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A review by unladylike
Midnight Days by Neil Gaiman
5.0
***Update/request*** I read the paperback collection back in '09 and would like to know if there are any must-have additions to the 2012 Deluxe Edition hardcover re-release. Please comment on this review to let me (and others) know.
In the main introduction to this collection of mostly stand-alone comics, Neil Gaiman says that one of them is the best short story he's done. Having read a lot of Neil Gaiman and loved most of it, this struck me as a big piece of genuine hype, and I hoped that he would leave the readers to pick for themselves which story he was talking about. I have an aversion to superlatives in general, and it seemed to me that for an acclaimed author to declare such a thing would be folly, for it would set up a good thing for perceptual failure by calling it great.
The Swamp Thing stories kicking the book off were fantastic, and their individual intros by Gaiman gave tremendously appreciated insights into the behind-the-scenes of comic production. Then he went ahead and did what I hoped he wouldn't do. He set up a rare John Constantine: Hellblazer story called "Hold Me" by talking about how we were about to read the greatest comic he'd ever written and how the art was going to be amazing (Dave McKean) and how it sells for more on its own than the retail price of the entire Midnight Days collection.
I took a deep breath, tried clearing my mind of expectations one way or the other, and read it. And he wasn't lying. It was great. I won't declare it to be the #1 Best Ever, but it made me, a person who gets all her comic books from the library, deem it worthy of not only my praise but my money. This is a collection I would very much like to own, re-read, and share.
In the main introduction to this collection of mostly stand-alone comics, Neil Gaiman says that one of them is the best short story he's done. Having read a lot of Neil Gaiman and loved most of it, this struck me as a big piece of genuine hype, and I hoped that he would leave the readers to pick for themselves which story he was talking about. I have an aversion to superlatives in general, and it seemed to me that for an acclaimed author to declare such a thing would be folly, for it would set up a good thing for perceptual failure by calling it great.
The Swamp Thing stories kicking the book off were fantastic, and their individual intros by Gaiman gave tremendously appreciated insights into the behind-the-scenes of comic production. Then he went ahead and did what I hoped he wouldn't do. He set up a rare John Constantine: Hellblazer story called "Hold Me" by talking about how we were about to read the greatest comic he'd ever written and how the art was going to be amazing (Dave McKean) and how it sells for more on its own than the retail price of the entire Midnight Days collection.
I took a deep breath, tried clearing my mind of expectations one way or the other, and read it. And he wasn't lying. It was great. I won't declare it to be the #1 Best Ever, but it made me, a person who gets all her comic books from the library, deem it worthy of not only my praise but my money. This is a collection I would very much like to own, re-read, and share.