Creatures Of The Night [Hardcover]

Neil Gaiman (Author), Michael Zulli (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 2005

Newly rewritten by Gaiman for this graphic novel, these two ominous stories from the author's award-winning prose, Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions, feature animals and people not being quite what they seem. In "The Price," a black cat like a small panther arrives at a country home and is soon beset by mysterious and vicious wounds. What is he fighting every night that could do this, and why does he persist? "The Daughter of Owls" recounts an eerie old tale of a foundling girl who was left - with an owl pellet - as a newborn on the steps of the Dymton Church. She was soon cloistered away in a local convent, but by her fourteenth year word of her beauty had spread - and those who would prey upon her faced unforeseen consequences.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The brevity and recycled nature of current fantasy supernova Gaiman's new book at first suggests he's milking the old cow pretty hard. Its two stories are adaptations of prose-only versions in Smoke and Mirrors (1998), in which they weren't the most memorable entries. And only 48 pages? Fortunately, the artwork quashes all kvetching. Zulli mixes the precision of pen-and-ink and the lushness of full-spectrum watercolor to produce one glowingly lovely panel after another. The full- and two-page single images are big beauties suitable, as they say, for framing. Note, in particular, the two-page transition between the prologue (an interior scene) to the narrative proper (an exterior) in "The Daughter of Owls." It's ravishing, though not as intensely colored as many other panels, especially in "The Price," which gives the lie to those who sneer at the idea of a guard cat. Oh, there is one odd scene in "Daughter" in which the story vaults alarmingly from seventeenth-century England to . . . Solomonic Jerusalem, isn't it? Even that looks marvelous. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

www needcoffee.com 1 Feb 2005: " Just about every page looks good enough to frame."; www thealienonline.net 19 January 2005: " ..beautiful volume of short stories from Gaiman, gorgeously illustrated by Zulli."; www thefourthrail.com January 2005: "...Gaiman and Zulli craft such beautiful and enduring stories that its hard to resist.9/10." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (January 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569719365
• ISBN-13: 978-1569719367
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 6.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #151,558 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I make things up and write them down. Which takes us from comics (like SANDMAN) to novels (like ANANSI BOYS and AMERICAN GODS) to short stories (some are collected in SMOKE AND MIRRORS) and to occasionally movies (like Dave McKean's MIRRORMASK or the NEVERWHERE TV series, or my own short film A SHORT FILM ABOUT JOHN BOLTON).

In my spare time I read and sleep and eat and try to keep the blog at www.neilgaiman.com more or less up to date.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Book for Gaiman/Zulli Collectors, September 28, 2005

By 

Daryl Nash - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creatures Of The Night (Hardcover)

If you've never read Neil Gaiman before, this is not the place to start. These are illustrated adaptations of two of his stories collected in Smoke and Mirrors. If you're more interested in his comic work, read Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes. If you like novels, start with American Gods.

If you just read Gaiman but aren't a collector, as I've said, these are in Smoke and Mirrors. On the other hand, if you love the beautiful art of Michael Zulli (whom I've loved since the days of Puma Blues) and want to see him adapt two of Gaiman's stories, you won't be disappointed.

To see more adaptations of Gaiman's stories, check out Murder Mysteries and Harlequin Valentine.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beguiling Glimpse Into The Twilight., May 19, 2005

By 

Michael F. Hopkins "A Deeper Groove" (Buffalo, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creatures Of The Night (Hardcover)

Able to spin great tales from the endless realms of
human dream and natural wonder, Neil Gaiman is among
the very finest of writers around today. Touching
the bonds between the mundane and the marvelous, with
a flair for language and character which can touch
gently and brusquely arouse, often at the same time,
Gaiman's scope unflinchingly draws our particpation
in some of the most illustrious tales ever told.
Those who've experienced his gripping work in novels
such as AMERICAN GODS, haunting teleplays such as
BABYLON 5's "Day Of The Dead", or Sequential landmarks
such as THE SANDMAN and the playfully-beckoning 1602,
know full well what a Grandmaster of Literature Neil
Gaiman is.

Yet, an area which Gaiman is drawing renewed attention
is the area of the illustrated narrative. Fresh ground
was broken when Gaiman and the superb illustrator Charles
Vess redefined Faerie lore with the award-winning STARDUST.
Now, with the visual depth and engraver's genius of
illustrator Michael Zulli, Gaiman strikes deep with Dark
Horse Comics' CREATURES OF THE NIGHT.

The handsome hardcover offers a pair of tantalizing
vignettes which unveil elusive tableaus of what we cannot
see, or often refuse to face. With word balloons absent
from all but two strategially-placed pages, the result
is a daring read for the attentive spirit, and curious soul.
In "The Price", a black cat's steadfast ordeal is the
window into a deeper mystery as old as Time itself. "The
Daughter Of Owls" peers vividly into essential places
where the wayward and lustful dare not go. Each tale
is delivered with a seamless intimacy which belies
the looming, often terrifying issues at stake.

An artist whose work spans across entire idioms, Neil
Gaiman is a cunning storyteller with much to tell. Those
who think Gaiman's gifts are fit only for any one title,
or should be limited to any one field, do the author -and
themselves- a grave injustice.

Enter evening, reading slowly, mindful of all paths......

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Must have for your Gaiman library..., January 10, 2005

By 

A. Stender (Hartford, VT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creatures Of The Night (Hardcover)

Granted this book is short (note: 48 pages) and consists only of two stories. But they are new and they are good stories. Gaiman does what he does so well- weaves a tale so well that you're captivated until the end (no matter how long or short the story is).

If you're an avid reader of his online journal, you may recognize the black cat in the first story- which has a shocker near the end. I had a, "Whoaaa... No way, man" moment. And the second reads a lot like an old Grimm fairy tale- the kind that doesn't necessarily end "happily ever after" for everyone. And Zulli's artwork is wonderful in both stories.

I collect all of Gaiman's work, so this was a no brainer purchase for me. If you're new to his work, maybe try Murder Mysteries or Stardust or definitely the Sandman series first. You'll get hooked, I promise. I gave this 4 out of 5 stars strictly because it was so short. I wouldn't have minded waiting for a hardcover with at least five stories of the same length as these two. Because then the book would have lasted longer than half an hour!