Free Country: A Tale of The Children's Crusade

Dead Boy Detectives #1

by Neil Gaiman, Toby Litt, Peter Gross (Artist)

The Dead Boy Detectives are on the case. When several children go missing in a small English town, a series of strange and unexpected twists take them to Free Country, a place that dates back a millennium, where children never grow old and are free from the abuse and tyranny of adults. But Free Country is failing, and what it needs is the strength of five innately powerful children-including the young sorcerer Timothy Hunter-to restore their uncanny world to what it once was. Collects THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE #1 and THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE #2, written by Gaiman with cowriters Alisa Kwitney and Jamie Delano. A brand-new middle chapter written by DEAD BOY DETECTIVES writer Toby Litt and drawn by artist Peter Gross (THE BOOKS OF MAGIC, THE UNWRITTEN) completes this compelling tale of ancient history, stolen dreams and lost children. Also featuring a new introduction by Gaiman, plus new cover art by DEAD BOY DETECTIVES artist Mark Buckingham.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Graphic Novels Comics, Magic

196 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 22, 2015

Reviews

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic tale about two dead detectives, who are trying to solve a missing person case. It sounds macabre but it's actually a fairy tale.

Neil Gaiman includes this in his introduction: "I asked Alisa Kwitney, who cowrote much of he second half of The Children's Crusade, if there was anything she wanted me to point out and she said yes. I should tell people that in the double-page spread with the mermaids and the magic, she had instructed artist Peter Snejbjerg to draw a very young Nail Gaiman reading a book, oblivious to the wonders around him."

I made sure to check on that page- and there he was. If you read this too, make sure to look for Neil in the full-page spread depicting Free Country.

The premise of this tale is like Peter Pan, but with a twist. There's a land where children can live in peace and harmony and never grow old... but at what cost.

"Look at them, who call themselves adult- they eat, they work, they sleep. Their pleasures are gross and ugly, their lives are squalid and dark. They no longer feel, or hurt, or dream. And they hurt us. They say every adult has successfully killed at least one child, heh? Free Country is the refuge. In the past, it was the refuge only for the most fortunate of the few. But those days are ending. It will soon be the home of every living child."

If I had known the catalog of Vertigo comics, I may have enjoyed this more. But, you don't need to be an aficionado of comics to enjoy Free Country. It can be a stand-alone graphic novel with plenty of chills and thrills along the way.

It was for me.

Recommended for adults to like twisted tales with a fairy-tale flavor or for 16+ because of the potentially disturbing content.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the early ‘90s, Neil Gaiman, Jamie Delano, and a handful of other creators from Vertigo came up with a crossover title starring the kids from their various comics. There was the Dead Boy Detectives from Sandman, Maxine from Animal Man, Dorothy from Doom Patrol, Tefe from Swamp Thing, Suzy from Black Orchid, and Timothy Hunter from The Books of Magic. They called it The Children’s Crusade and two issues were published but the story was apparently unfinished.

Two and a bit decades later, both issues have been collected for the first time in Free Country: The Children’s Crusade with the missing piece linking both issues written by Toby Litt, the latest writer on Dead Boy Detectives. Kids have been stolen in our world and taken to this Never Never Land place called Free Country. It’s up to the Dead Boy Detectives to find and bring them back or something.

This book was complete garbage! The story is so damn boring with almost nothing happening in its entirety, and it’s structured so poorly, it’s a godawful mess. Gaiman writes in the introduction:

"I remember the main problem being that bits of plot that had been handed out to the other books weren't actually in those books when they were done. In retrospect, it's not even surprising: nobody told any of the Vertigo writers what to do, the editors actually overseeing things had never done a crossover, and actually, herding cats is easier than persuading writers to take part in a crossover once the rural retreat is over."

So basically it was a disaster – and it reads like it too! Apparently there were annuals from the various Vertigo titles that tied into The Children's Crusade but there's no mention of that in the promo material and they're definitely not included in this book. That explains the large gaps in the story and the fragmentary feel of the narrative - but if they were printed before, why were they left out of this collected edition? Don't DC own those rights?! So frustrating - no wonder nothing makes sense!!

