Customer Reviews

The Book of Ballads

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Along with Kaluta and Wrightson, Charles Vess is one the great fantasy artists of today. If you've seen his work in Gaiman's Stardust or Sandman or the Charles de Lint book covers, then I've sure you'll agree.

If you're not convinced yet, then I challenge you to go to your local book store, sit down and read the first story (also by Gaiman). You'll leave with book in hand!

Fantasy and comic book illustrator Charles Vess (see his work on the early Sandman comic books) provides thirteen illustrative stories written by eleven different highly regarded authors that are based on famous ballads. The tales are cleverly conceived as Mr. Vess and a renowned fantasist take a well known verse and turns it into a delightful illustrated story. The original ballad follows the animated tale for those who seek the complete package. The pictures are in black and white, but that brings a historical feel to the retelling of the ballads; thus this enhances the conversion as color would make it prettier, but subtract from the wonderful total affect. A rather different type of anthology, fans of graphic tales will appreciate this marvelous unique collection that contains wonderful interpretations of famous ballads like the Black Fox and Thomas the Rhymer by a who's who of fantasy.

Harriet Klausner

This book is absolutely gorgeous and I hope Mr. Vess makes more like it. His stunning illustrations and ability to tell a story through pictures weaves a music all alone. Mr. Vess's art coupled with stories inspired by ancient and new ballads and written by some of the greatest storytellers of our time, such as Neil Gaiman and Charles De Lint, makes for a one of a kind book that can be enjoyed on many levels. A great read for anyone who likes Art, music, good writing or needs some more magick on their bookshelf.

I've been a fan of Charles Vess's art since I first saw him in Sandman and Stardust, and to be honest this book was not only a delightful display of his talent but also an enjoying book of ballads and tales from yore.

Although is black and white, Charles is able to use this on his favor, from exquisite textures to intricate patterns; he surely knows how to visually please his readers. Also each story ends with the original ballad or tale it was based upon, which was a nice addition in order for the reader to get an idea from where it came from and enjoy this past tradition.

So if you are into Charle Vess (which you should be!!) and also enjoy vivid tales from ballads and fairy folk, this book is definitely worth your money and time!! So go ahead and enjoy!!

The Book of Ballads is a graphic novel (GN) with multiple authors and every story is illustrated and penned by Charles Vess. To be honest, the font of the title is the main thing that caught my eye, and then reading a little about it got me to borrow it in an instant.

This GN takes songs and folk-tales from England, Ireland and Scotland and turns them into comics with beautiful illustrations to accompany them. Because I'm not from England, Ireland or Scotland, I had never heard any of these folk-tales before. There were 13 tales by 11 authors, some among them being Neil Gaiman (a popular GN and fantasy/sci fi author), Jane Yolen (a Young Adult fantasy author) and Charles de Lint (an author I've heard of but never read; he writes fantasy).

At the end of each of the comics they placed the whole song or folk-tale, and the authors do stick really close to the originals. The spoken parts are always verbatim, and the illustrations tell the rest of the story, sometimes accompanied by a narrator-esque paragraph to help.

This GN is a perfect starting point to jump into comics, and I highly recommend it!

On top of accurate referencing and a comprehensive bibliography - and discography - for the dozen or so Old Ballads collected, The Book of Ballads is beautifully illustrated by the incomparable Charles Vess. Compiled by Vess and some of the most dazzling names in modern fantasy (Gaiman, Yolen, de Lint), The Book of Ballads takes classic ballads and tweaks them as only these brilliant minds can. Each ballad accompanies a prose form version, sometimes re-telling the story and others recounting it in vivid new detail; again, each story is graphic-novel style-illustrated by the King of Faerie Art, Charles Vess. A must-have for any fan of fantasy and art.

I finally bought this book after having wished for the hard cover book for several months. This book has a bunch of different ballads, shown in comic book version written by several well known authors. It's not as pretty as the hardcover edition, but I think it's wonderful to have a cheaper version so more people will buy it.
I think it's worth the money.