Book Description: In this modern retelling of a classic commedia dell' arte legend of tomfoolery and hopeless, fawning love, creators Neil Gaiman (Sandman) and John Bolton (Manbat: Batman) update the relation of Harlequin and Columbine. A buffoon burdened with a brimming heart, Harlequin chases his sensible, oblivious Columbine around the streets of a city, having given his heart freely. Consumed with love, the impulsive clown sees his heart dragged about town, with a charming surprise to bend the tale in a modern direction. Gaiman's writing is poetic and as loopy as the subject matter. Bolton's art, a combination of digitally enhanced photo-realism and dynamic painting provides sensational depth with bright characters over fittingly muted backgrounds. Those who have spent Valentine's Day alone know that the cold February holiday can be hard to swallow. Gaiman and Bolton want you to know that all it takes is a steak knife, a fork, and a bottle of quality ketchup.Contains an additional 8-page backup feature written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by John Bolton on the history of commedia dell' arte!
haunting, cool, fun Neil Gaiman is my current obcession in books, graphic novels, and movies, and I think John Bolton's artwork is amazing, so naturally I really enjoyed this book. The story is fun, creepy, and interesting, and the illustration is really cool. Gaiman lovers, check this one out.
A flighty story of love and longing, mime and mystery style Based on the old mime shows, Gaimen has written a fickle and fun tale of love and hearts given freely; of yearning for the affection we all crave, and how we are sometimes oblivious to those who love us the most.
Told in the first person by Harlequin himself, he leads us through the giving of his heart, literally, to his beloved Columbine. Dancing across the pages, flitting through the city as he follows Missy, meeting up with his modern day cast of characters: Columbine, Peirrot, the Doctor, Pulcinella, Pantaloon, and others.
Gaimen has a particular talent with Graphic Novellas in that he manages to tell a rich, lush tale with only a few words. Harlequin Valentine is one of his better works, with artist John Bolton bringing Gaimen's story to life, animating it with sharp photographic quality characters cavorting in stark relief against fuzzy and uncertain backgrounds. This style of art work really brought Harlequin and Missy and the others directly to the center of our attention, keeping the focus on the characters despite the few words, and smoothing the flow of the tale to read like silken thoughts of love.
At the end of the story, Gaimen adds a short piece with a terrific explanation and glossary of the Harlequinade and its characters; which for those like me who are uneducated in older forms of theatrical art is a real bonus to the book. Also added as a tasty treat is a little tale called "Drawn in Darkness" that Gaimen added about artist John Bolton.
If you like Graphic Novels that have a softer, more playful side, you will love this particular Gaimen. Enjoy!
A good beginning... ... but it kinda peters out towards the end.
A lot of the other reviewers have covered the basic premise of the plot already so I won't repeat what's been said.
The artwork itself is beautiful, detailed painterly quality pictures by John Bolton. You won't be disappointed in that aspect. The color palete is cold (his Valentine is painted as a pale, waifish figure) but warm at the same time due to the splashes of red from the Harlequin's outfit and yes, his heart...
Personally, I found the story to be a little short, thus making it a bit unsatisfying for me. The beginning is promising with Harlequin pinning his heart to her door and Valentine's indifference as she removes the pin to take it down. She travels around town trying to find the owner of the heart but without explanation, knows who it is at the end by devouring it. Why would she devour it, this woman who had been clueless before?
All in all, this would have been better if Neil had fleshed the story out more. The characters seem to be 2-dimentional, at the precipice of being 3-dimentional had a bit more effort been made to do so. Great for diehard to midhard Gaiman fans, but not particularly impressive if it's your first Gaiman read.
Sweet, strange and a tiny bit gruesome. What a strange story! Neil Gaiman is my favorite author, and as much as I love his longer novels (Coraline, American Gods, Neverwhere), he always proves himself best in short tales. And there is no greater treat than a lovingly illustrated, fantastically told graphic novel (adultspeak for: comic book). Harlequin Valentine is the perfect valentine's gift for that friend who prefers Morrisey to Celine Dion. It's a dark, bizarre twist on the commedia dell'Arte character Harlequin, as he follows his modern-day Columbine.
In short, the art is lovely, the story entertainingly bizarre, and Gaiman has once again created a beautiful story with one foot planted firmly in the annals of cultural history and the other in the wry, tongue-in-cheek modern world.
attractive addition to the Gaiman fan's collection In this comic, Neil Gaiman, the auteur writer behind the wonderful, epic Sandman comics teams up with painterly artist John Bolton (who worked on Gaiman's fine original Books of Magic miniseries) in a one-shot comic based on the English variatons of the Italian commedia dell'arte characters of Harlequin, Columbine, Pantaloon, and the Doctor. Mr. Gaiman quite graciously and somewhat unusually offers background information on his source characters in an appendix following the main story. I would suggest you read the story, then the appendix, then re-read the story. This work could easily be seen as a companion piece to Gaiman and McKean's Mr. Punch. Familiar Gaiman themes are present here, delivered with the usual confidence, with no particular connection to the Sandman oeuvre other than a possible clue into the background of the Mad Hettie character. Bolton's work is clearly derived from photographs, too much so for my taste, but still attractive and effective. The lettering is fetching but very small. None of Gaiman's non-Sandman works are as continually rich and fascinating his Sandman masterwork, but this will make a fine addition to the Gaiman fan's library.
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