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Black Orchid [Illustrated] (Paperback)

by Neil Gaiman (Author), Dave McKean (Author, Illustrator)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Titan Books Ltd (29 Aug 1991)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1852863366
  • ISBN-13: 978-1852863364
  • Product Dimensions: 25.6 x 16.4 x 1 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 247,555 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #6 in  Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Cult Graphic Novels > Watchmen & Other Classics
    #39 in  Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Authors > Gaiman, Neil
    #84 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > G > Gaiman, Neil

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Product Description

Product Description

From one of the most highly recognised and award winning comic writers on the scene today, Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Death, Violent Cases), and his sometime collaborator, innovative artist Dave McKean (Arkham Asylum, Cages, Violent Cases) comes a haunting and stylish exploration of birth, death and renewal. Both human and flower the heroine, Black Orchid, undertakes a hazardous journey to uncover her true origins, providing a moving ecological parable for our times. This work by Gaiman and Mckean is an early showcase for the talent we know today.

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Black Orchid caused my love of Graphic Novels to bloom!, 17 Mar 2004
I am not a DC comic fan or collector, so please bear with me in giving you this review from a non-comic owner perspective.

While not a follower of the comics, I do love Neil Gaiman. This is the story of how Black Orchid comes to life and seeks out a meaning for, literally, the life given to her. She wants answers to the questions "Who am I? Why am I here?" and is desperate to find a place that she will belong.

Her tale is told with cameo appearances by Batman, Swamp Thing, and Poison Ivy; and you should not miss the nightmarish visit to the Arkham Asylum where a skeletal, sleepless man spills his nightmares on the floor, and the x-ray man weeps burning tears onto the floor.

She awakens as the Black Orchid in the greenhouse at Dr. Phillip Sylvian, with the memories of a woman named Susan Linden. Phil tells her about a little of her background, and tells her of those who he went to college with, without whom she would not be alive; Dr. Jason Woodrue, Pamela Isley and Alec Holland.

But before he can reveal everything to her, Phil is killed and the Black Orchid is on her own. Her ex husband Carl Thorne finds out about her plant-reincarnation, and makes a visit to her, killing all but one of the smaller plants that Phil has been nurturing. Black Orchid takes the little one with her, "Suzy", to Gotham city where a tip from a friend sends her off along to Arkham Asylum to speak with Poison Ivy. Suzy is snatched by Lexcorp, but after a quick visit with Swamp Thing, Black Orchid rescues Suzy and they fly off to the Amazon Rainforest where Black Orchid can plant her seeds.

But there are still those who hunt her down; her ex husband who is trying to kill her again, and the Lexcorp minions sent into the rainforest to bring her back alive so that she can be dissected. What a girl...er...plant, to do?

Brief comic strip type prose does not stop Gaiman from bringing to life a fully fleshed out story, and the artwork of Dave McKean is to be applauded. Moving from shades of gray to brilliantly splashed pages of vibrant color, he paints brutality, horror, and the sereneness of nature in the same ethereal fashion. This is an excellent choice for those who are just starting to dip their toes and get their feet wet in the world of Graphic Novels. Enjoy!

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great., 28 Dec 2000
The other reviewer comments purely on Dave McKeans brilliant art. This was (I think) before he went on to draw Arkham Asylum and is in a very different style. The colouring is interesting, apart from the heroine who is purple, every human character is in black and white against gloriously coloured backgrounds, very odd, but what we'd expect of Dave McKean. Now onto Neil Gaiman's story. It actually begins with the death of the character Black Orchid in a brilliant take on the usual superhero style dilema. "I know the bad guy usually takes the time to explain his plans in great detail around now, but I'm not. I'm going to kill you. Right now" or similar (I've not got the book in front of me). And he does. the rest of the book follows a new-born Black Orchid, a plant woman who is still a child, but has memories of the other one who just died. She goes on a journey to discover who she is, and along the way bumps briefly into Batman, and makes a trip to Arkham Asylum to meet up with Poison Ivy. She makes enemies who want to kill her. Neil Gaiman, in the introduction, says that when the finale came out originally, (part 3) people were asking when part four was due. There is a rather suddenness to the ending, but it is also the last thing you would expect to happen in what might be seen to be a (shock) super-hero story. Neil Gaiman does it again.
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0 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Dark as Arkham Asylum..., 27 Feb 2000
By A Customer
Arkham Asylum has best graphic language by McKean but Black Orchid has another taste a little bit. Not much exciting but specific...
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