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Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, Mike Carey and Glenn Fabry
01/05/2007 . Source: Laura Kayne 
pub: Titan Books. 224 page graphic novel. Price: £10.99 (UK). ISBN: 1-84576-353-X. Buy Neverwhere in the USA - or Buy Neverwhere in the UK  check out website: www.titanbooks.com
'Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere' has been both a novel and a TV series and is now occupying a middle ground in the form of a graphic novel. 'Neverwhere' is the story of Richard Mayhew, an ordinary man who meets an extraordinary woman called Door. She lives in London Below, a whole other world existing underneath the city of London, which is a very, very different place to the London Richard knows and needs his help.
Having entered London Below, Richard finds himself unable to return to the world above and so has no choice but to follow Door on a quest to discover who killed her family and who is still after her. He encounters friends and foes, the flamboyant Marquis De Carabas, the mysterious Hunter, the savage Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar, the dotty old Earl of Earl's Court, the Friar's at Blackfriars and the Angel Islington. Door, as her name implies, opens up this new city to Richard. He can't help but think that he will wake up any minute.
But this is no dream, more like a nightmare. It's dangerous. It's confusing and Richard's completely out of his depth; but he slowly discovers, while trying to get his old life back, that it's the most fun he's had in years. He learns what he is capable of and how predicable and stale his old life is. He follows Door, the Marquis and Hunter to the very depths of London Below, to face the hardest challenge of his life, win the key to defeating Door's enemy and finally to fight the Great Beast of London and save Door's life.
Writer Carey and artist Fabry bring Gaiman's compelling narrative and strong visual imagery to life, allowing the reader to follow Richard into the unique world of London Below. The book is full of rich colour and shading, interspersing vast, colourful full-page shots of a floating market, the Nights Bridge and the Earl's Court with detailed close-up images of characters. Carey sticks strongly to Gaiman's story, able to take the meat of it and maintain the strong characterisation and flowing dialogue. Together with some description, this works well to mix with Fabry's art and create London Below clearly enough without the added depth of Gaiman's full narrative and the insight into characters heads that you get in novels.
What you gain in visuals, you do lose in not seeing further inside Richard's head as he tries to come to terms with what he often compares to insanity. There is a faster pace and less exploration of characters in general, but they still appear fully-formed and interesting enough, especially when aided by the graphics. The balance is reasonably successful.
'Neverwhere' is such a visual story that the graphic novel format works well and there is obvious knowledge and love of the original text in this book. However, Gaiman's vision of London Below is so rich and detailed, so striking to the reader that it is also one that for some people may only be realised by their own imagination. Carey and Fabry's vision of 'Neverwhere' is very satisfying though. As a 'Neverwhere' and Gaiman fan anyway, the only thing lacking about this book for me was that it was not written by Gaiman himself and illustrated by Dave McKean. For anyone who hasn't read 'Neverwhere', read the novel and then this. For anyone who is a fan of the novel, do read this even if you have your own vision of London Below!
Laura Kayne
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