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trish204 's review for:
Black Orchid
by Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean
I've been meaning to read this for a long time. I've never read a comic by Neil Gaiman before but I wanted to. And Dave McKean, who's the illustrator, has done a marvellous job with several of Gaiman's novels so when I saw the cover of Black Orchid I knew I had to have it.
I don't know many details about DC's superheroes but I know Batman and Arkham and Poison Ivy so I was doing fine with the cameos in this comic. Susan / Black Orchid seems to have been fighting crime until her untimely death. However, death was only the beginning.
As the title suggests, this story has something to do with flowers and since it's in the same universe as Batman, it's also about superheroes. Sort of (I don't want to give away too much).
Apart from that, and this impressed me a lot, "mundane" topics such as domestic violence were also addressed and incorporated seamlessly into a superhero story.
The beginning was very weird and confusing but I realized soon that that was on purpose since it's exactly how the Black Orchid felt herself. Moreover, it also reminded me a bit of Memento. While the plot unfolds, more and more is revealed. There is, however, no actual action in this; no big-ass explosions and lots of fighting by our heroine. Instead, this is a bit of a quiet story. Still with its message and quite unique as far as I can tell and definitely very imaginative but the lack of action might be one reason for the low ratings.
However, the true gem here is the art anyway! Art with a capital "A"!
What Dave McKean created here is nothing short of beautiful and mesmerizing. Especially the panels about the greenhouse, the Bayou and later the Rain Forest were stunning and gorgeous,
but his depiction of Arkham and people were wonderful too. The colours were vivid and alternated with bleak panels for a more dramatic effect.
So although this was definitely not what I had expected, I enjoyed it quite a lot and am glad I picked it up.
I don't know many details about DC's superheroes but I know Batman and Arkham and Poison Ivy so I was doing fine with the cameos in this comic. Susan / Black Orchid seems to have been fighting crime until her untimely death. However, death was only the beginning.
As the title suggests, this story has something to do with flowers and since it's in the same universe as Batman, it's also about superheroes. Sort of (I don't want to give away too much).
Apart from that, and this impressed me a lot, "mundane" topics such as domestic violence were also addressed and incorporated seamlessly into a superhero story.
The beginning was very weird and confusing but I realized soon that that was on purpose since it's exactly how the Black Orchid felt herself. Moreover, it also reminded me a bit of Memento. While the plot unfolds, more and more is revealed. There is, however, no actual action in this; no big-ass explosions and lots of fighting by our heroine. Instead, this is a bit of a quiet story. Still with its message and quite unique as far as I can tell and definitely very imaginative but the lack of action might be one reason for the low ratings.
However, the true gem here is the art anyway! Art with a capital "A"!
What Dave McKean created here is nothing short of beautiful and mesmerizing. Especially the panels about the greenhouse, the Bayou and later the Rain Forest were stunning and gorgeous,
but his depiction of Arkham and people were wonderful too. The colours were vivid and alternated with bleak panels for a more dramatic effect.
So although this was definitely not what I had expected, I enjoyed it quite a lot and am glad I picked it up.