A.D. After Death

Superhero mavens Snyder (Batman) and Lemire (the Essex Trilogy, Sweet Tooth) team for a challenging and thought-provoking speculative work set 825 years after a cure for death is found. The mix of graphic novel and illustrated text captures protagonist Jonah as he ponders the world that deathlessness has wrought, peppered with extended flashbacks to the days before the cure. Snyder’s script and concepts are sharp and fertile, and recall his pre-comics work as a prose novelist. The art elevates this from an exegesis on mortality to a gripping, elegiac illustrated adventure that bedazzles and fascinates. Lemire has a crackerjack sense of storytelling pace and tempo to back up his art chops, and he puts an unearthly spin on fantastic settings and creatures but never forgets that this is a very human story. This puzzle-box story rewards careful (and repeat) reading. (July)