Review by Andy Williams

A woman investigating shady goings-on in a criminal organisation is revealed to be the mysterious superheroine Black Orchid and summarily executed before we can discover her links to the darker side of the DC universe.
 It emerges that Susan Thorne, a talented botanist, had been able to able to transfer her consciousness into human-plant hybrids of herself to fight crime. All bar two of the hybrids are destroyed by Susan’s abusive ex-husband Carl, but the process was corrupted by Susan’s sudden death.

Writer Neil Gaiman, with his first foray into U.S. comics, follows the Alan Moore playbook very closely, taking an obscure/unpopular character and giving them a “realistic” makeover. He echoes many of the themes of Moore’s Swamp Thing run, adding some familiar villains to the story, but fails to produce a compelling narrative from the intriguing set-up. The plot is a bit of a jumble, a mystery that never fully resolves and a main character that remains a blank slate by the story’s end. Gaiman has a fondness for the superhero genre, which unfortunately doesn’t translate into an aptitude for it and his penchant for mythological fantasy would prove to be a better fit with his Sandman work.

The real draw here is the lavish artwork of Dave McKean, channelling the experimental comics style of Bill Sienkiewicz. The lush greens, cool blues and deep violets are a feast for the senses, but McKean is still finding his feet and much of the visual storytelling is unclear, leaning more towards illustration than traditional comic art.
 All in all, a promising debut with both creators going on to innovate and push boundaries within the field of comics and beyond.