Stardust

Was on the KLIA express, speeding from KLIA to KL Sentral on Sunday evening. Among the ads that cycled across the LCD monitors for the captive passengers to view, was the trailer for Stardust. I remember reading that this was a film project that had gone well, from Gaiman's point of view. Memories of the 4 part series compelled me to dig out the same 4 issues from my comics cupboard to flip through, and marvel all over again at how the pairing of Gaiman and Vess was simply so suitable for this project.

There's a formal englishness in the way Gaiman writes. Reading this evokes memories of the writing he did in the 3rd part (I think) of Books of Magic, which explored the magical characters of the DC Universe that had connections with the Realms of Faerie. That section was ALSO drawn by Vess. In Sandman, the chapters would typically begin with a title, followed by "In Which .....so and so .....does such and such...." The Sandman story in which Will Shakespeare and company perform "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for Oberon, Titania and the "real" faeries on whom the plot for the play was based also comes to mind. That was another really brilliant tale, and probably my all time favourite Sandman issue.

The most fascinating character in Stardust is, for me, the Witch. One of Three. Which brings to mind the fates, the furies...who begin the Sandman story arc called "The Kindly Ones". This story arc begins and ends with what seems like a really mundane set of conversations between the virgin, the middle aged lady and the crone. They natter on about what to have for tea, in a very english way and a single line, a prophecy from a fortune cookie sets the stage for the drama to come: " A King will forsake his kingdom; Life and Death will clash and fray; The Oldest Battle begins once more." After the momentous events of the story and it's multiple plot threads that weaved back and forth within the story arc, and reaching back to the earlier stories of the series, it ends with just 2 pages of 6 panels each, featuring again the 3 fates, again talking casually about their work and ...... tea. Which cannot help but leave this reader in a state of breathlessness.

Back to Vess. I first encountered his work in Epic Illustrated. What I remember most of his work is the way he's able to draw huge, ancient, mysterious trees, full of twisted roots and branches. He also worked on the last of the Sandman stories, the second appearance of Will Shakespeare, in which he completes "the Tempest", his last obligation to Morpheus.

I glanced at the Stardust paperback in a bookshop while waiting for Laura at Tampines Mall this evening. It had stills from the film. But not the illustrations by Vess. Give me the original comics anyday.