The pages are overwritten with far too many text boxes and dialogue, none of which is interesting to read or terribly relevant to the plot. The kid characters are all annoying twerps - I don’t know how you feel about the Dead Boy Detectives but I really don’t like them and had I know they were the protagonists of this book, I never would’ve requested it!

The stories of The Children’s Crusade, Robert Browning’s poem Childe Roland to The Dark Tower Came, and the Pied Piper are mixed in, I think, because they all feature kids. Gaiman and co. try to connect them all , along with the various disparate characters, and none of it hangs together well in the slightest. I suppose the art’s not bad – we get to see Chris Bachalo’s early work here – but generally it’s nothing that special.

Free Country: The Children’s Crusade is horrible, bad fantasy gibberish that’s near unreadable – avoid!

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Received from Netgalley for review.)

So here's the deal with this book: back in the 90s, the Vertigo books attempted a sort of crossover that, until now, has never really been collected. At the time, that included annuals for several Vertigo books, and those aren't collected here. Instead, we get the original Children's Crusade miniseries, which had been the beginning and end of the crossover, with a new middle chapter to bridge the gap between the two. I'm not sure why the original stories weren't included. Rights issues, maybe?

Unfortunately, that's to the detriment of the book. Because the beginning and end (written by Neil Gaiman) are much more engaging than the middle. The story as a whole stars the Dead Boys, possibly the most oddly popular of the secondary (really more like tertiary) supporting characters from Sandman. I'm not a big fan, but they're quite a bit more fun here than I'd thought they'd be. And Tim Hunter, who I've always liked takes charge of the ending, which is quite strong.

The problem is really with the middle. For one, it drags terribly. About halfway through the book I realized I was getting bored with it, and only the injection of Tim Hunter was able to save it for me. And because the Doom Patrol and Swamp Thing sections are entirely gone, it leaves big holes in the narrative. We know that both Dorothy and Tefe entered the Free Country and left quickly, but we don't actually see any of that happen. It's all off the page. I honestly feel like this would have been better if the actual, original stories had been included instead.

I'm giving this three stars overall. I feel like the Neil Gaiman sections are 3.5 stars, the new stuff is about 2-2.5 stars, and the art, which feels very Sandman-ish to me, is 3.5 stars. Maybe that averages out to 3 stars. I don't know, math isn't my strong suit, but it's close enough for me.

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this from Edelweiss and DC Comics in exchange for an honest review. Thinking this would be pretty good because of the author (who doesn’t jump at the chance for a *free* Neil Gaiman book?), I’m sorry I requested this one.

In the early ‘90s, Neil Gaiman developed a crossover title with other Vertigo creators starring the children from the imprint: the Dead Boy Detectives from Sandman, Maxine from Animal Man, Dorothy from Doom Patrol, Tefe from Swamp Thing, Suzy from Black Orchid, and Timothy Hunter from The Books of Magic. Two issues of the so-called The Children’s Crusade were published. Now, for the first time, these issues have been collected for the first time here, with a missing chapter between the two fleshing out some of the missing details. Surprisingly, it does not include the specials, annuals, and one-shots published over the years.

Ultimately, this book is a horrific mess. The story is poorly crafted, and nothing much happens. The artwork is nothing special, either. There are too many text boxes, with many completely irrelevant to the actual plot. Gaiman references the historic event of The Children’s Crusade, along with the old children’s stories and fairy tales, “Childe Roland to The Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning (also used by Stephen King for his Dark Tower series), and “Pied Piper” by the Brothers Grimm to connect all of the Vertigo children. It fails spectacularly.

[Wing Kee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. An interesting premise that somewhat ends abruptly.

World: The art is very much a sign of it’s time but at the same time wildly creative with many art styles and framing making it very fun to look at. The world building here is pretty great, it ties it not only fables and lore, but also the Vertigo universe with all the children found in the books. There’s Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Sandman, Books of Magic, Black Orchid and the Doom Patrol and that’s pretty wonderful what they did and the world and premise they used bring this all together. The ideas and the pieces interweaves well with a strong world that ties it all together.

