DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Neil Gaiman
SCRIPT: P. Craig Russell
LAYOUTS: P. Craig Russell
ART: Scott Hampton
COLORS: Scott Hampton
LETTERS: Rick Parker
COVER: Glenn Fabry with Adam Brown
VARIANT COVER: David Mack
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2017)
American Gods, written by Neil Gaiman, is an award-winning, fantasy novel first published in 2001. The novel won several fantasy-literary awards, and there is currently a hit television series adapted from the novel and televised on the cable network, Starz Media. American Gods blends Americana and also ancient and modern mythology to tell the story of a man caught in a war between the gods of the Old World and the new American gods.
It is currently being adapted into a comic book by frequent Gaiman collaborator, P. Craig Russell, and publisher, Dark Horse Comics. Russell is the guiding hand behind the American Gods comic book. Russell writes the script adaptation of Gaiman's novel and provides the layouts for the art. American Gods the comic book is drawn and colored by Scott Hampton and lettered by Rick Parker.
American Gods #5 finds the protagonist, Shadow Moon, and his mysterious employer, Mr. Wednesday departing Chicago, leaving behind Czernobog and his eccentric family (with whom they stayed as guests). Shadow still has the gift, a silver dollar, given to him by Zorya Polunochnaya. They need money for traveling, and Wednesday comes up with a rather novel plan to get it. Then, it is on to Wisconsin and “The House on the Rock.”
I will inform you again, dear reader: I am a big fan of American Gods, although I did not read it upon its original release in 2001. I read the tenth anniversary edition which featured a longer text – the author's preferred edition. I also feel that I must admit that I loved that book, and that “love” is not a strong enough word in this case. American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition is one of my favorite books, and I consider the reading that edition of American Gods to be life-changing event for me in terms of my life as a writer.
This adaptation begins its move into the central plot of the overall narrative. That is good, because the longer it takes to get to the central action, more of the story starts to look like padding. A reader can take American Gods the novel and read the entire story at his or her own pace. American Gods the comic book is a monthly release, so readers have to take the narrative in small chucks and cannot tackle its entirety at once the way they could with a novel. It's about time; as good as this comic book has been, it is also time to get to the “nitty gritty.”
So for the fifth time, I implore you to set aside your four dollars each month so that you can buy this lovely comic book, dear reader. American Gods may end up being on the short list of great comic book adaptations of a prose novel.
9 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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