Maze Comic Book Review - Neverwhere

July 28, 2022

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (2007) AMZN

from Vertigo, 221 Pages

by MIKE CAREY (Author), GLENN FABRY (Author), Glenn Fabry (Illustrator, Artist)

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (2007) comic cover

This is a comic book version of Neil Gaiman’s novel. I must say that having read this fantasy story that deals with so many colorful characters and interesting places, it makes for a perfect comic adaption. Sure, we can get into the age old discussion of how the book is better than the movie or vice versa, but in this case the illustrations of the world (Neverwhere, or London below) and it’s people make up for any narrative that is lost from the book. After all, taking 400 written pages down to 221 and adding pictures you are bound to lose some of the story.

As far as that story goes, well it is a wonderful quest story that takes place between the London Above that we all know and love (do we all love it?- I’m a big fan) and a magical city called Neverwhere that is below London. The main characters are Door, who can open all types of doors to anywhere, and from London above, Richard Mayhew who I can best describe as a completely ordinary guy. And then, one day, his life will never be the same. And we get a quest that includes needing to navigate a maze to reach their final destination. But as is the case in many mazes/labyrinths it is guarded by a beast, which may or may not be a minotaur ? What do you think ? Whatever it is, this is not something I would want to meet.

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (2007) Minotaur beast

This is an excellent story. Read it. 8.5/10 !

This story was also made into a television mini-series in 1996 that received ok reviews (7.2 on IMDB) split into six 30 minute episodes. I think it would be a perfect story for an update in the age of streaming. You can currently find the entire series streaming on YouTube. Here is episode 1 to get you started.

Other blog posts you might like:

The 12 Best Maze and Labyrinth Movies Of All Time

How to make over 40 types of maze

Maze of the Week #29 - Thread City Crossing Maze

July 18, 2022

Maze #29 features the Thread City Crossing in Willimantic, Connecticut. While some bridges can be boring, and most are, but this particular bridge connecting highways 32 and 66 features 4 bronze statues of frogs sitting on spools of thread. And you are probably thinking, huh ? Why on earth is there a frog on a spool of thread? Well it has to do with The Great Bullfrog Battle and a local cotton mill. Read the story on this atlas obscura page.

And if you want to go long form just on the frog battle, this Wikipedia entry works.

Who wants to watch some drone footage of the bridge ?

Let’s start with a photo of one of the bridge statues:

Thread City Crossing Frog — By Grendelkhan - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54220926

The maze:

Thread City Crossing Frog Maze — Thread City Crossing Maze

I hope you enjoy the maze. It has a permanent home where you can download the maze and solution !

Coming next week:

A Sign Maze

Maze of the Week #27 Lincoln Memorial Maze

July 4, 2022

Maze of the week #8 was a maze of Abraham Lincoln from the Lincoln Memorial for President’s Day. Today we return to the Lincoln Memorial to celebrate Independence Day (Happy Birthday to the USA !) with Maze of the Week #27. This is a large scale maze and is best printed on the largest piece of paper you can find. I used a draw and cut construction.

Some information about the Lincoln Memorial

Read the link above or you can check out this 7 minute video about the Lincoln Memorial.

A photo:

Let’s take a look at the building before looking at the maze.

Lincoln Memorial — Photo by **Sachith Ravishka Kodikara** from **Pexels**

The Maze:

You will need to print this maze to solve it, and preferably on large paper (tabloid or poster size). Most of the maze is solved moving between the large marble stones.

I hope you enjoy the maze. Download is available in it’s permanent home here.

Coming next week:

A sign maze.

Maze Prints for Sale: Decorate Your Home with Mazes

June 30, 2022

I recently wrote a blog about How to Make Maze Art in 6 “Easy” Steps. Yes the easy was and is in quotes. I gave many examples from my own library of items that I believe qualify as maze art. Today I want to take you around the internet and show you some examples of maze prints that are for sale.

Each piece is linked to on external sites so when you click on the link you will have the opportunity to buy some very cool pieces ! Now, I will mention that most of these pieces do NOT have a solvable maze….

Art Maze by Kris Ardrey, Labyrinth Wall Decor

From Etsy. A print available in 2 sizes (A1 and A2). Artwork that looks like a maze. Really cool use of empty spaces to give the maze more interest.

Animal Alphabet Maze Letters for Full Name Wall Art Print

From Etsy. Mazes of animal themed letters that can be combined to spell words on a children’s wall. Available in 3 sizes. By Jujydesign. Each letter IS a solvable maze ! Everyone loves to have their name made into a maze !!

Labyrinthian Metropolis - cityscape art print

From Etsy. From TimStokesArt. A really cool print of a cityscape where the roadways and walkways are all a large maze. Great concept that is well executed. It would be very difficult for someone to see this on the wall and not check it out. Available in 3 sizes.

Brutalist Maze Art Print

Spore Maze Art Print

Available on Society6 from maze artist Sean C Jackson. Available in 5 sizes. I suggest checking out his entire store which includes multiple versions of maze prints. These are wonderful, solvable mazes appropriate for all ages. He also has branded books (Star Wars and Marvel for example) you can purchase thru links on his website.