Harlequin Valentine

The tale of Harlequin is perhaps one of the most enduring love stories of the western world - its origins lost in classical history but have pervaded our sub-conciousness and seeped indelibly into our culture. Everyone knows of Harlequin even if we don't know the story, and Panto traces itself directly back to the Harlequinade.

In 2001 Neil Gaiman wrote Harlequin Valentine as a short graphic novel and it was ably illustrated by John Bolton. This week it is re-solicited by publishers Dark Horse Comics, to coincide with the general release of Gaiman's film Coraline, a fantasy tale for children - and let's face it, Gaiman does fantasy very very well. Perhaps until now he has been best known for Neverwhere and Sandman, he has dealt with a myriad different aspects of folklore and yet always managed to put his own stamp on things.

He has done this again very ably with this modern re-imagining of the Harlequin tale as our diamond-clad protagonist woos his new Columbine in a modern twenty-first century setting, initially by pinning his heart to her door with his hat pin. If that sounds a little bizarre, then the rest of the tale should have you smiling and blinking at equal interludes as the romance between Harlequin and his love takes a new twist, in highly inventive ways.

It is not a long tale, barely thirty pages long, but the story is excellent and the art is simply stunning. John Bolton paints in a very photorealistic style - photoshop is clearly his friend - but his imagery is clean and simple, brightly coloured and almost three dimensional. I am not hugely familiar with Bolton's greater work but I cannot think of too many artists who could have pulled this off with such style - J.G. Jones perhaps, or possibly David Mack. Suffice to say however that this collaboration works incredibly well.

If you are familiar with Neil Gaiman's other works, you will know he is a wordsmith, with almost total command of the English language and he shows that off well here, writing in a quasi-archaic style that fits the characters and the tale but yet adding to the tale.

This is not just a comic book for children - it will work very well for adults too - perhaps it is not for children at all, although I suspect they will delight in it (and squeal at the odd "ewww" moment.) The afterword too gives a potted history of the Harlequinade and our protagonists. It's not exhaustive but gives the casual observer some interesting background. Within this rendition of the tale we can recognise many of the other cast members of the Commedia dell'arte quite clearly, Pantaloon, Pierrot, and others.

Sadly, despite being a short hard-cover, this graphic novel is what is known in the trade as a "one-shot" - a single issue with no follow up planned. That is sad because the ending leaves the reader wanting so much more, but then again, isn't that just like life - and the Harlequinade. But if you are a fan of Gaiman, or graphic novels and comics generally (and possibly both) then there's a wealth of his work out there to try, and I strongly suggest that you do.