The Life of Death

by Clive Barker, Fred Burke, Steve Niles

She nearly died on the operating table...masked men removed the cancers, and her womb...but Elaine Rider lived on, mourning. Until, after a midnight visit to the newly opened crypt of All Saints Church - a plague pit heaped with bodies, festering now they are exposed - she is suddenly a picture of health and vitality...of The Life of Death Kavanagh's morbid preference was for the sad, fragile Elaine he met before. Before she had the power to kill with her touch. But who is Kavanagh? Elaine mistakes him for death in disguise, her clean-boned guardian, her promised lover. He is something far worse, as she will learn... Also included in this an adaptation by Steve Niles of Clive Barker's New Murders on the Rue Morgue, illustrated by the brilliant Hector Gomez.

Genres: Horror, Comics, Short Stories, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 1993

About the author

Clive Barker was born in Liverpool, England, the son of Joan Rubie (née Revill), a painter and school welfare officer, and Leonard Barker, a personnel director for an industrial relations firm. Educated at Dovedale Primary School and Quarry Bank High School, he studied English and Philosophy at Liverpool University and his picture now hangs in the entrance hallway to the Philosophy Department. It was in Liverpool in 1975 that he met his first partner, John Gregson, with whom he lived until 1986. Barker's second long-term relationship, with photographer David Armstrong, ended in 2009.

In 2003, Clive Barker received The Davidson/Valentini Award at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards. This award is presented "to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individual who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for any of those communities". While Barker is critical of organized religion, he has stated that he is a believer in both God and the afterlife, and that the Bible influences his work.

Fans have noticed of late that Barker's voice has become gravelly and coarse. He says in a December 2008 online interview that this is due to polyps in his throat which were so severe that a doctor told him he was taking in ten percent of the air he was supposed to have been getting. He has had two surgeries to remove them and believes his resultant voice is an improvement over how it was prior to the surgeries. He said he did not have cancer and has given up cigars. On August 27, 2010, Barker underwent surgery yet again to remove new polyp growths from his throat. In early February 2012 Barker fell into a coma after a dentist visit led to blood poisoning. Barker remained in a coma for eleven days but eventually came out of it. Fans were notified on his Twitter page about some of the experience and that Barker was recovering after the ordeal, but left with many strange visions.

Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, writing in the horror genre early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1 – 6), and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1985). Later he moved towards modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991) and Sacrament (1996), bringing in the deeper, richer concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams, and the power of words and memories.

Barker has a keen interest in movie production, although his films have received mixed receptions. He wrote the screenplays for Underworld (aka Transmutations – 1985) and Rawhead Rex (1986), both directed by George Pavlou. Displeased by how his material was handled, he moved to directing with Hellraiser (1987), based on his novella The Hellbound Heart. His early movies, the shorts The Forbidden and Salome, are experimental art movies with surrealist elements, which have been re-released together to moderate critical acclaim. After his film Nightbreed (Cabal), which was widely considered to be a flop, Barker returned to write and direct Lord of Illusions. Barker was an executive producer of the film Gods and Monsters, which received major critical acclaim.

Barker is a prolific visual artist working in a variety of media, often illustrating his own books. His paintings have been seen first on the covers of his official fan club magazine, Dread, published by Fantaco in the early Nineties, as well on the covers of the collections of his plays, Incarnations (1995) and Forms of Heaven (1996), as well as on the second printing of the original UK publications of his Books of Blood series.

A longtime comics fan, Barker achieved his dream of publishing his own superhero books when Marvel Comics launched the Razorline imprint in 1993. Based on detailed premises, titles and lead characters he created specifically for this, the four interrelated titles — set outside the Marvel universe — were Ectokid,

Reviews

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Life Of Death' is a tale of survivors guilt skillfully woven into a story that I'll need to reassess in the Books Of Blood as it could well become one of my favourites.

Barker pulls the carpet from under the reader in this superb tale.

'New Murders On The Rue Morgue' is Barker's sequel to the Poe classic.

Whilst I enjoyed the story and loved Hector Gomez's artwork, I did find the humanisation of the ape a struggle to comprehend outside the inner circle.

I mean...its an orangutan 😁

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just recently moved and it has made a lot of my graphic novels easier to find so I am taking advantage of that. This and a few others of this series were some of the first I grabbed once I had time to read again. I have also read Revelations from this series and would like to review it but Goodreads does not seem to have it listed (but I can't add it because the isbn is already listed?). Anyway...This volume is excellent. I cannot rave enough about the art in the first story, The Life of Death. It appears to be pastels and it's so expressive it's mind blowing. I love a lot of comic art but this is spectacular. The story is haunting, sad and disturbing and the lovely shading of the pastels makes it even more so. I really, really enjoyed it. The second story was also interesting though the art was more run of the mill, the story was haunting and had a similar feel despite the different subject matter--both were haunting and terribly sad as well as being rather repulsive. They both carry that slightly twisted sexuality that is so common in Barker's work and which he is pretty much the master of. I am finding that in both of these graphic novels the second story is not as compelling as the first--it will be interesting to see if that holds true with the rest of the series.

