I’ve been trying to take my children to the local library for books at least once a week this summer, and of course, I find tons of books there as well. However, I already have such a stack of books to read on my nightstand, that I decided on my last library visit to focus on checking out graphic novels, which are very quick to read, and often quite expensive to buy. Luckily, the local library has a nice collection of graphic novels.
The first to check my eye was Neil Gaiman’s Snow, Glass, Apples, which has a very beautiful, arresting cover. Once I’d picked it out, I decided I should go all in on reading Neil Gaiman graphic novels, so I picked out two more, A Study in Emerald and Violent Cases. I had read the short story versions of Snow, Glass, Apples and A Study in Emerald, but Violent Cases was completely new to me. All three books had very unique settings and very original art styles.
Cover of Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel, Snow, Glass, Apples, illustrated by Colleen Doran
Snow, Glass, Apples had to be my favorite, both as a story and because I loved Colleen Doran’s illustrations, which suited the creepy, unsettling nature of the story. Gaiman’s story is so strange and yet based on such a familiar story, but with so many horrifying twists. I have read what Gaiman himself wrote about this story—that he wrote it to prove to an audience that fairytales, even in this day and age, even though they’re so familiar (or perhaps because they’re so familiar) have great power. And this one certainly does.
The art style is (according to notes by Colleen Doran), inspired by Harry Clarke, and Irish illustrator and stained-glass artist famous for his illustrations of Hans Christian Anderson fairytales and Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories. What ever inspired them, the art is gorgeous, free-flowing and surreal, yet exquisite and detailed.
I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes fairytales or fantasy (though it is definitely not a children’s book, so parents should be careful), and who enjoys graphic novels.
Cover of Neil Gaiman’s A Study in Emerald, illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque
A Study in Emerald is a Cthulhu mythos/Sherlock Holmes mash up (as you might guess from the title and cover). I enjoyed the story quite a bit, though I read it as a short story before I saw the graphic novel. I loved the world of this story—it would be a amazing to have a whole novel set in this kind of universe. Though, honestly, perhaps because my imagined imagery was different or more ominous, I felt the story lost a little something for me in the graphic novel format. Still, the illustrations are beautiful and disturbing.
I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in Sherlock Holmes or Cthulhu, or anyone who enjoys creepy, unsettling stories.
Violent Cases is the first collaboration between Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, and one of the first published comics either man worked on. The story is very dreamlike, sometimes highly realistic, sometimes very surreal. I liked the idea of these ordinary people knowing mobsters like Al Capone, and seeing both the monstrous and the human side of such a larger than life man. Somehow, the personal details of the stories make Capone even more terrifying. I also liked the idea of a half-remembered but very disturbing childhood memory sort of haunting the protagonist.
Overall, I’d recommend Violent Cases to anyone who enjoys dreamlike graphic novels, especially ones with a little bit of noir.