Graphic Novels > 15 GBP to 19 GBP Graphic Novels

Advantages: Simple, charming and deeply affecting
Disadvantages: None

On occasion, you stumble across something great by accident. An item of clothing on sale for 75% off the usual price. A fiver in your jeans. This “comic book” (I really hate that term, too much stigmatism is applied to it… but that’s another story) is another of life’s great finds. You want to know why I think so? Oh, very well, but only ‘cause it’s you and I like your face. Craig Thompson was born in Michigan, ...
...well within your rights to think that there would be some flaw, some sign of inexperience. After all, no-ones first attempt at anything is ever 100%, is it? Well… actually… it seems Mr Thompson is irritatingly good at what he does, at any time. Based around the titular Chunky Rice, a turtle living in regular society (for reasons which I’ll explain later), this is a story of love, labours, and loss. Hey, that sounds like a good ... Read review

Advantages: Impressive debut with some fantastic art.
Disadvantages: A bit of a copy-cat, falling for some of the Sandman's pitfalls.

...issue mini-series 'The Sandman Presents Lucifer: The Morningstar Option' from 1999 and the first four issues of the regular comic which began a year later, forming another three-part serial and a final, separate short story. It's clear even from this first collection that the recognisable Sandman style is being followed diligently, allocating a finite number of issues to a particular story before moving on to the next and filling the spaces with ...
...the titular protagonist, Lucifer (or whatever name your culture bestows him) is much more prominent in these plots than Gaiman's Sandman was in the long run, though like Dream his role is pushed to the background in the short stories, presuming this book is going to be reflective of the series as a whole. In a further, clearly intentional homage to Sandman, the series would conclude after seventy-five issues in 2006, but now we're getting ahead of ... Read review

Advantages: First half is a surprisingly good ending.
Disadvantages: Second half of unrelated stories is a disappointing waste of time.

...that Neil Gaiman's saga of The Sandman came to a satisfactory close eight years after its first issue hit the shelves. This final paperback collects the three issues comprising 'The Wake' epilogue and three supplementary, independent stories tying up some of the more obscure loose ends before the series is finally put to rest... you know, aside from the other couple of Sandman books Gaiman has written since, and the numerous spin-off comics continuing ...
...The previous book 'The Kindly Ones' was a long and winding road to the Sandman's inevitable death, and 'The Wake' deals with its consequences while also providing a sentimental farewell for the comic series itself. Fortunately, this amounts to more than just a bittersweet parade of favourite characters saying their goodbyes (though it is partly that), with Gaiman and returning artist Michael Zulli working to create something original and distinctive ... Read review

Advantages: Draws old plot threads to a close.
Disadvantages: Tedious length, pointless distractions and bad jokes.

...notion that Gaiman had left the stretched plotting of his earlier 'Season of Mists' era behind him, 'Brief Lives' instead acts as a rough sequel to some of its events, and puts any and all remaining questions about the Endless to a conclusive rest, with the sole exception of the rather glaring omission: "what exactly are they, then?" There was some valid criticism that my last Sandman review dumped readers in at the deep end without much explanation ...
...overview. Introduced gradually over the course of the comic series, which had by now been in print for three mostly enjoyable years, the seven Endless are not gods, that much is made clear, but are rather seemingly immortal and powerful beings whose function is to oversee seven vital aspects of the universe. The titular Sandman is Dream, though he is rarely referred to as the Sandman, and is known by a multitude of names by different cultures, as ... Read review

Advantages: Neil Gaiman's epic horror-fantasy tackles social issues.
Disadvantages: Fns may find the shift of focus disappointing.

After the slow and arduous multi-dimensional grandeur of 'Season of Mists,' DC's adult comic series The Sandman returns to Earth once again, and successfully rekindles its former glory. The problems I had with the preceding story were partly down to my personal tastes regarding the series, now approaching its half-way point, but even leaving aside the shift in focus from the complex fantasy realms of the Dreaming, the afterlife and far too many other ...
...least for the most part), it's clear that writer Neil Gaiman has got back in touch with his juju after what was a most trying eight-issue task of exposition. It wasn't all a waste of time though; having now firmly outlined far more than readers could ever need to know about the series' complicated, multi-faceted universe and politics, Gaiman and his artists are now free to explore it at their leisure. 'A Game of You' addresses all the problems I ... Read review