Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days
by Neil Gaiman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Neil GaimanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-01-01
ISBN: 156389517X
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: Vertigo
Book Reviews of Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days
Book Review: Into the Green and Dream
Summary: 4 Stars
The thing that needs to be understood here is that these stories were all created during Neil Gaiman's early career as a comics writer. This collection begins with a preface or introduction of sorts in which Neil Gaiman himself explains that many of these stories were created when he was twenty-four years old and was still in the process of figuring out how to actually write comics. This admission is in itself very interesting because it gives you -- as the reader and a reader of Gaiman -- a conception of just how much the fantasy, horror and comics writer has grown over time.
Each story presented here begins with a little introduction from Neil Gaiman explaining the piece's origins, what he originally intended to do, what inspired him, who read it and helped him edit it or work with him on it, and what his own retrospective view of the piece is like now. It is a trip down memory lane into the Green and Dream and into the mind of a budding and now incredibly developed writer. I am going to try to talk about each story individually, but there are some characteristics that overlap.
"Jack of the Green" is the story of another incarnation of the Swamp Thing from the seventeenth century. It has a very tight and concise narrative woven around the theme of the four elements in nature. Stephen Bissette and many of the original Swamp Thing comics artist crew were responsible for illustrating this story. The story itself is short and reads more like a very interesting introduction to a far larger and greater story that is never actually written. This is due to the references and obvious background resonance in the narrative. There are so many things not said but only hinted about in illustration and in passing. It is a real pity that it does end here and does not go further.
"Brothers" is another story that takes place in the Swamp Thing world. It is here that Neil Gaiman's storytelling ability is very clear: specifically his ability to take old and obscure characters, and disparate stories to create a greater narrative. Usually, these elements interweave into something greater, but for some reason -- while the stories and details are very interesting and illustrate Neil Gaiman's wide-ranging fields of knowledge -- they fail to unify into that larger story. The story ends on an anti-climactic note, and really it is the personal stories of the characters that I wanted to see fleshed out a lot more. Again, there was a lot of potential here to make this into a character-driven story but it didn't happen.
"Shaggy Gods Stories" is another Swamp Thing narrative and it, like "Jack in the Green" could have easily been expanded on. Unlike "Jack," however, "Shaggy Gods" deals with an erstwhile super-villain attempting to make some very considerable metaphysical claims with regards to the Green. This is a very, very short philosophical narrative from the unreliable limited narrative perspective of the Floronic Man or Woodrue as he attempts to deal with the Green much in the way that Alan Moore did in his work or as Gaiman does with the Dreaming. I really do wish there were more of these stories and that the potential plot-points Neil Gaiman writes in here were expanded on: if someone else hasn't done so already.
"Hold Me" moves away from the Swamp Thing mythos to the world of John Constantine. Dave McKean's illustration here is dark, long, gritty and cold with very few colours. It was an excellent short story, yet it seemed somewhat rushed. I appreciate the idea behind it: that there is an intrinsic loneliness in human existence and that its ache can gain its own intent and attempt to complete itself by attaining something almost always taken for granted -- basic human warmth. At first, I didn't know what was going on but despite the rushed nature of this piece there was a nice lead up to the end: which is an ending similar to the one in "Brothers" in how the challenge is met by the protagonist. It should also be noted that apparently that this story's single comics issue was quite a rare one to find on its own in stores.
Finally, there is "The Sandman Midnight Theatre." It is a story that Neil Gaiman created in collaboration with Matt Wagner. It takes place in 1939 England and slightly before World War II begins. This is the most well-developed out of all the comics narratives featured in this collection. It is that the myriad of stories, character details and backgrounds unite into a greater narrative. The Golden Age Sandman -- Wesley Dodds -- somehow crosses paths with Dream of the Endless during the latter's long imprisonment. Some reviewers have already mentioned that sometimes the plot and transition here seem very long, but at the same time I think that this is where a sense of pacing begins to manifest itself. It seems like there is a purpose to organizing each of the stories in this particular order: from the early stories with their fast and sometimes awkward panel transitions to this larger narrative. The illustration here is crisp, and accentuates basic elemental shapes. It is dark and gloomy, but somehow very vital and colourful in a way that "Hold Me" was not meant to be in its starkness. There is a very clear plot, but the crossover point between two well-known protagonists becomes almost a hint of clarity -- just a hint -- but it only scratches the surface.
Some reviewers have, again, already mentioned that this is a book for Gaiman completionists and I am inclined to agree with this. But, like Neil Gaiman states, these are a fine assortment of oddities and keepsakes in your collection: much like the ones on the shelves or in the treasure chests in the rooms of Morpheus of the Endless.
Summary of Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days
An incredible collection of rare and previously unseen material, which shows the true versatility of the comics creator who is credited with turning comic strip into critically-acclaimed literature. Gathered from Gaiman's long career, and with unprecedented access having been given to the DC comics archive, it includes his early work on Death, John Constantine: Hellblazer and Swamp Thing as well as an exclusive, never-before-published, Sandman story, and features a new introduction by Gaiman himself.Fantasy Books
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