Story: The story is an interesting one, I like the story within the story that tells readers very early on what this story is about and all the different pieces that come together for this story. I love using the framing of the Dead Boy Detectives as the point of view for readers into the worlds of Vertigo and I love how the art really supports the writing when it transitions from different books and characters. The idea of the Children’s Crusade is used here wonderfully and the topical nature of this book and when it was written really gives the book a weight that most other event books do not have. This is not really an event book per say but rather a book that uses all the different pieces of the Vertigo universe for it’s story. I loved the first two acts of the book and they were paced and written splendidly. I will say that the third act does fall apart a bit due to the rushed nature to end the book and there are some instances of deus ex found here but overall it was a rather enjoyable read.

Characters: The cast of characters here is pretty great with the Dead Boy Detectives being the point of view for readers to enter the world. They are fun and have a strong personality and their inquisitive and talky nature really allowed readers into the world without feeling too lost. The 5 other powerful children are used well, some sparingly and some quite a bit but they are well presented and feel like they do in their respective books and that’s a great thing. The idea of the Free Country and the inhabitants within is strong and their plight and their portrayal done well and solidly. The villain of the book is an interesting one and one that very early the readers are shown but with the wool over our eyes we don’t fully see. However when the reveal does happen it’s rather a bit to fast and the comeuppance is rather too easy.

I liked this book, it’s interesting and really uses pieces of the Vertigo universe well, it’s worth a read.

Onward to the next book!

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fairy tale is in fact the last place a child is most safe, and yet the misfortune of us all, who were once children I suppose, is learning this lesson as grown-ups sing songs of innocence and hand us these tales and stories. Gaiman is, as always, a marvel, for his ability to take the mundane, the mystical, the magical, the historical, and combine it all into not just a semblance of a story, but a web of powerful experiences and images that are unlike anything most writers will produce in their lifetime.

The story of two dead boys who want to be detectives, the story of a group of children stolen away to a magical land by a warped and evil sadistic man, A Tale of the Children's Crusade is a chance to observe the real horror of violence against children. There were many passages in the book that left me aghast and crawling to find a semblance of humanity, but such moment only proof the aesthetic merits of this book. Rather than cling to the idea that childhood is a time of innocence and bliss, Gaiman is able, through his two dead-boy detectives to show the real fragility of children and their vulnerability to vice and manipulation.

And because it's Neil Gaiman, there's plenty of magic and fairy and worlds just outside of our own reality. This book was a lovely tie-in to his incredible Sandman series and it's a pity more people haven't taken the time to read and review this book.

Fairy tales are often stories of horror, pain, loss, and danger, but Gaiman reminds his reader that, even in the darkest of places, the capacity for strength in human beings, especially children, is everlasting.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Electronic ARC provided by NetGalley.

"Free Country" presents a crossover story from the early days of the Vertigo universe, finally completed and published in the form of a complete arc. As I understand it, the beginning and end of the story were written by Neil Gaiman in the 90s. The middle was completed recently in order to give the arc a more cohesive shape. Overall this was very well done and I enjoyed both the story and the art.

The main characters of "Free Country" are Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine, the two dead school boys from Sandman "Season of Mists." Having stuck around as ghosts the boys are now attempting to open a detective agency, and their first case is to track down a missing child. As Rowland and Paine pursue their missing person case they discover that it is part of a much larger and more sinister plot that involves a sort of inter-dimensional Neverland and all the children in the world. It also involves children who feature heavily in other key Vertigo titles such as Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Black Orchid, and The Books of Magic.

It was interesting reading this story now, since it is very obviously a product of the 90s era of Vertigo. The art style especially is far more reminiscent of Sandman then of more modern books. I loved Gaiman's writing for his own characters--the two dead boys and magician Tim Hunter--all of them feeling perfectly in character for what we'd seen of them before. I have a harder time judging the other Vertigo characters since for the most part I haven't actually read their books. I will say that not knowing their backgrounds didn't really detract from my enjoyment of the story, it was enough to have the text tell me that they are strange and powerful and therefore of some use to the Free Country.

