a complex tale with lots of shades of gray. It involves old friends with hidden secrets, the Russians getting the bomb, compromised philosophies and even true love for Blacksad. It's a heady stew of surprising ingredients that leaves a bitter aftertaste.
"A Silent Hell" is next, a story set in New Orleans that once again involves a secret history among friends that surfaces in a raucous melting pot of humanity (animality?), heroin-addicted jazz musicians and, of course, a little voodoo.
The last full story (there are a couple of short stories in the back of the book) involves an actual historical figure, beat poet Allen Ginsberg. He's a buffalo named Abraham Greenberg, but is recognizable from his philosophy and writing "Howl" in the course of the story. Greenberg's story veers dramatically away from the historical Ginsberg, and it's not the focus anyway. There's a lot more going on, as Blacksad's job is to drive a Cadillac from New Orleans to Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to Greenberg, the road trip includes a dead body in the trunk, a circus romance, two FBI agents on Blacksad's trail and, yes, still more.
That's a lot of reading. But given the quality of these books, it'll go faster than you'd like.
