Neil Gaiman, Matt Wagner and Teddy Kristiansen, Sandman Midnight Theatre
1995 / Ecomic / 64 pages / UK/USA/Denmark
***
If Gaiman's request to revive the Golden Age gasmasked vigilante hadn't been rejected as hopelessly obscure in 1989, we never would have got his alternative take on the namesake. He finally got his chance to (co-)write a Wesley Dodds story towards the end of his own comic's epic run, and the Sandman/Sandman crossover event is a charming if insubstantial curio.
2005 / Audiobook / 216 pages / Canada
***
I trusted that the esteemed author had more up her sleeve than the futile rehabilitation of poorly-treated female characters from antiquity (especially when the text in question was surprisingly progressive for 2,800 years ago, according to some scholars). It had me worried for a while, but ended up being a worthwhile subversive supplement to Homer's institutionally sexist classic that doesn't outstay its welcome.
2007 / Ebook / 144 pages / USA
***
(Because he's a Roxy Music spin-off, yeah? I have to find homes for these things where I can). This behind-the-scenes analysis of Eno's early ambience takes its chaotic cues from the same brainstorming cards used in the album's production. It's a nice gimmick that presumably helped to keep the energy up more than if they'd written it normally like a boring person.
Brian Lynch, Joss Whedon and artists, Angel: After the Fall
***
I've never craved more Buffy, but its brother show quit while it was ahead and was ripe for ruining. This speculative sixth season exceeded my admittedly quite low expectations at first by going down some characteristically dark and unexpected avenues, that would have made for a worthy "proper" year with the polish that would have entailed, until it wimped out with a truly pathetic ending to liberate future writers from pesky consequences.
Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Nemo
***
The League is the cleverest pop culture mash-up there is, pulling together characters, settings and gadgets from the obscure recesses of the public domain and cautiously alluding to those still under copyright in adventures that capture the simple enjoyment of the styles it's pastiching. There was no creative decline, I just got a bit weary of it by the end.
