Title: Harlequin Valentine
Authors: Neil Gaiman, John Bolton
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics, Inc
Copyright: 2001
ISBN: 156971620X
Pages: 40
Price: $10.95 or about $6 used at Amazon
Rating: 7
Review:
In the spirit of V-Day, I chose to review a comic on the subject written by (almost) everyone's favorite author Neil Gaiman. It's about a sullen girl, named Missy, who we never really get to meet, and Harlequin, a rather tricky chap of pantomime fame. Missy justs drifts about as Harlequin capers after her, sometimes rather sinisterly, leaving chaos in his wake. It must have been a hell of a Valentine's Day for his victims! Basically, he's chosen her to be his "Columbine" (also of the pantomime characters), and he has given her his heart--literally! But, does she know what it is or even what to do with it?
It's cute, but not really a "love story" per se. Harlequin is infatuated, yes, and he brings chaos and romance into the lives of those he passes, yes, but the object of his affections, Missy, is unresponsive. She doesn't seem to feel anything for him, and that made his "love" for her seem all that more buffoonish. I felt the ending was rather weak. It was like Gaiman was taking the story in one direction but stopped short to make some sort of a (feminist?) statement. Or maybe he only had forty pages to work with.
It helps if you read the information on the Harlequinade in the back first. (I actually found the back of the book the most interesting part!)
As for the more technical aspects of the comic's presentation, I was awed at first by the lovely graphic design on the inner covers, but when I reached the meat of the comic, the sequentials, I was shocked to find blurry text. It made reading more difficult than I would have liked, although the casual reader may not have been able to put her finger on exactly why she felt more like skimming the pictures than reading the text. That's a big no-no. Neil Gaiman gets stuck with poor lettering? Absurd! Heck, it's absurd to put any comic on the market with muzzy letters. Thank goodness there were only forty pages to muddle through in that case.
The art was very beautfiul and painterly. I swear that Bolton (who works in a gas mask, according to his blurb at the end) used actual photos and operated on them with filters in Photoshop for some of the backgrounds, which leads me to wonder about some of the so realistc and three dimensional characters. I'd love to know exactly what he did to get this effect, as I am sure it requires much precision and creativity. I was saddened to see some pixelation in a few of the images, but considering how beautiful the illustrations were, I'm willing to let it slip as a technical side effect from whatever technique he uses.
In summation: Not my favorite Gaiman, but definitely a cheap and worthwhile Valentine's Day thrill.
Related links:
Gaiman's Site
Bolton's Site