"Free Country" relies heavily on themes of child abuse, but never in a way that seems gratuitous or intended for shock value. Instead it seems to justify this title as one that fits within Vertigo's status, especially early on, as a line featuring more "mature" titles then the main DC line.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was funny, strange, and unsettling as many of the best Vertigo works tend to be, and it was nice to get a new graphic novel featuring characters that I first read about years ago.

[Kandice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairy tale is the last place a child is safe, and yet the misfortune of childhood is learning this lesson as grown-ups sing songs of innocence and hand us these tales and stories. Gaiman is, as always, a marvel, for his ability to take the mundane, the mystical, the magical, the historical, and combine it all into not just a semblance of a story, but a web of experiences and images that are unlike anything else.

The stories of the dead detectives (boys themselves) and a group of children stolen away to a magical land, this story is an example of the real horror of violence against children. There were many passages/panels that left me aghast and only prove the strength of the tale and the illustrations that accompany it. Rather than pretend childhood is a time of innocence and bliss, Gaiman is able to show the real vulnerability of children and their subjectivity to vice and manipulation.

Fairy tales are often stories of horror, pain, loss, and danger, but Gaiman reminds us that, even in the darkest of places, the capacity for strength in human beings, especially children, is everlasting.

[Laura Cunha · Rating 2 out of 5]

https://leiturasdelaura.blogspot.com/...
http://popoca.com.br/free-country/

Quem acompanha minhas resenhas sabe que eu tenho um certo amor pelo autor inglês Neil Gaiman. Como ele na verdade trabalha há mais tempo do que eu acompanho o seu trabalho, além de que ele publicou muita coisa em quadrinhos em parcerias com outros autores, de vez em quando, acabo descobrindo um trabalho novo que na verdade é velho dele. Free Country: A Tale of The Children's Crusade foi lançada pela Vertigo em 2015, mas ainda não possui tradução para o português.

Free Country é uma Graphic Novel com uma coleção de histórias que apresentam a saga da Cruzada das Crianças, onde ao longo do tempo diversas crianças descobrem uma espécie de mundo paralelo chamado Free Country. Com o tempo, algumas delas se organizam em um conselho e decidem salvar todas as crianças do mundo. Só que para isso, o mundo onde elas vivem precisa de mais energia, ou poder, e para isso eles precisam sequestrar algumas crianças especiais. Enquanto isso, uma cidade inteira sofre com o desaparecimento coletivo de todas as suas crianças, e uma irmã que estava viajando no momento resolve contratar dois detetives para descobrir o paradeiro do irmão mais novo.

Não é uma história simples, é cheia de personagens espalhados por tudo quanto é canto e com motivações extremamente distintas. Os capítulos vão alternando o grupo de personagens e o momento da narrativa, de forma que as coisas fiquem menos confusas. Mas existe um limite do que é possível fazer quando o total de capítulos soma apenas 200 páginas.

O enredo promete mais do que entrega nesse espaço, e a história sofre com momentos muito perdidos e sem sentido no meio de um excesso de informação. As personagens ficam muito simples e cartunescas, mesmo para histórias em quadrinhos. E no fundo, não é uma história para crianças. A impressão que me deu foi daqueles trabalhos de escola onde cada um fazia um pedaço e no final virava um Frankenstein. O que faz sentido, considerando que foram CINCO autores envolvidos. E sim, eles dividiram os capítulos entre si.

Uma boa ideia que não teve a atenção que merecia.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Children's Crusade was one of those big crossover events that proliferate throughout the comic book world. Neil Gaiman tells the story of how this one in particular came to be in his introduction. And he also explains why it's been such a long time before it had a proper graphic novel to save you the trouble of cross-referencing six or seven separate titles. The story. Hmmmm. The story. So children all over the world are disappearing, but dead boy detectives Rowland and Paine are on the case ... This book isn't, strictly speaking, completely reprints. The original series was supposed to start in issue #1 of The Children's Crusade, carry through various Vertigo titles, and then conclude with issue #2 of Crusade. But coordination was lacking--Neil uses the phrase, "herding cats"--and the story didn't flow as well as it should have. So this book reprints the two issues of Crusade, but the bits in the middle are new, designed to make the whole thing flow as a proper story. Considering how many diverse talents worked on this--quite a list of names on the front cover--it's rather good. Neil Gaiman completists will definitely want to read it, but one shouldn't downplay the contributions of Alisa Kwitney, Jamie Delano, and all the rest. This is a much better book than works written by committee usually are.

