Terminal City Library Edition

A stylish graphic novel. The library edition is quite good, in large format, with great binding.

DC Absolute Edition levels of quality and size at a fraction of the price (so why are yours so expensive DC when Dark Horse can produce something like this for $50 RRP?). Print quality in this massive volume is amongst the best I've ever seen and for anyone who bought the original comics and is hesitating because of that, take the plunge - This is more than worth the upgrade. At @£20 this is a giveaway price.

Kind of noirish, kind of retro-futurish (think Art Deco and Streamline design), Terminal City is loose but entertaining story of aging daredevils and a mysterious briefcase. The city is a vividly reimagined New York (complete with Coney Island) with beautiful lines, a monorail, zeppelins, and all manner of lovely to look at decay—here, flyers and newspapers are always billowing in the wind at the edges of panels. The plot is a zany half-baked affair involving a crooked mayor, crooked industrialist, land schemes, a mysterious cases, missing legendary crown jewels, a naive newcomer to town, an old boxer, and too many others to mention. While the hero is nominally Cosmo Quinn, former "Human Fly" daredevil turned window washer, the Grand Hotel-like plot jumps between multiple stories and people. Readers will catch references and homages to Kiss Me Deadly (the pinnacle of noir film), Fawlty Towers, Tintin, Abbott and Costello, Orwell and Huxley (although this futurist vision is much more benign than theirs), Casablanca, and many others. The art is straightforward and easy to look at, while the colors and vivid and expressive, a very fun experience overall—although the punning gets too cutesy at times.