[Amanda Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

"She put down the note and sat in the semidarkness, trying to work out precisely the plague's location. Was it in her fingertips, in her belly, in her eyes? None, and yet all of these. Her first assumption had been wrong. It wasn't a child at all: she didn't carry it in some particular cell. It was everywhere. She and it were synonymous. That being so, there could be no slicing out of the offending part, as they had sliced out her tumors and all that had been devoured by them."

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, The Life of Death was rather unsettling. But in a good way. Love the twist in the end. Rather ironic how it all turned out with Kavanaugh. The writing was good enough to draw empathy, Elaine Rider starts off all victim-ey, but slowly progresses into this embodiment of her sex, her hunger, her vitality all of it is attractive. Kavanaugh though, did you really shine. He gives off that seedy countenance that anyone in their right kind would steer clear of him. But such is what makes their pairing adequate enough to push the story forward.
The New Murders at Rue Morgue? Er, didn't really feel it on a gut level. Think there are better Clive Barker stories that couldn't been adapted.

[Persy · Rating 4 out of 5]

”We cry for ourselves, don’t we? Not for the dead. The dead are past caring.”

Imagine being so devastated you’re unable to carry children and then you become the unwitting carrier of the next plague.

There’s something about how Barker captures feminine intimacy and lust that is extremely appealing in this story.

”Every love story was—at the last—a story of death.”



*Read Nov. 2020 and Dec. 2024

[M0rningstar · Rating 3 out of 5]

First story was excellent--creepy, psychological, and well constructed. Second story managed to be at once dull and weird (not in a good way.)

[Scotty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so pleased to find this in a local comic book shop, Mancave Comics, recently. As anyone who knows me or my Goodreads feed should know, I love Clive Barker, be it his writing, filmmaking, art, what have you. He has an ability to spin a tale unlike anyone else I've ever read. In this graphic novelization of two of Barker's short stories from his Books of Blood collection, we see a hauntingly lovely pairing of Barker's creativity and writing with the apt artwork styles of Stewart Stanyard and Hector Gomez.

I won't say too much about the stories themselves as I've reviewed the stories in some depth while reviewing the six volumes of the Books of Blood. I'll comment on the pairing of art and story, the layout and editing instead. The first story, The Life of Death, features art by Stewart Stanyard. The art is quite fitting, as this story is one of Barker's many more ethereal, less concrete and linear stories. Stanyard's art is roughly drawn, almost like sketches mixed with the indefinite nature of watercolor. Even with this abstract style, Stanyard is able to portray the vast range of emotions on both Elaine and Kavanagh's faces. There are times, however, when the layout of the panels makes for a bit of a confusing read. Am I reading this in the right order? The good thing about that, though, is that regardless of how it is read, it is correct.

The second story here, New Murders on the Rue Morgue, was an old favorite of mine. It features the more traditional comic book art styles of Hector Gomez. As this story, an homage to Edgar Allen Poe, is more traditional in its plot advancement (if not, definitely not, its themes and actual plot), it does make sense to have this more distinct art style. The editing and layout here is a bit better and more linear, as well. Maybe the distinction is intentional?

I do really love the mashup of Barker's short stories with the graphic novel format, perhaps as much as I've loved in the past Barker's original comics. I'll absolutely be looking for the other adaptations to add to my collection.

[Pirata · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes there was wisdom in forgetting.

It was weird and creepy, if it wasn't for the writing I wouldn't have finished it. I was also madly curious to know what happens to E so in a sense it was gripping.

I'm confused as to what to rate this. Two or three stars? It was somewhere between "meh, don't recommend" and "good, won't revisit, some flaws."

I'm going to read the other illustrated adaptation "New Murders in Rue Morgue." Hope it'll be better.

[Jami Zahemski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good but I was apparently focused on Elaine and her thinking she possessed a plague like disease that she was passing out to everyone, that I completely missed anything eluding to Kavanagh's real identity. Maybe I read this story too quickly but I found the end good, shockingly moral yet at the same time out of left field.

Maybe I should reread

[Φερειπείν · Rating 4 out of 5]

Άλλη μια φορά αυτός ο καταπληκτικός αφηγητής μου προκαλεί μια ευφορική ανησυχία και πληθωρική αμηχανία γεμάτη από αλλόκοτες σκέψεις που όμως νιώθω να αγγίζουν την καθημερινότητα! Λες και αποδίδει το σύνηθες με βαθιά φιλοσοφημένη όσο και αρρωστημένη στάση ζωής. Καταφέρνει με μαεστρία να καταθέτει μια ολοκληρωμένη λογοτεχνική πρόταση για το παράλογο.

[Andrey Kurenkov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two well illustrated and fun stories. The centerpiece is all about Death and is a nicely melancholic treatment on the subject. It's not too deep or too serious, but very stylish and fairly different from other work I've read.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid short. The title sounds a bit pretentious but to be fair it is relevant to what happens in the story, particularly towards the end.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uy uy uy this one was a trip. Honestly? I'm not gonna say more. Experience it for yourself.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!! Classic Barker.

[Sylvester · Rating 3 out of 5]

The drawings were not as what I expected, I thought some frames were repulsive but it wasn't well drawn.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked that we got absorbed into Elaine's story, so it had much more of an impact than this just being a 'horror' graphic novel.