FreakAngels...

Warren Ellis has been promoting his new weekly webcomic, yet to begin, FreakAngels. I really like the look of it, but I've never heard of the artist, Paul Duffield. Is he new to the field, or have I just not been paying attention?

Well, I don't always know the names of the British artists, anyway. Except the ones I've met. And that was long ago and the wench is forgetful.

Neil Gaiman: Creatures of the Night and Fragile Things...

There are so many fragile things.... People break so easliy, and so do dreams and hearts. - Neil Gaiman

I was reading Neil Gaiman today. The first book was Creatures of the Night, a graphic novel with illustrations by Michael Zulli. I have always loved Zulli's art, ever since that brilliant and underrated comic he did with Stephen Murphy, The Puma Blues. Like the ancient Babylonians, he is particularly good with animals.

Okay. So the art was fabulous: just look at the link to the Dark Horse site above and you'll see. There are just two stories in the volume, "The Price" and "A Daughter of Owls". "The Price" was longer and by far better - a cleverly written story about a writer who takes in stray cats, and one of the cats becomes bloody and battered every night. What is it fighting? The writer decides to find out.

It's as beautifully written as it is drawn. Just listen to the first page:

Tramps and vagabonds have marks they may on gateposts and trees and doors, letting the others of their kind know a little about the people who live at the houses and farms they pass on their travels.

I think cats must leave similar signs.

How else to explain the cats who turn up at our door through the year, hungry and flea-ridden and abandoned?

I liked the dedication by Michael Zulli, who has a way with words himself:

First and foremost, thanks must go to Neil, as always, friend and a half, and not a bad-looking gent, writes a bit, I'm told.

The second story was comparatively lacklustre.

I then read several short stories in Neil Gaiman's anthology Fragile Things. As usual I don't like Gaiman's prose writing as much as his comic book work, though some of his short stories are superb. I am not, in general, a short story reader. Gaiman is one of the few writers who can lure me to the form. A Study in Emerald was a story I was curious about, as it won the Hugo Award a few years ago - I was actually disappointed by the reality of the story, which I found overwritten. I liked the idea: an interesting meld of H.P. Lovecraft and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It reminded me of The Prestige in tone and style. The best part was its presentation of Queen Victoria as a Lovecraftian creature of power and mercy.¹ The pleasant surprise of this book, so far, has been the quality of some of the poetry:

Do not fear the ghosts in this house; they
are the least of your worries.
....Please, wander around. Explore it all you wish.
I've broken with tradition on some points. If there is
one locked room here, you'll never know. You'll not find
in the cellar's fireplace old bones or
hair. You'll find no blood.

¹ And this in turn made me think of Doctor Who's portrayal of Queen Victoria as a potential werewolf, and to wonder what other variants on the theme there are wandering around out there in the popular media.