Review: AMERICAN GODS #2

AMERICAN GODS No. 2
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; Bill Sienkiewicz
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (April 2017)

American Gods, the award-winning, 2001 novel from author Neil Gaiman, is now being adapted into a comic book series, published by Dark Horse Comics.  The novel won several fantasy-literary awards and is currently the subject of a television adaptation by Starz Media.  This fantasy novel blends ancient and modern mythology with Americana to tell the tale a man caught in a war between the gods of the Old World and the new American gods.

The guiding hand behind the American Gods comic book is frequent Gaiman collaborator, P. Craig Russell.  Russell wrote the script adaptation of Gaiman's novel and provided the layouts for the art.  American Gods the comic book is drawn and colored by Scott Hampton and lettered by Rick Parker.

American Gods #2 finds the protagonist, Shadow Moon, in a predicament.  Shadow was recently paroled after serving three years of his six-year prison sentence.  As his day of release approached, Shadow was anxious, strongly believing that something bad was coming towards him.  He planned on returning to Eagle Point, Indiana and his wife, Laura, but he discovered that she had only recently been killed in a car crash.  What to do, now?

Now, Shadow is deciding if he should take a job offer from the mysterious Mr. Wednesday, and he is also about to meet the first of his potential employer's weird friends.  Bigger shocks are to come when Shadow learns more details about his wife's untimely death and also about the people who don't want him to take that job.

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 loved it, but “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.

Dark Horse Comics, over their three decades-plus of publishing comic books adapted from other media, has produced countless high-quality “media-tie” comic book and adaptations.  Why stop now?  Well, I am not disappointed.

So far, I like P. Craig Russell and Scott Hampton's American Gods because it feels true to Neil Gaiman's storytelling and text.  Russell is patient and allows his script adaptation of Gaiman's expansive novel to breath, rather than forcing the pace to squeeze the narrative into a miniseries.  Hampton's naturalistic art captures the supernatural aura surrounding American Gods' narrative, while fashioning a world that is both natural and supernatural.

Once again, I implore you to set aside your four bucks for each issue.  We have in American Gods a comics adaptation of a novel that may end up being on the short list of great comic book adaptations of a prose novel.

A

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.

--------------------------------