Nut Ink. Mini reviews of texts old and new. No fuss. No plot spoilers. No adverts. Occasional competency.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Death: At Death's Door (2003)

Author: Neil Gaiman / Jill Thompson  |  Illustrator: Jill Thompson
Page Count: 208

" ... the dead are coming back, little brother ... 
... and they all want to sleep over at my house ..."

A flimsy volume that runs concurrent with The Sandman: Vol IV: Season of Mists (1992) and contains more spoilers for that book than actual plot of its own.  If you read ADD first you’ll likely regret it.  It’s the story of what happened to three of his siblings while Dream was busy trying to right his wrongs in Hell.  It contains cutesy manga versions of the Endless, the best of which, and the one that would be hard to fail at, is Delirium.  The kooky, young, muddled-up persona is a perfect fit for the style.  She needs her own series.  And an animation.

Jill Thompson’s lines are excellent and her understanding of the regular/chibi forms at the correct times can’t be faulted, but it feels like Sandman fan-fic written by someone who attained the blessing of the creator.  The humour relies on the fish out of water scenario, which is fine for this kind of thing.  What isn't fine is the characterisation, and unless you embrace that side of it you’ll put the book down unfinished.   Besides Delirium, the other main characters are little like their Gaiman-penned versions (except when they’re using his words).  It doesn't really go anywhere structurally and there's no progression of character but it’s a fun aside to the main series.  For a younger reader it may hold the attention more.

2 weird ice-creams out of 5

2 comments:

BLACKTR0N said...

I may or may not have read this. Can't remember.

Dr Faustus said...

Very little happened in it so there isn't much to remember anyhow. :p
The art was good, though.
If you ever pick up Sandman it'll be good that you don't remember because of the huge spoilers.