Neil Gaiman said that he would write more stories of Shadow's adventures. I'm hoping quite a lot that at least one of these appear as a short graphic novel. I'm really curious to know what he would look like in a comic. Who else thinks so?

I actually imagined Shadow with a Hellboy-type structure. He looks human, but with a large, tough darkness to him, like Hellboy.

I`d love to see an AG graphic novel - take a hell of an artist tho.... I don`t think the characters would be how we`d imagine them - after all, people have different idea of what characters look like.

i imagine him to be bald with this really buff body. much like vin diesel. with the same voice. yeah...

he can't be bald, because 'he always has hopes in haircuts'.

and he's supposed to be very handsome. maybe like a very tall and much more muscular johnny depp or orlando bloom or one of those 'beauties'.

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i imagine him to be bald with this really buff body. much like vin diesel. with the same voice. yeah...

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he can't be bald, because 'he always has hopes in haircuts'

You're both right, as that's about what Neil thought. From his blog:

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When my son Mike read the manuscript he told me he thought Shadow reminded him of Vin Deisel, and I said Who's he?, and he said Oh Dad and shook his head sadly at my age and ignorance. So I checked, and thought, yup, Shadow's him but with more hair.

Personally, when I look at Van Diesel, I'm reminded of an overgrown baboon with a shave. I don't imagine the Rock as a good shadow either, but he'll be better that Diesel (in my opinion).

Yes! I would love to see a graphic novel of American Gods! Then maybe Gaiman can follow it up with the post-AG adventures of Shadow.

Personally, I dont like Vin Diesel. He's terrible. Wouldn't like to see a graphic novel of AG or sequel to that if Shadow'd look like Diesel with more hair, therefore.

Here is a sketch I did, of how I imagine Shadow and Wednesday to look. I am bad at drawing but I tried to convey my mental image in a quick scribble. I would love it if there were talented artists on this forum who could show us their own ideas.

I always felt that Shadow was meant to be very insubstantial, nondescript, a bit of an everyman - that for that reason the character of Shadow would only work in writing, not any other medium.

I agree with Mal, sort of. Even if I was a great sketch artist I wouldn't be able to pin down what I imagine. Good sketch from Mutate tho

I imagine him looking like Nathan Explosion from Metalocalypse, but not as angry.

I totally agree with Mal. Also because most of the book was written from his point of view, so I imagined I was looking out through his eyes, and didn't see what he looked like. For this reason I wouldn't want to see a graphic novel with him in it. For the record I mostly imagined Shadow to look sort of like the musician Tim Commerford, but not exactly:



And Wednesday to look like Tom Cruise in Collateral.

Wednesday as Cruise in Collateral is not something I'd thought of but definitely fits really well. For some reason I'd thought of him as James Caan, but I guess that doesn't make too much sense. Maybe somewhere between the two.

As for Shadow, I'd say definitely no on Diesel or the Rock. Just... no. I guess I agree that Shadow is a bit too nondescript a character to really pinpoint an appearance.

Yeah, James Caan I could sort of picture as Wednesday. It wasn't the description of him, but his role in the story, which is similar to Cruise's character's role in Collateral.

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Originally posted by Black Wings:
And Wednesday to look like Tom Cruise in Collateral.

But bigger, older, more scarred and with one less eye.

In fact, a comic book Wednesday would probably look quite a lot like Odin All Father in Sandman.

Same guy, different universe.

James Caan in FLESH AND BONE (?) was a lot like Wednesday in AG. Really, I think Jon Voigt is more the actor I'd envision for the character. A smooth older man who obviously was very handsome when young but has grown even more charming with the loss of his youthful looks.

As far as the comics go, I think Shadow falls between Matt Wagner's MAGE and Mignola's HELLBOY. The connection to Mage is pretty obvious and if he started encountering other demigods (or even the werewolf hitman in Gaiman's other "monster as hero" story) then the stories would start to feel very similar. However, what I really like about the world of AG is that if anyone else encountered these creatures, the "gods", then it would be a pretty straitforward horror story. They are monsters similar to the nightwatchers in Peter Straub's GHOST STORY. The only reason the mythic "heroes" like Shadow can face them is that, like Hellboy's dilemma, they are monstrous too.

Would love to see a John Bolton version of MONARCH OF THE GLEN.