Rating: Summary: why I love graphic novels Review: Like all great stories, this novel has depth, and, like all great comic novels, the artwork enhances the story line and expands it's message. This is a must buy for any lover, collecter, of the genre and I can't praise it enough.
Rating: Summary: The devil you know? He's worse than the devil you don't. Review: Midnight Nation is a heavily allegorical comic book that draws on classic biblical themes to tell a story about people who "fall through the cracks" in life. Although it starts off as a straight-foward story about a man who journies to reclaim his soul (at least, straightfoward for JMS), it evolves simultaneously into a much bigger story, and a far more subtle one.Included is my all-time favorite single issue of any comic book, "The Devil You Know" (issue #4). JMS isn't known for having many stories with an obvious moral in them, so when he does include one, he makes sure it's good. In short, JMS uses the world he created extremely well to tell a story about the dangers of fear and not accepting responsibility for your life. (But that brief summary doesn't even begin to do this issue justice.) Although "The Devil You Know" can almost stand alone from the rest of the book, the moral in it sets the stage for the entire series, and defines what Midnight Nation all about. I highly recomend this book. Once it gets going in the later issues it you can really see it distance itself from other comic books, and presents a far more subtle and well crafted story than even JMS is typically known for.
Rating: Summary: Truly a piece of work Review: The first issue (22 pages) was paced rather quickly to try and get readers introduced to the story. But after you learn about the plot, this book travels. It takes you down into the depth of two people on a journey, and all the proverbial baggage they carry with them. The plot is involving, including a sufficient supporting cast that only lasts an issue or two each, but evolves on a storytelling level. It is isolated around a man who simply lost his soul to someone, and is introduced to a world that exists beyond ours, but home to everyone who is cast aside, thrown away, or overewhelmed with abandon. He must travel across the continent to find the person responsible and reclaim his soul before he falls victim to the fate of transforming into what he percieves as a mindless predator , enslaved to his enemy. But nothing is what it initially seems in this book, and everything you think you know halfway through will still turn upside down eventually, or come back to haunt you later. The ending is extremely appropriate and I can say this is the best graphic novel I have ever read.
Rating: Summary: Truly a piece of work Review: The first issue (22 pages) was paced rather quickly to try and get readers introduced to the story. But after you learn about the plot, this book travels. It takes you down into the depth of two people on a journey, and all the proverbial baggage they carry with them. The plot is involving, including a sufficient supporting cast that only lasts an issue or two each, but evolves on a storytelling level. It is isolated around a man who simply lost his soul to someone, and is introduced to a world that exists beyond ours, but home to everyone who is cast aside, thrown away, or overewhelmed with abandon. He must travel across the continent to find the person responsible and reclaim his soul before he falls victim to the fate of transforming into what he percieves as a mindless predator , enslaved to his enemy. But nothing is what it initially seems in this book, and everything you think you know halfway through will still turn upside down eventually, or come back to haunt you later. The ending is extremely appropriate and I can say this is the best graphic novel I have ever read.
Rating: Summary: Flawed, but well worth the read. Review: This comic has got a number of flaws in it as most readers will recognize relatively quickly, but once you get going you just cant stop, and by the end one finds themselves (or at least I found myself) so wrapped up in the story, that JMS could have injected pink floating hippo's into the story and I would have accepted it and moved on. This is a mental avalanche that just cant be stopped once you get into it. One of the best parts for me actually (and this rarely happens but i assure you in this case its a good thing) the introdcution by JMS was one of the better parts of the book for me. Just a little bit of biographical info that made the whole thing seem just that much more real, personal and poignant to me. All in all a great book. Highly reccomended!
Rating: Summary: Much better than i think some reviewers give it credit for Review: This was a really good book. Especially for a comic book. It was one of those dark, gritty, realistic(ish) comics but not as dark as Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns or Kingdom Come. Some little touches i liked, like how they had to walk and how the story unfolds over 12 months. And Lazarus' character, although not there for long, was pretty neat. But one thing really bugged me. This comic comes pretty close to being a knock off of Gaiman's 1998 novel Neverwhere. Neverwhere, of course, is much better, which stands to reason since novels generally have more room. In this case, Neverwhere had more characters (there are only 2 characters of any significance in Midnight Nation; space constraints?) and the hero was a dweeb, not a tough-as-nails cop protected by an invincible badass. Did MN copy Neverwhere, which came out ~5 years earlier? i don't know. But it sure seemed like a tough cop comic book knock off. Despite that, i really did like this story
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