[Jon Shanks · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Children's Crusade is a story that spans the Vertigo Comics annuals for 1993 of Black Orchid, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Doom Patrol and Arcana: The Books of Magic by a variety of writers and artists, bookedned by The Children's Crusade #1 & #2 principally written my Neil Gaiman and starring the Dead Boy Detectives from the pages of his Sandman series. The set up is the stuff of classic fairy tale lore, Pied Piper with a dash of Neverland mixed with a bit of history from the time of the crusades. The story then follows the detectives as they follow the clues that tie together a group of powered children which take them through the various titles. There is a reasonable flow to this with time given to back-stories for characters some readers may not be familiar with and flows pretty well despite jumping between different writers and artists most of which is to a pretty high standard (though I wasn't impressed by the art in the Doom Patrol issue) and goes through to a pretty satisfying conclusion. It is a shame that this isn't collected yet (I had to track down the individual comics) but it is a decent read.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fazia tempo que não li um quadrinho que me envolvesse e encantasse tanto. E nos últimos dias, com todo esse desastre na minha cidade e no meu estado, tenho me animado pouco para ler qualquer coisa. Este quadrinho conseguiu me transportar para outo mundo, o de Terra Livre, onde são levadas crianças que foram capturadas em diversos momentos da história, remontando a Cruzada das Crianças e o Flaustista de Hamelin por exemplo. A HQ tem um tom fantástico e de terror ao mesmo tempo, bem ao estilo de Sandman, principalmente por ser capitaneada por Neil Gaiman em seus roteiros. Ela envolve diversos personagens infantis da Vertigo: Os Garotos Detetives Mortos, Tefé, de o Monstro do Pântano, Maxine, de Homem-Animal, Tim Hunter, de Os Livros da Magia, Suzi, de Orquidea Negra e Dorothy, da Patrulha do Destino. Traz também alguns personagens novos como o temível Jack Lebre, um coelho antropomófico bizarro cujos planos são trazer todas as crianças do mundo para Terra Livre e destruir quem sobrou, ou seja, os adultos. Um quadrinho encantador e aterrorizante ao mesmo tempo. Gostei muito.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first time reading a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and I am inclined to stick with his 'regular' books. While the art is good, and the storyline interesting, it was at times confusing as to what was happening. The story seemed to jump around, picking up background stories of several characters, making it hard to follow.

-This is probably just me-
Cause I have only delved into graphic novels very recently, I probably still need to 'learn' how to read and follow one.
Also, many of the characters are from other Vertigo comics, and because the whole comic world is new to me, I don't know much about their backstories or appearances in other comics. It did not enhance the story for me.

I wished I could've given it a 4 or 5-star rating. I mean, this is (mostly) Neil Gaiman!! So I am going to give it 3 stars. Still good, but not droolworthy. *sob*

Review copy supplied by publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a rating and/or review.

[Lindsey Rojem · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't a fan of the story or the artwork.

[OmniBen · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 2.25/5
A protracted, often boring mess that embodies the very worst narrative impulses of Neil Gaiman and the wearisome opener to The Dead Boy Detectives omnibus. I mean talk about starting this off on the wrong foot...
Free Country did however start out promisingly enough, with the opening issue or so being slow, yes, but also being fairly well crafted and executed. This was obviously the best of whatever Gaiman had to offer for this series, because everything that followed was a bloated, banal waste. Going on for far too long and having nothing of any real worth happening whilst it did. I really, REALLY wanted it to be over long before it was. I had to force myself to finish it.
The art, which changed back and forth from page to page, was another massive turn off. Half the time, it's dark and 90's era vibe was solid and suited the story well. This was very awkwardly juxtaposed by the clean, crisp and bright art, which ironically suited the story well, because the story was bad, and so was the art.
There are plenty of good Gaiman stories out there. Go and read one of those instead. That said, there are far too many bad Gaiman stories out there as well for a man of his talent. Don't read those ones. They're bad. 2.25/5


OmniBen.

