'Death: The Time of Your Life' - Book Review

Death: The Time of Your Life
by Neil Gaiman
art by Chris Bachalo, Mark Buckingham, Mark Pennington
1997

Neil Gaiman's "Death" is the world's second-most endearing literary anthropomorphic personification of that particular event in our lives, outdone only by Terry Pratchett's "Death." As Gaiman and his artists envisioned her, she's kind of Goth looking with black hair and very pale skin. But far more important than her appearance is her behaviour: she's there as a friend when you die, and she likes and assists everyone. She does not, however, make deals. Except extremely rarely - because, I suppose, consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. This graphic novel (itself a collection of several comic books) is the story of one of the times Death made a deal.

Foxglove is a rock star, living a hectic life that isn't making her - or her girlfriend, although they're in the closet - happy. It turns out that her girlfriend's son died several months prior, and Death struck a deal, allowing the child to live - she would come back for ... one of them ... eventually.

Gaiman's writing is, as always, excellent. Some of the artists he's worked with haven't been to my taste, but the panels in this one are really lovely. It's a fairly thin graphic novel and I was a bit disappointed that the story wasn't longer, but it's good.

I'm revisiting both the Sandman and Death graphic novels after having watched the first season of Netflix's "The Sandman."