''The Book of Lost Souls'' was an American

dark fantasy Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dr ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...

J. Michael Straczynski Joseph Michael Straczynski (; born July 17, 1954) is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series ''Babylon 5'' ( ...

with art by

Colleen Doran Colleen Doran is an American writer-artist and cartoonist. She illustrated hundreds of comics, graphic novels, books and magazines, including the autobiographical graphic novel of Marvel Comics editor and writer Stan Lee entitled ''Amazing Fant ...

and published under the

Icon Comics Icon Comics is an imprint of Marvel Comics for creator-owned titles, designed to keep select "A-list" creators producing for Marvel rather than seeing them take creator-owned work to other publishers. History It was launched in 2004 with Micha ...

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

, owned by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

. The comic follows Jonathan, a man who lived over a century ago who was transported to the 21st century during an attempted suicide. His new life involves

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

mysteries and enigmatic characters such as a talking cat named ''Mystery'' and the ''Dark Man'', whose plans for Jonathan are unclear. Jonathan is given the power to "save" the Lost, those individuals who have lost all hope in their lives. The Dark Man may be God or the Devil, and it is, as yet, unclear which one he may be. An individual the Dark Man wants saved may be working for either, depending on anyone's point of view.

Story arcs

Introductions All Around

Issue One: Jonathan meets Mystery and the Dark Man. Before jumping off a bridge a man gives him a book, the first three lines are: Jonathan writes his name and "All love is unrequited. Haven't you heard?". Mystery tells him to leave the last line blank for now. Jonathan and Mystery start looking for "The lost".

Dragons in the Dishwater

Issue Two: Jonathan and Mystery help a housewife named Mary who is lost in

daydream Daydreaming is the stream of consciousness that detaches from current, external tasks when attention drifts to a more personal and internal direction. This phenomenon is common in people's daily life shown by a large-scale study in which partici ...

s: she is a princess and her abusive husband is a dragon. After she finds out that he is having an extramarital affair, Jonathan says that she has one of two choices: let the dragon (the husband) kill her, or kill the dragon (the husband) herself. Jonathan then gives the wife a gun. She confronts her husband but chooses not to kill him, but manages in the sparing of his life, to save herself by losing her fear of him.

The Insufficiency of Rain

Issue Three: Jonathan encounters a homeless artist whose boyfriend, Lee died of a

drug overdose A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended.

. After his death she makes a Fresco of him on an alley wall. Jonathan and Mystery help her find hope and love in the memory of Lee, and also help her to say good bye to the man she loved.

No Way out

Issue Four to Five: Jonathan meets with the Dark Man who says a Mob hitman named Quint is his. After Quint kills the wrong man in a hit, he asks a man with no eyes who knows Mystery for a new life. Jonathan, Mystery, Quint and his hostage, Theo, travel onto The Endless Road towards Quint's new life and new identity. On the road however Jonathan decides not to save Quint, as the Dark Man ordered. The souls of the people Quint previously killed eventually attack Quint, leading him to take his own life on The Road. Jonathan is punished by the Dark Man when he returns to the Dark Man's realm, and emerges announcing that he and the Dark Man are now at war, and forever shall be.

The Mystery Of

Issue Six: Mystery tells a young woman his life story. This story introduces Raphael, a "man" looking for forgiveness that will never come.

Trade paperback

* ''Book of Lost Souls'' Vol. I (collects #1-6; )

References

External links

*
The Book of Lost Souls
' at The Grand Comics Database *

' {{DEFAULTSORT:Book of Lost Souls 2005 comics debuts Comics by J. Michael Straczynski Icon Comics titles Dark fantasy comics Gothic comics Marvel Comics limited series Marvel Comics magical objects