[Paige · Rating 2 out of 5]

I definitely read this however I have virtually no understanding of what happened. What I did understand was good but I felt like I was missing like half the story

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely too much at once.

[Mohammad Aboomar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started well, then went to the dogs.

[Ernesto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muy chulo, aunque de las tres partes en las que se divide la primera es claramente la mejor. A partir de ahí todo se emborrona un poco porque es un crossover de varias series y, como dice Gaiman en el prólogo, ni la editorial ni quienes se encargaron de escribir habían hecho nunca un crossover. Aún así merece bastante la pena, aunque solo sea por ver a Charles y Edwin (los detectives muertos) en acción.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1993 and 1994, DC's young Vertigo universe had its first (and last) title-wide crossover. It started with a story by Neil Gaiman that told about children disappearing, then it continued through five of Vertigo's annuals, telling how the young powered people of those people were being taken as well, and then it concluded in a second story by Gaiman (and others) that told how it all resolved.

Twenty years later, DC has finally decided to collect this series, but they opted not to include the annuals in the middle. It's an understandable decision, because the annuals were largely focused on the individual stories of those titles. While a complete collection would be a nice sampler of that era's Vertigo, it wouldn't necessarily tell a nice story. In exchange, DC commissioned a new story to set in the middle, to tell a more on-point story of how those powered children were kidnapped to Free Country (and otherwise bridge the two standalone issues).

It was a worthy and thoughtful plan, but unfortunately not one that worked.

The first issue of The Children's Crusade is brilliant. It's like a lost issue of Gaiman's Sandman. It focuses on the Dead Boy Detectives, and is very much their story, interspersed with mysterious histories of how children came to Free Country in days past.

But then we get to the new story in the middle, and it's very dull. The authors just didn't have much to work with, so we get the Dead Boy Detectives wandering about and super kids showing up in Free Country ... but there's no tension, and really no story.

Sadly, the second issue of The Children's Crusade is a bit of a mess too. Instead of being a good bookend, bringing the focus back to the Dead Boy Detectives, it's instead all over the place. It spends as much time on Tim Hunter as anything. Though it has at least one nice surprise and does some good things with some of the super kids brought to Free Country ... it's not a great conclusion to the story that Gaiman started in issue #1 due to its changed focus.

So, I'd contend that the structure of this crossover was flawed from the start. It's neat to see interactions between Black Orchid, The Books of Magic, Animal Man and the Dead Boy Detectives, but the story doesn't pay out. I think it's still worth having if you're a fan of classic Vertigo, but don't expect Sandman or Books of Magic greatness once you're past the first issue.

And I also have to annoyingly ding DC for publishing this as a Hardcover, but not a Deluxe Hardcover, which would have allowed it to match the other hardcover Gaiman books they've done recently.

[strategygamer22 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up on a whim because I like Neil Gaiman and the art style reminded me of The Sandman. What a shock, then, to find that this is a crossover between a bunch of early Image comic characters! A small community faces a tragedy when all their children disappear in one day, leaving no trace or hint as to where they could have gone. A sister of one of the missing children who was out of town when her brother disappeared hires two boys claiming to be detectives (and who just so happen to be ghosts) to find her brother. Their investigations take them further than they ever could have suspected.

I wasn't familiar with many of the characters in the story from other comics except for the two main boys, who were from Sandman: Season of Mists. Their banter is the highlight of the book and is the main thing making this story worth reading. The plot wanders between time periods and dimensions, pulling in history and folk tales to construct an interesting, if convoluted, conspiracy. The supporting characters are memorable, and the villain, while not nearly the surprise the book was going for, was suitably creepy. The artwork was dark and atmospheric (at least in parts 1 and 3). And, this is far more specific than my other praises, there is a sequence near the end of the book taking place in a mirror that truly takes advantage of the graphic novel format.

