Kid Eternity
Grade 11 Up–Stand-up comedian Jerry Sullivan is used to dying onstage–but not in a hospital bed. After a violent car accident leaves him in a coma, he meets supernatural traveler Kid Eternity. Killed before his time in World War II, Kid Eternity was granted the power to conjure up historical figures simply by chanting the word eternity. Along with his friend Mr. Keeper he has been condemned to hell for misusing his powers, and now he needs Jerry's help to get himself and Mr. Keeper out of the underworld. Through Fegredo's swirling and dreamlike painted images, readers are pulled down into hell and in and out of Sullivan's consciousness. Morrison's plot is disorienting and scattered, allowing readers to slowly piece together a sometimes-confusing narrative. Having the feel ofDante's Infernoon psychedelic drugs, this surreal story may be wholly unsatisfying and overly obscure to some readers. But those who can see past the holes into the lusciously bizarre art and deeply complex plot may find a heteromorphic tale of horror, myth, and survival. Dark, violent, and nightmarish, this volume would be best suited to those collections that include Neil Gaiman's entire Sandman oeuvre (DC Comics). Not for the timid, but a solid supplemental collection for public libraries that seek edgier selections.–Jennifer Feigelman, Goshen Public Library and Historical Society, NYCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.