Review by Frank Plowright

‘Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire’ is a short story whose prose version was part of Neil Gaiman’s 2006’s Fragile Things anthology, and the gothic parody makes for a very slim hardcover graphic novel.

It begins with a woman running from something terrible, yet toward a sinister old mansion that Shane Oakley’s art instantly marks as even more of a threat to her safety. The text is over-written, and the threats as banal as they come within the genre restrictions, the plot dependent on questions not being answered. As may be suspected when it comes to a writer with Gaiman’s satisfactory track record, this is all deliberate. After a few pages there’s a cut to a writer in the days of quill and ink bemoaning his own lack of inspiration, yet on learning more about him, it’s apparent he’s writing from life.

Gaiman’s a writer whose success has come from letting his imagination fly, so it’s no surprise that he has little time for the advice given to many writers starting out, which is to write what they know, that is, from life. His writer struggles to do exactly that, suffering the limitations of a creepy servant, a talking raven and a mad, covetous brother.

Oakley could have taken an obvious satirical route with the art, but instead imposes his own jagged interpretations and silhouettes, providing a chilling atmosphere throughout and a memorably quirky cast. He choreographs the movement extremely well, and his process pages in the back show how much fun he was having with the designs.

As with all Gaiman’s work, someone, somewhere will claim it’s a masterpiece, but it’s just a good writer having fun, and that transfers through this adaptation.