Booknote: Signal to Noise

Neil Gaiman, Signal to Noise. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Comics, 2013. ISBN: 978-1593077525.

This is a reissue, but for me, it is a new reading experience. This graphic novel tells the story of a film director who is dying of cancer. He decides to work on one more last film. The film is about an unnamed European village in the year 999 A.D. as midnight to a new millennium approaches, a time the villagers believe will lead to the end of the world. The director seeks to tell their story as he faces the end of his own life.

It is a moving story, and McKean's work gives it a well-deserved cinematic surreal quality that can be haunting at times. However, some of the art can be a bit overloaded at times. I also note that, for some readers, it may not look its best on an e-reader. This seems to be a book that is much better read in print. I don't hold that issue against it, but I think it deserves to be mentioned.

Overall, it was one I really liked, so I am giving it 4 out of 5 stars.

Disclosure note: this is where I tell you that I read this as an e-book via NetGalley provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. That way, we keep The Man happy.