American Gods: My Ainsel

A serviceable graphic novel adaptation of the middle section of Neil Gaiman's very good novel. The thin line work of artist Scott Hampton is fine until you come across the covers by Glenn Fabry and David Mack or the "Coming to America" chapters of Mark Buckingham and Galen Showman interspersed

Show More

throughout. Suddenly Hampton's art becomes stiff, minimalist and uninspired.

I'm still glad this exists and am looking forward to the conclusion.

Show Less

Shadow is hidden in Lakeside but travels with Wednesday and meets more strange beings.

American Gods: My Ainsel adapts the second part of the novel - also named "My Ainsel" - featuring Shadow's time in Lakeside as he and Wednesday continue to round up Old Gods for the war against the New Gods. Like the first volume, My Ainsel is extremely faithful to Gaiman's original novel. This

Show More

volume, more than either of the others, has the hardest task: make the middle of the book - where not much happens - visually interesting. Thankfully, that's exactly what Rusell and Hampton are able to do. Much of the heavy lifting is done by Hampton's incredible artwork as he imbues each panel with a breath of life that isn't always found in the novel. This part of the story is, again, a lot more setup for the final, climactic battle and, as a result, much of it is just people sitting in rooms and talking. This works perfectly fine in a novel, but it's a bit harder to pull off in a more visual medium. Hampton is able to keep the energy flowing by frequently slipping in little fantastical elements into his artwork, even in scenes where there's nothing explicitly fantastical happening. This is also the part of the story where we're first introduced to the "Backstage" - a parallel dimension accessible to the Gods where they can travel great distances in short amounts of time - and Hampton's depiction of it is delightfully strange. He takes a much different approach than season 2 of the TV series does, and I kind of like his approach a bit better. It just feels... stranger. My Ainsel maintains the same level of quality that was established in Shadows and it continues to build on, and expand, the visual language of this world.

Dark Horse Comics' adaptation of American Gods is deeply enjoyable. While there's nothing new in the actual script of the story, the joy comes from how Hampton depicts the world of the story. A part of me wishes some changes were made to the script - like updating Tech Boy to be more reflective of the 21st century - but on the other hand, I am pretty happy that it's such a faithful adaptation. The style - both text and visual - of this series can take some getting used to, but once you get used to it, it's a thoroughly enjoyable read. It's a nice, quick way of refreshing the story of American Gods in your mind without having to devote a large amount of time to reread the book - though, there's nothing wrong with doing that. As the second season of the TV adaptation is just starting, it's nice to have a way of refreshing my memory of the novel quickly and efficiently, and this comic adaptation works wonderfully for that. Plus, the illustrations are gorgeous. I recommend it for anybody who's a fan of Gaiman or American Gods.

Show Less

Not sure why, but I enjoyed this second volume more than the first. The art hasn't changed, and we're in the middle of the story, usually the most boring part, so not sure what it was.

Maybe it's the increasing familiarity with Shadow, and Wednesday, etc. Or maybe it was the town of

Show More

Lakeview.

Whatever it was, I really enjoyed this installment.

Show Less