Black Orchid by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean

Writer: Neil Gaiman

Artist: Dave McKean

Collects: Black Orchid issues 1-3

Published by Vertigo

Beauty, like vanity is fleeting. That is, in a nutshell, the message of this story. It isn’t a story as much as it’s the feel of a story. It was something fresh and new at the time it was released, and I daresay, almost twenty five years later, it still holds up perfectly well – if you see it for what it is. And what was it? Black Orchid was a little known character from DC’s stable of supernatural heroes whom I couldn’t be bothered to look up, not because I had doubts regarding the quality of the classic material (and in these days of new 52s and AvXs, I find myself visiting a lot of classic material), it was just so that I always had things to read that I knew to be reliably…good. Also, this was Neil Gaiman’s first outing across the waters, just as it was Dave McKean’s.

Just when she is at the cusp of a revelation regarding underworld proceedings in an ongoing investigation, Black Orchid is discovered. So as not to fall victim to the familiar trope of villains boasting their schemes giving the ‘hero’ time to ‘loosen their bonds’ or somesuch, the head goon immediately shoots her in the head. Black Orchid survives, just to face a fire which eventually kills her. Or it would have, had she been really alive….because, to purists, there is a notable difference between the words grown, bred, and alive. If there is, I don’t know what it is.

Miles away, in the garden of Professor Phil Sylvian, Susan awakes with fleeting glimpses of memory. You see, Susan is a plant hybrid, created by Phil. Actually, one of a series of plant hybrids (no wonder a bullet couldn’t harm her but a fire could kill her). Phil and his neighbour Susan were friends when they were young. An abusive father forced Susan to leave home and it was Phil she shared everything with. Phil went to college with Alec and Linda Holland and Pamela Isley, where they studied Botany under Dr Jason Woodrue. Meanwhile, Susan married Carl Thorne, who worked for Lex Luthor. When she found out about his criminal activities, she left him and ran away, looking for Phil. Carl found her and murdered her. However, before she was buried, Phil took samples of her DNA from her corpse and created the plant hybrids.

A drunk and exasperated Carl, freshly released from jail, looks up Lex Luthor and when Lex does not take kindly to Carl coming back, he goes ahead, looking for Phil, blaming him for Susan’s death, and kills him as well. Destroying all of his work, he alerts Luthor to the existence of the plant hybrids, hoping to curry favour with his prior master. The new plant hybrid, calling herself Susan as well, and a younger hybrid Suzy, last of the hybrids to survive, are on the run from Luthor and his men. Susan hardly knows anything about herself, and nothing about the world. She attempts to seek out Woodrue (later known as ‘The Floronic Man’), encountering the Batman, who leads her to another of Phil’s colleagues, Pamela Isley (later known as ‘Poison Ivy’) and Alec Holland (later known as ‘Swamp Thing’). Finally, armed with the truth about herself, she sets out to complete Phil’s dream.

Analysing Neil’s writing is particularly interesting, as always, and this is no different. There is a prevailing sense of nostalgia, all throughout, emphasized by including lyrics to popular (I know zilch about non Indian music) songs and days gone by. My favourite part of the entire series is the final fifteen or so pages. At the same time, the book is surprisingly fresh. Lex Luthor’s portrayal is right out of Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing and closer to the cunning scientist than the unscrupulous businessman. I’ve always found it interesting that Lex is usually better portrayed in the non Superman titles. Most people consider Sandman as Neil’s best and finest work (in comics, at least), and Black Orchid as some of his early, stuttering phase. However, I found Black Orchid to be a more complete work than the entireity of Sandman…at 75 issues, one special, two graphic novels and two mini series featuring Death, that’s saying something. 

Dave McKean’s art is….an acquired taste. I remember when I was reading Sandman for the first time (maybe some ten years ago), I found the covers silly, confusing and strange for the sake of being…strange. For the whole of this volume, Dave’s hues are…minimal. There are far too many greys and too little greens and purples, but the colour palette works wonders. Again, the sequence that has enchanted me by way of art is the same sequence that I loved the writing of, the final pages. I should probably look for more of Dave McKean’s art. Batman: Arkham Asylum and Mr Punch are on my short term reading list for now. Maybe another look at the Sandman covers is in order as well.

At six issues worth, people may find this a little short. The paperback edition has been in print for a long time, and a deluxe edition hardcover has been released recently. More of Dave McKean’s art is always welcome, and you probably don’t need that Starbucks coffee anyway.

In the introduction by Mikal Gilmore, he compares the book to other pathbreaking works like The Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil: Born Again, and Watchmen….I disagree. Not with the fact that this one is pathbreaking, but that this one can be compared to anything else. Let’s be realistic, if something can be compared to a million other works, it probably isn’t unique anyway. There wouldn’t be much to read into all the other books if they were all the same. Finally, in Black Orchid, Neil tells us the story of the life cycle of a plant. How it dies, lives, breathes, becomes one with nature, interacts with humans, reproduces, takes root and flies away into the sunset. How cool is that?

 

Rating: 10 on 10. Rush out and buy the Deluxe Edition NOW!

Contains full covers, US$19.99 (paperback), US$24.99 (deluxe hardcover)