Neil Gaiman posts on his journal (spotted via Educating Alice) that he has been busy proofreading the forthcoming graphic novel adaptation of his own younger readers novel Coraline. If you’ve not read it, Coraline is a nice, modern take on classic fairy tale territory; young Coraline (who gets fed up with people calling her Caroline by mistake) is unhappy at her new home and goes exploring, finding a locked door which, in time-honoured fashion, leads to a different world, a strange version of her own new house, complete with the Other Mother, a very disturbing play on the wicked stepmother character from folklore, complete with button eyes. Oh and a talking cat who finds it amusing that humans can’t just walk from reality to reality whenever they want as he does. Its a cracking book for younger readers but it is also quite suitable for we older Gaiman fans as well. With P Craig Russell doing the art for the graphic novel edition this is bound to be terrific. Neil had this sample page on his journal, while the Lurid Hub has several more preview pages to enjoy.
(page from the graphic novel version of Coraline taken from Neil Gaiman’s journal, art by P Craig Russell)
Neil has also been occupied with proofing the second volume of the Absolute Sandman, due this autumn from DC (and we’re doing one of our newsletter special offers on it right now for pre-orders, so take a look). The second volume will cover issues #21 to 39, which means the superb (even by Sandman standards) Season of Mists story arc will be in there; I loved the central conceit of this story, where Neil has Lucifer decide to quit Hell, kick out all the Damned and Demons, lock the gates and give the Key to Dream. Some of the artwork for that segment was gorgeous, especially Kelley Jones’ work, which had a suitably ethereal quality to it in places, which has made me go back again and again, sometimes to re-read the whole tale, but often simply to sit and gaze at the art – how wonderful will it look on an oversized Absolute page? It also sets in motion the seeds of several later events that would unfold as the years progressed (did I really spend all those years waiting for each month’s issue?), which was another aspect of the series I liked, the way seemingly small events and secondary characters could re-appear years later as major players – put me in mind of Babylon 5′s long-term story arc by J M Straczynski (who constantly nagged Neil to write a Bab 5 episode for ages, finally getting him to pen one for a later season); it’s also a narrative device which makes the reader want to go back and re-read earlier tales again to re-evaluate them in the light of later revelations.
(Panel from Three Septembers and a January by Neil Gaiman, collected in the Sandman Fables and Reflections volume, art by Shawn McManus, with that atmospheric lettering by Todd Klein)
Neil mentions fixing some dialogue for Joshua Norton on his journal, so I guess that means that story is in there too – for those not familiar with it, it is a lovely little self-contained, one-off short story about a failed businessman who declares himself Emperor of the United States in 19th century San Francisco. Dream’s younger siblings, Despair, Desire and Delirium dare Morpheus to keep Norton from their respective realms using the power of Dreams; acting out a fantasy to fight despair and insanity from his previous life crumbling, leading Delirium, sitting with Dream watching Norton talk to Mark Twain, to comment “He’s not mine… Is he? His madness… His madness keeps him sane.” “And do you think he is the only one, my sister?” replies Dream. I wonder how many of us that quote could apply to on many days; I think I’d like it engraved as the motto on my coat of arms (that’s the heraldic device, not an actual garment made of severed appendages).
Wed, May 30, 2007
Books, Comics and cartoons