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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
It's a rare storyteller that can create a story that is light and airy, yet utterly absorbing. It's therefore doubly fortunate, then, that Harlequin Valentine has two such storytellers: Neil Gaiman and John Bolton.
Harlequin Valentine is a short update of the Commedia dell'arte legend of Harlequin and Columbine, giving the tale a contemporary setting while sacrificing none of its original magic, whimsy and romance. Having giving his heart freely, the lovestruck prankster Harlequin pursues his Columbine through her city, before the story gets a modern twist which wraps it up neatly. Gaiman's writing is relaxed and unforced as always, allowing the story to unfold at its own natural pace, and drawing the reader along all the while. Bolton's painted artwork, meanwhile, strikes just the right balance between fantasy and photo-realism, matching the dynamic of Gaiman's words. Harlequin Valentine is a short story, certainly, but it's no less affecting for it. --Robert Burrow --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Product Description
In this modern hardcover retelling of a classic commedia dell'arte legend of tomfoolery and hopeless, fawning love, creators Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, the Newbery Medal-winning The Graveyard Book) and John Bolton (Evil Dead) update the relationship of Harlequin and Columbine. A buffoon burdened with a brimming heart, Harlequin chases his sensible, oblivious Columbine around the city streets, having given his heart freely. Consumed with love, the impulsive clown sees his heart dragged about town, with a charming surprise to bend the tale in a modern direction. Gaiman's writing is poetic and as heartfelt as the subject matter. Bolton's art, a combination of digitally enhanced photorealism and dynamic painting, provides sensational depth with bright characters over fittingly muted backgrounds. Those who have spent Valentine's Day alone are aware that the cold February holiday can be hard to swallow. Gaiman and Bolton want you to know that all it takes is a steak knife, a fork, and a bottle of quality ketchup!
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Once again, Neil Gaiman has written a beautiful and touching modern fairy tale, blending his extensive knowledge of folk tales, mythology and storytelling with a contemporary point of view and a sprinkle of fairy dust. Unfortunately, he then felt the urge to turn it into a comic. This has been a successful venture in the past (cf Stardust and, more recently, Murder Mysteries); and let us not forget that Gaiman is the master of modern dark fantasy comics (Who could possibly forget the legendary Sandman?). However, this time, I think, it doesn't quite cut the mustard. The almost photorealistic illustrations just don't gel with the airy, stylised atmosphere of the story, and the text becomes broken up in such a way as to detract attention from the important bits. This might just be bias on my part, as none of the pictures even remotely approach the mental images I formed when I first read the story in its original (prose) format, but I found myself unable to warm to the style at all. All stars in my rating go for the story, and without the illustrations it would probably get at least 4.5. It's a pity Gaiman chose to tamper with the story, but who can possibly blame him for chasing such a winning formula as he has achieved in the past? It's my comfort that I can go back to the prose version with pleasure. Sorry Neil - better luck next time, eh?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
11 reviews
42 of 43 people found the following review helpful
Rat-a-tat-tat!
1 July 2002
Format:Hardcover
Sometimes, when you want to tell your sweetheart how you feel, the only thing to do is tear that muscle that pumps your blood right out of your chest and afix it to your beloved's door with a hat pin. Rat-a-tat-tat! This way, you can determine if he, she or it is worthy of your devotion by studying how your cardiac offering is met. Some would-be lovers will spurn it. Some will shriek. If, like our Harlequin, you are besotted with a tow-headed beauty, lithe of limb, with "mermaid lips" and the most unflappable flaps that ever refused to commence with the flapping, your heart will likely wind up in a plastic baggy, safe and warm in Beauty's pocket, that is until - well, you're just going to have to read the book for that bit.
I first read this tale in prose form some five years ago, I think. I loved it then and I love it now. John Bolton's painted illustrations are perfect for the thing, pretty, sweet and dizzying like blue cotton candy and looking the wrong way on a carousel. Plus it's hardback. I like hardbacks. They make me feel skinny, smart and rich.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Sweet, strange and a tiny bit gruesome.
19 Jan 2003
Format:Hardcover
What a strange story! Neil Gaiman is my favorite author, and as much as I love his longer novels (Coraline, American Gods, Neverwhere), he always proves himself best in short tales. And there is no greater treat than a lovingly illustrated, fantastically told graphic novel (adultspeak for: comic book). Harlequin Valentine is the perfect valentine's gift for that friend who prefers Morrisey to Celine Dion. It's a dark, bizarre twist on the commedia dell'Arte character Harlequin, as he follows his modern-day Columbine.
In short, the art is lovely, the story entertainingly bizarre, and Gaiman has once again created a beautiful story with one foot planted firmly in the annals of cultural history and the other in the wry, tongue-in-cheek modern world.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Charming, quirky, and way too short
13 Mar 2002
Format:Hardcover
This book is an odd mix of romance, tragedy, mythology, and humor... with a sprinkling of the grotesque. Typical Neil Gaiman, in other words. This short graphic novel follows Harlequin, the old clown of the italian commedia del'arte as he pursues his "Missy", the woman to whom he has given his heart for a Valentine gift. Missy, meanwhile, remains oblivious to his pursuit. The book also contains a brief discussion of the historical Harlequinade, Mr. Punch, and pantomime in general.
The story is bizarrely romantic, the twist ending moderately interesting, the language poetic, and the art by John Bolton nothing short of stunning (some panels look almost like photographs of real people, somehow done in pastel). The only issue I had with this book was that it seemed too short: we only see tantalizing glimpses of even the main characters. Undoubtedly Gaiman intended it this way, but I still would not have minded a bit more. All in all a good read, and well worth the pricetag.
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