I'd heard mediocre things about this one, so I wasn't planning on buying it (especially not in a big expensive hard back format), but I had a fit of impulse shopping and it got thrown in the cart during the frenzy. Fortunately it turned out to be pretty good, although not Gaiman's best.
As the big, tacky, out of place banner ruining the front cover will tell you, this is a Marvel superhero comic. The twist is that all the familiar characters, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Spiderman and so on, are transplanted into the 17th century, and appear to be fully native to the period, working with and against factions such as Queen Elizabeth I, King James and the Inquisition.
The story is pretty tame and predictable, at least by Gaiman's standards, but there's some nice dialog, and even though I'm not a big Marvel fan it was still kind of cool seeing his unusual take on these iconic characters. A bit of Gaiman's normal brilliance shines through near the end though, when we get all the big revelations that tie the story up.
The art is very 'generic superhero' in style, but very well done in execution. They could have done a lot more to make the characters stand out from their modern day counter parts (with a couple of exceptions, like Captain America a as American Indian), but it was all very detailed and easy on the eye.
The ending sets the story up for continuing adventures in this world, and I guess if Gaiman were to write another one I'd probably buy it, although hopefully I'll wait for a less expensive paperback edition this time.
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