Delirium’s Party: A Little Endless Storybook
Written & Illustrated by Jill Thompson
Published by DC/Vertigo
Jill Thompson’s latest visit to the realm of Neil Gaiman’s Endless characters finds the whimsical, whirlical Delirium in the spotlight again, as Delirium decides to throw a party for her surly sister Despair.
Delirium’s Party is the result, a bringing together of all seven Endless in an effort to get a solitary grin, just a tiny little uptick of the mouth’s corner, from Despair. Thompson pretty much nails everything about the story – Delirium’s swirling, track-leaping logic arranges a perfectly wonderful and utterly grandively (her word, not mine) party. Keeping all the Endless on track, with small touches in their dialogue and in their perfectly suited gifts for Despair, Thompson captures the essence of each fundamental being. But most of all, she’s able to give the book an engaging, insistent readability, a pleasant breeziness that makes for a too-quick and entirely pleasurable reading experience.
Thompson’s watercolors and page compositions match the unexpected, yet somehow totally dream-logic reasonable, mania of Delirium’s party organizing talents. A cake with all your favorite things: bicycles, books, cupcakes, paintbrushes and action figures; the warm, psychedelic colors of Delirium’s… hair, clothes, bed… pretty much everything, really; flying pickles and ice cream cones – it’s all here. Jill Thompson’s practically born to draw this character – and yet she’s still born to draw all of her own wonderful characters too. It’s really too much talent for one person to have. How about sharing a little, Jill?
Delirium’s Party: A Little Endless Storybook is a pure blast, superduper fun, with intoxicating prose and colorfully twisted artwork. Fans of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman will want this one; it’s one of the best non-Gaiman Endless stories to date (and better than a couple of Neil’s even). Fans of Jill, of beautiful illustration, of just-plain terrific stories should definitely keep an eye open for it.
May 11th, 2012 at 4:03 am
Bring in a few familiar objects from home such as family photos, a favourite blanket for the bed, rosary beads, a well loved book. Relaxation tapes can also be quite comforting.