HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES Brief Encounters Of The Third Kind
released OUT NOW! Publisher dark Horse Comics Writers/Artists Fábio Moon, Gabriel Bá
First published in 2006 collection Fragile Things, the charm of Neil Gaiman’s short story is how it moves from the ordinary to the extraordinary. And there’s little more ordinary than Croydon in the 1970s.
This original graphic novel by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá expertly captures the wistful lyricism of Gaiman’s prose. Keeping exposition to a minimum, they allow pictures and dialogue to mostly tell the tale while keeping the best bits of first-person narration.
It begins with the painfully shy Enn searching out a party and stumbling upon a house full of mysterious female exchange students. He gradually comes out of his shell, before it becomes evident that the “girls” might be from another planet.
It starts out as a warmhearted kitchen sink drama, and Bá and Moon’s vibrant cartooning is perfect for the more down-to-earth moments; then they really cut loose for some vividly-coloured, Jack Kirby-esque cosmic scenes. Gaiman’s story is also currently being turned into a movie, but the filmmakers will be hard-pressed to come up with anything as good as this masterful adaptation. Stephen Jewell
John Cameron Mitchell is directing the film. The cast includes Elle Fanning, Ruth Wilson and Nicole Kidman.