Writers: Neil Gaiman, P. Craig Russell

Artist: Scott Hampton

Headline, out now

The new and old gods agree to meet in the centre of America to exchange the body of the old gods’ fallen leader, Wednesday, heading towards the inevitable god war in this final arc to the bestselling comic series.

While Neil Gaiman fans eagerly wait for the upcoming audio version of The Sandman and for Season 3 of Starz’ TV adaptation of American Gods, this compendium of the final nine issues of the comic book adaptation should sate their appetites for a while.

With dialogue lifted directly from Gaiman’s Hugo, Locus and Nebula award-winning 2001 novel, the scripts by P. Craig Russell (he previously adapted the author’s Coraline and The Graveyard Book) are more authentic than the TV show, which is following its own direction now. Apart from three pages of sketches at the back, this is a straight collection of the Dark Horse comics, albeit on high quality paper. The gorgeous covers by Glen Fabry and Adam Brown, as well as chapter pages by David Mack are also included. The story art by Scott Hampton is fairly basic and stylised, the emphasis here being on the text, which is heavier in volume than the average comic book.

Verdict: Neil Gaiman’s American Gods novel is a stone cold classic, and now gets a new life in graphic novel form. Maybe the character drawings are not as well-formed as the rich visions you’ll have created from Gaiman’s detailed descriptions, but this is a fine variation on regular book, concluding an epic 27-comic run over three archivable hardback volumes. 8/10

Nick Joy

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