Product Description

Steven is afraid. Afraid of ghost stories, afraid of growing up... just afraid. That is, until he meets the mysterious Showman and his Theatre of the Real. Steven takes a ticket and watches the show on a dare, but getting out of the performance will be harder than he ever imagined. And then Steven learns what it is to be truly afraid. Neil Gaiman, internationally acclaimed and bestselling writer of both prose fiction (Neverwhere, Stardust) and graphic novels (The Sandman, Signal to Noise) teams with veteran artist Michael Zulli (The Sandman, Creatures of the Night) to create this dark and brooding morality tale. The Last Temptation is the latest addition to Dark Horse's proud and growing library of Neil Gaiman hardcovers. Originally published as part of the short-lived Marvel Music line of the early '90s, Zulli's lush and beautiful duoshade artwork is now showcased in a new format for this stunning second edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #382657 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 104 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781593074142
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Gaiman meets rock star Alice Cooper in this Halloween tale that originally appeared in the early 1990s. It adapts a story from Cooper's album Lost in America, to which Gaiman contributed story and lyrics. Halloween is coming, and young teenager Steven is scared—scared of girls, scared of his friends and scared of growing up. When he and his friends stumble onto the back-alley Theatre of the Real ("The Grandest Guignol"), it looks like the Master of Ceremonies (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Cooper) may have a way to save him from those fears—permanently. Soon, he's seeing the creepy master of ceremonies everywhere. This is not Gaiman's most sophisticated work, as he admits in his introduction. But the story borrows some strong horror tropes—mashing Nightmare on Elm Street together with Something Wicked This Way Comes. Moreover, Gaiman writes Cooper's Master of Ceremonies as a whimsically demented horror show host made of equal parts Torquemada and Willy Wonka. Zulli's black-and-white art uses cross-hatching and shadows to create a suitably creepy atmosphere. His characterizations are also dead-on: Steven is a convincing early teen, and the Master of Ceremonies looks just like Alice Cooper. (Sept.)
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Customer Reviews

Last Temptation, as viewed by a fan.
As of right now, there are 8 reviews for this item ahead of me. Very mixed reviews. With that being said, let us continue.

Having been a Neil Gaiman fan for several years, being weened on The Sandman and Stardust, I had fairly high hopes for this graphic novel. Upon purchase, I sat down and read the dark tale in a matter of about 30 minutes. I was impressed by the fine artwork and twisted story, but overall I felt a little let down.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great read, but if you're expecting Sandman caliber work in Last Temptation then you should just press the back button now. The story was rather predictable and, I felt, was rushed into a mere three parts, or "acts," as they're called in this novel.

Overall, a fun read and a must have for Gaiman fans, but don't expect too much.

Not the best work of Gaiman
I am a HUGE fan of Neil Gaiman's work. I have been following his work since the early days of The Sandman. With that said, it is hard to be honest about this work. When it was first released I refused to give it a chance, due to the Alice Cooper tie-in. However, I recently decided not to be so close-minded and read this story for the first time. This story is a lackluster tale, full of allousions to the Alice Cooper album. The story itself is a Tales from the Crypt retelling of the "Faust" story. There is very little that is original or inspired. The effort to work in Cooper's lyrics holds back the plot and dialogue in more than a few places. The ending is horribly cryptic and vague. I would recommend this story only to diehard Gaiman fans.

ALICE COOPER; THE SHOWMAN OF THE GRAND GUIGNOL!
Neil Gaiman is one of the most inventive, respected and popular writers of fantastic fiction for many years now. His run on Sandman for DC Comic's Vertigo has put him in the league of other comic book greats like Alan Moore & Frank Miller...Alice Cooper is a rock legend, forgotten by many, but still... in the world of rock n roll. Alice paved the way for just about every popular "shocker" in the last thirty years.. He is the original showman, an Alice Cooper concert is a trip into a nightmare of violent acts and brutal punishments of torture, usually inflicted on Alice himself... But when Alice Cooper had an idea for a new concept album, he summond the talents of Mr. Gaiman to pen a story to bring his album to life... The story is about a young boy named Steven (a character first met in Alice's greatest solo album "Welcome to My Nightmare") who is the [brunt] of everyone's jokes...he's a scardy cat, and on a few days before Halloween, the boys come across a hidden theatre in the city and encounter a strange man in a top hat with creepy face paint (obviously Alice). The man offers one of the boys a ticket to his show...Steven is chosen and he steps through the doors alone into a nightmarish world where all of his fears will attack him and the mysterious showman will try to steal his soul.

This book is a must for Alice Cooper fans...