NEVERWHERE
December 6th 2010 21:03
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
Based on the novel Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Publisher: Vertigo
Production Team: Mike Carey – writer, Glenn Fabry – artist/series cover artist, Tanya & Richard Horie – colourists, Todd Klein – letterer, Tony Luke – series cover artist & Neil Gaiman - consultant
Cost: AU$26.95/US$19.99
This particular work came to me via what could be considered to be a rather convoluted set of circumstances, I was wondering around the local outlet of a major bookshop chain and came across the novel Neverwhere sitting on the shelf. Now I had a read of the blurb on the back and thought hmm sounds interesting, the price however did put me out considering that it was going to cost all that I had at the moment with little or no change. That was when I thought hmm wonder if the library has a copy of this? A short ten or fifteen minutes later and I’m in the local library having a scan through the computer database and sure enough there’s a copy at another library. The only problem was that I hadn’t realised that what the library had was a graphic novel adaptation of Neverwhere, not the novel itself – I just fixated on the title not really paying attention to the details. Still frankly I think it turned out better this way in my own opinion...
Now the location for this story as mentioned is London, but a London that is not known to the vast bulk of its mundane inhabitants, people like Richard who spend all their day sitting at their nine to five jobs wondering just exactly what it is they’re working for or towards. No this is a London that has two layers as it were, the one above and the one below. As above so below...well not quite, London Below seems to be an eclectic mix of the forgotten the strange and the downright bizarre. It seems to be a fusion of elements of Victorian, Elizabethan era fused with the Beggar’s Opera and ancient Celtic mythology mixed in with a little bit of King Lear for good measure. It’s almost as if London Below is the result of the merging of various past elements that have demonstrated an amazing resilience, a resilience that has allowed their continued existence in this modern era beneath the streets of the city overhead. In essence then London has been grown from these concepts; the London Above is the plant grown from the roots that comprise London Below and just because you cannot see the roots doesn’t mean they’re not there, and as archaeologists have shown the roots of the real world London do indeed go deep.
But strangely it is an even older story that provides part of the rationale behind the action going on. Atlantis, the legendary continent that was destroyed due to its hubris and pride, apparently the being responsible for the destruction of this legendary land dwells in London Below, a figure who is as much mythical and unreal to the inhabitants of London Below as Atlantis is to the inhabitants of London Above. This figure is none other than the Angel Islington, no not the pub or the property from Monopoly, but a bona fide celestial entity who goes by the name of Islington. An interesting name for an angel but who knows what the naming conventions are in the celestial realms...apparently though this entity was a confidant of Door’s deceased father who before his death at the hands of hired, psychotic ruffians managed to leave a message to his daughter urging her to seek out Islington.
Of course Door isn’t likely to reach Islington without any hassles, whoever ordered the murder of her father and the general wholesale slaughter of the rest of her house also seeks her. Messrs Croup and Vandermar, the dastards who carried out the initial deed are contracted to get Door. And it is whilst fleeing from these two goons that she crosses paths with Richard Mayhew, badly wounded and in need of help. For some reason that seems unfathomable to him at the time he elects to follow the path of compassion and give this strangely attired girl some kind of aid, although he’s at a loss at exactly what to do. Still his heart is as they say is in the right place. And thus the story achieves critical mass and follows on from this merging of two diverging elements that until this point had been completely unaware of each other. If you like a story that is somewhat surreal, somewhat out there yet at the same time rooted in a solid, sensible narrative then Neverwhere should be right up your alley – I thoroughly enjoyed, it was what I’d expect from a work based on the writing of Neil Gaiman whose always great value.
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