Unfortunately, despite all the positives, the climax to the story was rushed and confusing. It might have made more sense if I was familiar with the poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning, as it served as the entire explanation of how the villain was defeated. Due to the short length of the book, a lot of the story felt slightly rushed. Part two was written by a completely different team years later to make the story flow better, and the change in art and writers is obvious (not that part 2 is bad by any means, it just doesn't fit very well).

I enjoyed being (re)introduced to the Dead Boy Detectives as well as a host of other creative characters. I just wish that the plot was more coherent and wrapped up clearer. Check it out if you know the comics many of the characters are from (Sandman, Animal Man, Books of Magic, etc.), but if you're not I recommend picking up those comics first.

[Unai · Rating 3 out of 5]

23 Años han pasado desde la publicación de esta historia y desde entonces no ha vuelto a ser tema común el de hacer crossovers en vértigo. Entre sus personajes al menos, otra cosa son casos como Hellblazer o Los Libros de la Magia, donde pueden aparecer gentes del potente mundo mágico de DC. Pero lo que teníamos en esta cruzada de los niños, es a vastagos de personajes Vertigo, mas Tim Hunter usados como nexo de unión de una historia algo loca e interesante, pero no del todo atinada en la forma de ser contada.

En un apacible y apartado pueblo de Inglaterra, un buen día desaparecen todos los niños. No aparecen muertos, ni vivos, simplemente han desaparecido del mundo y aun con el revuelo de lo ocurrido, el suceso va perdiéndose en la niebla colectiva de las noticias. Excepto para una joven de dicho pueblo, que estaba en Londres en el momento del suceso y que se resiste a dar por perdido a su hermano pequeño. Por ello contrata a los detectives muertos Rowland y Paine, en lo que será su gran caso, puede que el único.

El cómic trata de donde van esos niños, de quien los lleva, de los planes que tienen, de las historias intercaladas de los niños de poder que necesitan para llevar a cabo sus planes, siendo estos niños de poder Tim Hunter, la hija de Animal Man, la de La Cosa del del pantano, la driade Suzy y Dorothy Spinner. Ademas tenemos historias intercaladas de hechos históricos y cuentos clásicos que van hilvanando este asunto de que desapariciones de niños a lo largo de la historia.

Como digo, es bastante interesante y con toques notables, pero es muy "hardcore Vertigo" por decirlo de alguna manera y no muy accesible para el lector ocasional. Ademas tiene la pega de que esto de mezclar a tanto autor, tiene sus riesgos y no suele ser tan redondo como un único responsable a la hora de llevar a buen termino historias con cierto nivel de dispersión y enrevesamiento, como es esta. Así que solo os lo recomiendo si conocéis a algunos de los personajes y sois fan del mundo Vertigo de los 90.

[Glennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of 2 old comic issues with a new comic written for this collection to bridge the missing story pieces that were originally mixed in another comic. The Dead Boy Detective comic was a spinoff of minor characters of Gaiman’s Sandman series that became a feature for a crossover event that this collection covers. The story covers the ghosts being hired by the sister of a boy who has gone missing along with every child in their village. She was spared because she was out of town the day it happened. The actual Children’s Crusade is part of the back history of this story and it also blends in the Pied Piper mythos. The overall story was good but the middle part felt a bit weak. I enjoyed it and now I want to track down some of the other comics that the Dead Boy Detectives appeared in.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started out well but really began sputtering out midway through and never found its way back.

The concept is good. The setting is good. A lot of the details are interesting, twists on folklore, children's games, old rhymes, Robert Browning, and the possibly somewhat historic Children's Crusade. On top of that, the two detectives are ghost boys! So it was really hitting all my favorite things, not to mention probable inspiration from J.M. Barrie's Neverland.

After a while, issues stopped connecting well. I had to infer a lot for seemingly no good reason to make an inkling of sense of the plot. Some characters that were made to seem important were just suddenly dropped. You can almost hear the authors scrambling to patch this up.

