When I picked this up at the library, I was honestly not expecting to be introduced to two things in one go! How awesome for a graphic novel to coincide with a music album. Neil Gaiman never ceases to intrigue readers with his creativity in different mediums.

A mysterious theatre and a charismatic showman with an uncanny resemblance to Alice Cooper appear down an alley where before nothing stood, tempting a young boy inside for a show he won't soon forget - warning signs anyone? Not if you're a character in a Neil Gaiman book!

The boy is taken on a roller-coaster ride of strange performances in the theatre and when he escapes to the real world is still dogged by a Krueger-esque Cooper who haunts his dreams and waking life. But why is he doing this? Something to do with his soul - except not. Yeah, I was a bit confused too. Cooper claims to want the boy's "potential" whatever that might mean. Why is never explained. To continue "living"? Who knows. Gaiman and Cooper don't care they're just too enamoured with their Devil and Daniel Webster style story.

And that's what I didn't enjoy about the book, this lack of explanation or credible story. It's just a piece of pantomime that tries to have an emotional centre to it but fails. The only thing I'll say is truly exceptional is Michael Zulli's artwork. If you thought the cover was eye-catching, the splash pages and the two-page strips inside are something else. The black and white inks throughout are detailed and beautifully rendered, bringing the right tones of creepy to Gaiman's mood-driven script.

But maybe it's because of Cooper's involvement that the story is a bit light and maybe there are a number of references to Cooper's songs that I didn't get because I'm not a fan of his?

Buy it for the artwork but don't expect for your brain to be tickled by the simplistic story inside.

добре відчутно, що то така промо-книжка. зате там гарний еліс купер.

Really, I want to rate this 3.5 stars. The art was great and graphic and totally creepy. Definitely for mature audiences, but I’m not sure the content was geared towards the correct age range. There was a moral to the story that seemed like it would be meant for kids, but clearly the art is more for like 14-15 and up. I liked it, but it being Neil Gaiman, I honestly expected more.

Neil Gaiman collaborated with Alice Cooper on this project.

*ansia*
Neil Gaiman, l'uomo che può tutto. Grazie di condividere questo tutto con noi ♥

Interesting Early Gaiman

"The Last Temptation" is a studio concept album that was released by Alice Cooper in 1994. The story underlying the album, written by Neil Gaiman, was published as a three comic book set. Cooper and Gaiman collaborated on the projects and each contributed to the other's work. (Alice Cooper is identified as one of the authors in this reissued volume.) The comic books were published by Marvel Comics in 1994-95 and the collected comic books were issued as a single volume by Dark Horse Comics in 2005. The original comic books were in color, but the Dark Horse collection was in black and white. This "Deluxe Edition" is in full color. That's important because some of the reviewers of the Dark Horse version observed that the black and white treatment drained a lot of the vitality out of Michael Zulli's illustrations, and actually made it hard to read the work.

I'm not a fan of the often indulgent prefaces that are the rage among so many sci-fi and fantasy authors. I don't care what kind of tea Stephen King drank as he wrote his latest whatever. Gaiman, however, is the exception. While he cloaks himself in a vaguely fantastical persona, his prefaces are actually informative, interesting and even maybe a bit inspirational. They're still indulgent, but somehow you forgive Gaiman this. That holds true here. His description of the collaborative process and his characterization of Alice Cooper is insightful and generous, and reading it will actually help you follow and appreciate the book and the writing process.

So, what about this book? Well, Gaiman has written great kid books, great middle fiction, strong adult books, and a wide and varied range of graphic novels that push the envelope in all sorts of directions. I consider myself a fan, but since each of his projects stands apart from any other there's lots of room to pick favorites, (I'm partial to "Neverwhere" and "Stardust"), and avoid other efforts, (I'm thinking "Signal to Noise"). While this story doesn't qualify as juvenilia, even Gaiman acknowledges that it is "...the comics equivalent of several pop singles: nothing too deep, nothing too ambiguous. A campfire tale,...". And that's exactly what it is. But what a campfire tale. (And at the points where the narrative starts to fade a bit or drift predictably, Zulli's drawing carries it along.)

Here's the bottom line - Gaiman described the project as "light reading for what Ray Bradbury called the October Country". Everyone compares it favorably to Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes". I think that that Bradbury book is one of the finest dark fantasies ever written. I think this work, at least sometimes, (and certainly in spirit), does compare well to "Something Wicked...". That's probably the best recommendation one could give.

So, if you're a Gaiman completist, an Alice Cooper fan, or in the mood for an October Country read, this would be a rewarding, (but admittedly not essential), choice.

Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.

Amazing!

Although not a devout heavy metal enthusiast, ever since his appearance on 'The Muppet Show' I have been an Alice Cooper fan. One of my most vivid still tangible dreams highlighted him, but you'll have to pm me for the details. So it was a titular elation when I found at my library this difficult to find tome; by one of my favorite authors, re-imaging one of my favorite iconic personalities, in one of my favorite media conveyances, a graphic novel. Gaiman's homage to Alice as a demon general would have found him seamlessly at ease in 'The Sandman' universe, which keeps me hopeful that his escapades in print could resurrect.

Der Versuch, mit Gaiman und Alice Cooper eine Comic zu machen.

Story: Teenager landet zu Halloween in einem Theater, wo ihm seine möglichen Zukünfte und Ängste aufgezeigt werden, und ihm ein unmoralisches Angebot gemacht wird.

Ist ok, aber von Gaiman bin ich besseres gewohnt.

MÜKEMMELDİ. ÇOK GÜZELDİ. EKSİKSİZ. FEELS.

Book signed by Gaiman at the 2005 National Book Festival, where Gaiman was promoting his new Anansi Boys novel. Visited NBF at last minute, tagging along after a friend who had invited me down several times over the course of the preceding week because she really wanted to see the person whose name I heard as: Neil Diamond. I wasn't interested in traveling two hours to meet a singer whose music I'm not interested in, and it was only the night before the festival that she finally said, "I thought you liked Neil Gaiman? Why don't you want to meet him?" and I said, "Neil Gaiman?"

I hadn't read Gaiman's new novel yet, which had been just released and was available only in hardcopy, and as I was at the time a poor graduate student I didn't want to shell out for a book I wasn't yet sure I loved. Still, I had to find something to get signed, and all my Gaiman hardbacks were in storage out-of-state. So about 10 minutes after the conversation above, I dragged my friend out to a bookstore (about 15 minutes before closing) and The Last Temptation was the only other hardback of Gaiman's in the store. My friend was equally amused and irritated.

Gaiman read an excerpt from Anansi Boys that made me go: Oh, I'm going to like this book, and also made me suddenly remember Gaiman was British. :sigh: School was really hard that year. Later, at the book signing, I babbled something inane to him, and he was very polite. "Thank you for coming by" or maybe "Thank you for visiting". I can't really remember now. Oh, the awesomness of meeting authors. Maybe one day I'll sound intelligent to one.

The story: Good. Slightly creepy. This is something I could see Ray Bradbury and James O'Barr creating if they could have merged into one person. This is the first time I'd encountered work by the illustrator, Michael Zulli, and it encouraged me to track down some more of his to see.