I read this back in 2008 and while I fell in love with it (I'll explain why in a moment,) I didn't pay attention to the author.
Years and a growing admiration for Mr. Gaiman later I come across this story again.
As I swipe right to turn the pages on my tablet I fell in love with this story once more.
The story follows Nicholas Fury and Stephen Strange, the head of intelligence and court magician respectively to Queen Elizabeth the 1st.
Now, while both of these characters might not surprise you, there are other characters that feature in this story. Matt Murdoch, better known as the Daredevil, Peter Parquagh and Carlos Javier and his band of Witchbreed.
The story focuses on a treasure being brought back from the Crusades in Jerusalem and people are trying to find it. There's also a sense that the timeline is out of whack and they need to find the cause.
Now, I'm not usually one for what if stories as that's my entire process as a writer. It literally starts with, "What if?" So when I usually see things like this, I question the point of their general existence.
However, (and I'm not saying this because I love Gaiman's work,) I found it incredibly immersive story wise, the characters are likeable (Try and not like Matt Murdoch, I dare you,) and seeing the true nature of characters is fascinating to look at.
One of the reveals in this left me going, "huh, well that's a thing," in a scenario that people would normally try to play up. But no, it's done with respect and tact and they move on from that.
I feel as though in some instances I remove myself from the story as it gets to be too dialogue heavy and I want to focus on the artwork.
The artwork drags your eyeballs further into the world as the pieces add another dimension to the old school atmosphere of the comic.
Overall, this piece by Gaiman and his crew is excellent, but at times I wished it weren't so dialogue heavy. I found this incredibly disconnecting.
So I'm going to give this four and a half stars.
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