The saving grace is that the Dead Boy Detectives are consistently amusing.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was very inconsistent. Maybe I'm biased but I loved Neil Gaiman's parts a lot (Tim's dialogue in the last issue were AMAZING. And I love the Rowland/Paine interaction more than I've ever loved anything in my life) but the others were just ok. I don't read any of the other comics, so it was very weird to go right to the middle of a story without any reference. The Animal Man and Swamp Thing bits were easier for the uninitiated, and I did like the characters.
I definitely would like to read more about some of the characters in this particular story though. I hope that if I dig enough I'll find spin offs. I might also add Animal Man to my reading queue.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bizarre, fantastic romp to the Free Country. Disjointed at times, mostly in the middle part, that wasn't written by Neil Gaiman, but it was an intriguing premise that did pull through in the end. The drawing style was rather plain and bland, lacking any specific details to differentiate it. It might've been even better as a novel with a few illustrations here and there.

The Dead Boy Detectives were entertaining, as were Timothy Hunter, Maxine, and Wat.

A very Never Never Land sort of story that doesn't mind delving into the dark, discomfitting side of our world.

[Kimberly [Come Hither Books]]

I received an advance reader copy free from the publisher. This did not make me able to finish it.

Confusing, nonsensical story that manages to be boring too. I restarted a few times, but just couldn't manage to finish reading it on any of those attempts. Did not finish.

[David Schwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A modern version of the tale of the children's crusade. Neil Gaiman is the lead writer and he has created a quite fanciful of a world with only children. There are both dark and light elements of this world. At times it seems there are elements of "Lord of the Flies." The graphics are nice.

[MarinaLawliett · Rating 4 out of 5]

*8*
A pesar de haberme costado algo al principio, me ha encantado!!! El final se me ha hecho algo apresurado pero lo he disfrutado igual ☺️

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suspect I am being generous here. The honest truth is, I didn’t read the collected edition, that’s still on its way to me in the mail, so I haven’t read the additional material yet. I read the original issues, and the original crossovers in the Vertigo annuals, which I know aren’t included in the trade paperback. So a pretty different reading experience. And my rating is for the Neil Gaiman issues only. And is probably inflated because Neil Gaiman is a whole different level of writer than the people who wrote those annuals. Reading his prose was legitimately a relief after suffering through some of the other stuff. Which isn’t entirely fair to those writers, either, because there are a lot of skills that go into comic book writing and I’m reacting entirely here to prose mastery, which, yeah, probably no surprise Gaiman’s got them beat on that.

I suspect there are three reasons why the annuals weren’t included: 1. They would have made the collected edition huge, which would have upped the price point beyond what people would have been willing to pay; 2. They are deeply engaged with whatever storyline was going on in their own books at the time, and for the most part didn’t go to great lengths to acclimate new readers or have any kind of similar tone, so it would have been like reading one of those old Vertigo samplers rather than a cohesive story; 3. They are, for the most part, terrible. And don’t really solve the problem of gaps in the story any better than a single text page saying “So they went and got these special kids...” would do. Even having read these issues all the way through it still feels like Gaiman had to make up for chunks of missing narrative with a text box or two in the second Children’s Crusade issue.

I suppose what they could have done was edited each annual down into a chapter that just dealt with the recruitment of the relevant kid to Free Country, but that seems like a lot of work to get to what probably would still seem like choppy and confusing chapters. I suspect commercially what they were figuring was there were plenty of people who would buy anything with Neil Gaiman writing in it, and lots of others who would do so if it was reasonably priced, but the set of potential buyers would be reduced, not expanded, by adding a bunch of other writers and having to raise the price.

As a side note: I read this as a little detour from reading the rest of the first Animal Man series, after the Grant Morrison and Peter Milligan runs, which I’d read before. I wish I’d just left it at that. The Tom Veitch run just made me angry and Jamie Delano’s run so far is disappointing. So to read a couple issues of a writer who seems fully in control of the effects he wanted to create was refreshing and probably led to a higher rating than this rather slight Gaiman effort deserved.