Even if you’ve read the novel, I’d recommend giving this adaptation a look. Writer Mike Carey, best known for his work on Vertigos Lucifer and Hellblazer, has made his mark in comics. Mike Carey (LUCIFER, HELLBLAZER) and Glenn Fabry (THE SANDMAN: ENDLESS NIGHTS, PREACHER) continue their thrilling 9-issue adaptation of the popular novel by Sandman co-creator Neil GaimanRichard Mayhew hates heights, but he finds himself trailing behind.

This hero’s journey offers a satisfying character arc and many turns and surprises. The young woman is the last remaining heir to an important aristocratic family of London Below, and her problems are more dire than being passed out on the sidewalk.ĭespite having read the novel, I enjoyed the graphic novel immensely and found it well worth retaking this beautifully rendered trip through the looking-glass into the London that exists beyond our world. Mayhew’s decision to help the young woman will force him to reckon with a London that exists in parallel to the one he knows, a London of Marquises and angels and monsters and magically-endowed thugs for hire – any (or all) of which may present hazards to his health and well-being. Mayhew is going about his life as a suit-and-tie office worker with a domineering fiancé when he almost literally stumbles across a wildly-dressed young woman on the sidewalk. The protagonist is Richard Mayhew, a seemingly preternaturally average middle-class Londoner.

While it’s been a while since I read the novel, this adaptation felt true to my memories of the original (one of my all-time favorite novels.) Carey did make a perspective shift from the third-person in the book to first-person in the comic book, but, otherwise, the story is substantially unchanged.

This is a graphic novelization of one of the greatest urban fantasy novels, ever.

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere by Mike Carey