The Last Temptation graphic novel

'The Last Temptation' graphic novel
Marvel / Dynamite, 1994 / 2014

'The Last Temptation' graphic novel was issued by Dynamite in 2014, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the printing of the original comic book trilogy by Marvel. It's a nice hardbound volume, printed on good quality slick paper with crisp, high-res reproductions.

The series is recolored, which in my opinion is an improvement over the original color scheme and demonstrates how much color printing technology has advanced since 1994.

original (top) and recolored (bottom) pages

Also in the graphic novel are some specially commissioned new illustrations by artist Michael Zulli, an essay and some correspondence by writer Neil Gaiman, his complete script for the series, and a representative collection of some of Zulli's original pencils.

In his essay, Gaiman describes how the project came about. He initially was recruited by Alice to provide input for a concept album, which was released in July 1994 as 'The Last Temptation'. Gaiman isn't sure who first proposed doing a comic series in conjunction with the album, but Alice was agreeable, and thus the release of issue 1 in May of that year.

Without disclosing spoilers, 'Temptation' is set in suburbia, and features as its protagonist a boy named Steven. One evening in October Steven and his friends come across a mysterious alley, and within the alley, a Showman (Cooper) who offers them seats to see a show in a nearby theatre. Only Steven is brave enough to take the Showman up on his offer. This in turn leads the Showman to haunt Steven with disturbing illusions and nightmares designed to coerce him into succumbing to........the Last Temptation.

As Gaiman makes clear in his essay about the project, he was not seeking to emulate the ornate style of his writing for the Vertigo title Sandman. Rather, 'Temptation' was intended from the start to be a straightforward narrative, one designed for an audience from Young Adults on up to Adults, and is devoid of explicit horror or violence. 

But what makes 'The Last Temptation' work is not Gaiman's script, but the art of Michael Zulli. A lot of comic book art from the early 1990s was highly stylized and slapdash, but Zulli's pencils for this trilogy show attention to detail, and deliberation in their composition. Zulli's portrayal of Alice makes the character menacing without venturing into caricature or parody:

The verdict ? Those with a fondness for the mythology of Alice Cooper, a fondness for the better comic books of the early 1990s, and for Ray Bradbury-ish horror / supernatural stories likely will want a copy of this hardcover, 30th anniversary edition of 'The Last Temptation'. Used copies in good condition can be had for reasonable prices from your usual online retailers.