Donovan's Reviews > A.D.: After Death

A.D. After Death is the most ambitious graphic novel I've ever read. It instills hope and sadness, the beauty, darkness, and ethereality of life. It plays on the narrative form, typewritten words arranged like poetry, balanced with small images, panels, and splash pages. The story stays with me like a feeling, or a long forgotten dream.

Snyder's writing is intensely deep and emotional, existential and poignant, confronting life, death, love, family, and self-worth. It's like the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, except it's Five Hundred Years of Solitude in a graphic novel. Lemire's illustrations are the best I've ever seen: clean, emotive, detailed, and vibrant. Seriously, the watercolors, especially in the clouds and lightning, are awe-inspiring. The writing and art combine for a powerful effect, honest and heartbreaking, mysterious yet familiar. It's hard to even describe. You should just read it for yourself.

A Short Note on the Deluxe Edition...

This edition is beautiful. It's wide, too, at 8.2" x 11.1". It has a durable matte hardcover and thick semi-gloss paper. The combined sewn-glued binding is perfect, lying flat from the start. My only complaint would be the utter lack of extras, none whatsoever, but it's hard to complain for $24.99. A must own for Snyder and Lemire fans.