Neil Gaiman: Badly Overated?

[Wombat]

Sure, but I still think he's overrated as a writer. Alan Moore's work may have been slightly less popular than Sandman, but it's infinitely better written.

Actually, I have always found Moore to be the overrated one. But part of my problem is not coming from a comic books background, thus most of the "in jokes" regarding older comics in his works are utterly lost on me. I found both League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Dark Knight Returns to be, at best, so-so reads, rather overdone dramatically, of questionable pacing, and with a lot of rather pointless grusomeness and violence. OTOH, I enjoyed Watchmen no end, so even with him it could be said to be a wash.

 

[Olive]

Actually, I have always found Moore to be the overrated one. But part of my problem is not coming from a comic books background, thus most of the "in jokes" regarding older comics in his works are utterly lost on me. I found both League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Dark Knight Returns to be, at best, so-so reads, rather overdone dramatically, of questionable pacing, and with a lot of rather pointless grusomeness and violence. OTOH, I enjoyed Watchmen no end, so even with him it could be said to be a wash.

You know Dark Knight Returns isn't Moore, it's Frank Miller?

And I like League, but it's no Watchmen, V for Vendetta, or even Prometheus. His rep is based primarilly on Watchmen and V for Vendetta, not Leage or other more recent work, so I'd try his earlier stuff to really get a sense of what people are talking about.

 

[Viking Bastard]

Y'know, I love Gaiman, but American Gods, while good, just didn't stack up with his
earlier novels for me. I personally much prefer Neverwhere and Stardust.

One thing, though, that I have to say is how Icelandic (scandinavian, too, perhaps?)
his deciption of the Norse gods is. Usually when we get outsider look at the old gods,
it's so... unlike our view. It's so... alien. Un-Icelandic. Which in itself isn't bad in any
way, as such, different viewpoints are fun and all.

But somehow it's just comforting to see that someone... "gets it", so to speak.

 

[JoeGKushner]

My mother enjoys his fiction. Some book about American Gods or something? I love his comic work.

Badly overrated? I'm out of touch to be honest, so I don't know how well rated he is.

As with all things, pick and choose what you like based on previous books you've enjoyed. I've found Amazon's listing of books and recommendations is actually fairly good once you've spent a little time showing it what you've bought and liked.

 

[Wombat]

You know Dark Knight Returns isn't Moore, it's Frank Miller?

Ooops, my bad on this one! I was thinking along the wrong lines and put in a wrong title.

 

[Severion]

I've never read any of his Graphic novels, or seen Neverwhere, but i've read Smoke and Mirrors and Good Omens. I loved them both. Smoke and Mirrors had that great eclectic feel that i go for in short story collections, and good or bad, every story was interesting. Obviously YMMV.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I rather enjoy Neil Gaiman. I've only read Neverwhere and American Gods, but those were both quite good.

Brad

 

[Michael Tree]

Gaimain is definitely a comics writer first and a prose writer second. Neverwhere, his first novel, is a perfect example of this - his dialogue and imagery are absolutely fantastic, but his narrative is a little amateurish. It improved somewhat in American Gods and hopefully we will see a further improvement in the sequel which is due out sometime next year, I think. That said, I really enjoyed both books. Coraline was brilliant. The Wolves in the Walls is caool. Possibly his best so far, although short, was Stardust.

I wouldn't say he's a comics writer first and a prose writer second. I'd say he's a short fiction writer first and a novelist second. I adore his short written works - his short stories, Stardust, Coraline, and his comics. Even the Sandman was more of a collection of short stories than a novel. His longer novels are also good, but don't grab me in the same way. His ideas are very thematic, and IMO work better in smaller and more focused stories than in longer narratives.

Smoke and Mirrors contains several of my favorite short stories he's written. The compilation is a bit uneven, with several brilliant pieces combined with a bunch of great and good pieces, and a few not as great pieces. I wouldn't call any of them bad, but some are definitely better than others. But that's typical for most single-author story compilations.

One aspect of him that cannot be overrated is his stage presence and public reading ability. He's tremendously charismatic, and a wonderful reader. I highly recommend his recorded version of Coraline. It's perfect for driving down a dark and rainy road. His CD "Warning, Contains Language" is equally good, if only for his recordings of Chivalry and Trooll Bridge.

 

[talinthas]

heh. American Gods is easily one of the best novels i've ever read. Similarly, i found Good Omens to be absolutly brilliant. But then i adore fantasy that dips into religion, so i was totally sold. I can't wait till the sequel to Gods comes out.

On the other hand, i couldnt even get started on Sandman because i was totally turned off by the art in the first volume. I totally didn't dig the early 90s style comic look.

 

[haiiro]

On the other hand, i couldnt even get started on Sandman because i was totally turned off by the art in the first volume. I totally didn't dig the early 90s style comic look.

By the time the series finished up, it changed artists several times. The likelihood that most readers will dislike at least one of them is pretty high -- you might want to flip through a couple of the later books and see what you think.