Black Orchid: Book One

by Neil Gaiman

Book Overview

A New York Times Bestseller Before introducing the modern version of The Sandman, Neil Gaiman wrote this dark tale that reinvented a strange DC Comics super hero in the Vertigo mold. Featuring... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000NU4X8C
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: DC Comics
• Length: 48 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful and compelling

I was introduced to Black Orchid in the late 1980's by a college friend. I was captivated by the beautiful artwork, so unlike any other comic or graphic novel I'd ever seen. As I read the story, one of Neil Gaimen's earlier offerings, I was equally drawn in. From the moment I finished this I became an immediate and lasting fan of both Gaimen and McKean's work.

Black Orchid

Black Orchid, fresh as a daisy from her Adventure Comics appearances, had shown up as the resident mystery-woman of the Suicide Squad (series). She even did a flyby in the first Deadshot mini-series, saving his life. It looked like she had a bright future as a trad costumed crime-fighter. Then, someone put Neil Gaiman in charge of her, and that was the end of that. I know that Gaiman once intro'd a Doctor Who novella penned by another writer by saying that it was probably fortunate he never wrote for Doctor Who, as he would likely dismantle the existing mythos and start from scratch. Or words to that effect. When I read and re-read the Black Orchid mini-series turned graphic novel, I see what he means. Seldom has a character started her own mini-series by dying at the hands of a Lex Luthor flunky; it's a wonderfully moving exit. Enter the NEW Black Orchid, courtesy of some freaky greenhouse effect (ie. waking up from nothingness in a greenhouse), a birth so inexplicable that this purple plant-woman spends the rest of the story trying to find out why it happened, and what she is. Unfortunately for her, Lex Luthor gets wind of the fact that when you send a malicious little yes-man rat--that would be Mr. Sterling--to kill a meddling super-heroine, powerful flower-women are born, grown, cultivated, whatever. So Sterling and a cadre of hired guns set out to find Orchid and her companion, Suzy--sort of the smaller version of our title character. So, while Black Orchid follows a trail of memories and hints that lead to Arkham Asylum's depths, featuring Poison Ivy and the Mad Hatter (among others), plus Batman, and Alec Holland and the Green, and ultimately, a paradisical patch of Rain Forest. Okay, okay, Alec Holland is Swamp Thing, that dude from a cheesy Wes Craven movie, played by a guy from Robocop when he's Alec, and some other guy who played an evil version of the Incredible Hulk in some old 2-part Hulk episode. Oh, and there are Swamp Thing graphic novels too. But I digress. Ultimately, this Black Orchid tale--the one that reinvents her after destroying her--is not as simple as it seems after a first reading. There are many layers to explore, as we learn about the past of Susan, the woman who gave rise to all the Black Orchids. Her past is tragic and unfair, and some of it comes back to haunt the plant-woman created from her DNA and, uh, orchids. Susan's abusive ex-husband, Carl, who used to work for Lex Luthor until he failed him, is back, for a piece of the action. His methods for taking said piece are nasty, and bode ill for Black Orchid and anyone she cares for--or distantly remembers caring for in another life, or the life before that, or...well. I said it was complex. And beautiful. If the story ends rather too neatly and cleanly, then this weakness is made up for by absolutely breath-taking art from start to finish. Another little criticism would be Batman's rather wooden, overdone dialogue--but again, erase all de-mer

Gaiman's graceful, introspective tale.

About the same time that Neil Gaiman took a little-known hero called the Sandman and created the rich mythology of Dream and the Endless, he reinvented another obscure character, Black Orchid, a plant-based heroine with ties to the likes of Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing. In this three-part story, Gaiman gives a whole new slant to the character, replacing a standard, gimmicky vigilante with a thought-provoking new entity entirely.Gaiman's story is brilliantly and expressively told through the art of Dave McKean. McKean employs very little color in his art -- most of the characters and settings are painted in shades of grey. Orchid moves through her drab surroundings in hues of purple. Other colors accent the landscape -- glints of light, flecks of blood, shades of leaves. Black Orchid is a beautiful tale, though at times violent, and I wonder why this character has been ignored in the years since its release. She deserves to see the light of day again. Soon.

Going Down. . .

One thing is Certain. . .This was one of Dave Mckean's most beautifully illustrated works for DC. Very similar to his work on the Arkham Asylum Graphic Novel. Yes...Gaiman's writing was top notch too. And I loved the way he brought in cameo appearences of other DC characters. You don't have to be familiar with the DC universe to read this though. The story is strange and wonderful.

An excellent early collaboration between Gaiman and McKean

People familiar with "The Sandman" series should get their hands on "Black Orchid", an early collaboration between writer Gaiman and artist Dave McKean (who designed the truly original covers for "The Sandman"). It injects a new style into the portrayal of comic book superheroes, and there's even a neat homage to Hitchcock's "Psycho" in the first few pages!