The Facts in the Case...

The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch
By: Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by: Michael Zulli
Hardcover: 56 pages
Publisher: Dark Horse
Language: English
October 2007, $13.99
Genre: Comic/Graphic Novel

Come, come and hear of the strange and terrible tale of Miss Finch, an exacting woman befallen by mystery and abduction deep under the streets of London! New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman delivers another stunning hardcover graphic novel with longtime collaborator Michael Zulli (Creatures of the Night, The Sandman). This is the first comics adaptation of his popular story "The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch," which saw print only in the U.K. edition of Gaiman's award-winning work Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions and was recently interpreted for his Speaking in Tongues CD.

The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch is a "mostly true story" that combines the author's trademark magic realism with Zulli's sumptuous paintings, and has been newly rewritten for this hardcover. Join a group of friends, with the stern Miss Finch in tow, as they enter musty caverns for a subterranean circus spectacle called "The Theatre of Night's Dreaming." Come inside, get out of the pounding rain, and witness this strange world of vampires, ringmasters, illusions and the Cabinet of Wishes Fulfill'd.

+++++++++++++

I know it might elicit some shock and horror for those who love me, but I have a love/hate relationship with this one. And it’s Neil Gaiman. *Gasp* There are many things that I like about it. The artwork by Michael Zulli is amazing and it perfectly conveys that dark, bizarre undertow that lurks beneath the surface of just a normal night of sushi and a circus. However, as intriguing as the story is it never really draws me in and it didn’t as a short story either. I don’t know what part of the story never really clicks for me and by all means it isn’t bad. There are many things that I like about it, but it isn’t my favorite. I love the underground circus, the freedom Miss Finch gets, and that eerie little feeling of the whole story, but as I said there is nothing that makes me jump up and down (other than the artwork) and scream happily like I usually do.

2.75 out of 4 happy bibliosnark bookmarks

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