Yvaine, the fallen star, from Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' Stardust: Being A Romance Within The Realm of Faerie.
Stardust began as a four-issue serialized short novel written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Charles Vess. Conceived as "a story book with pictures," Stardust was first published in 1997 as a "prestige" format, four-issue comic book mini-series. This means it came out once a month in a square-bound, high-gloss "comics pamphlet" with high-grade color and paper, and no advertisements.
Gaiman and Vess originally intended the story to be released complete, as a single book with 175 beautifully painted illustrations by Vess. The "storybook" was released in this format in 1998 as both a hardback and a trade paperback titled Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' Stardust: Being A Romance Within The Realm of Faerie. The hardback edition is quarter-bound in faux leather with the authors' names, title and several stars inlaid in foil. It also has reproductions of the comic book covers and many sketches by Vess. The trade paperback has a different cover design and illustrations by Vess, and has subsequently been reprinted with another different cover design.
In May, DC Comics reissued Stardust in an oversized edition with new cover art and sketchbook material from both Vess and Gaiman.
Stardust Trivia
Some of the characters in the book Stardust did not make it into the film, while others were created specifically for the movie.
? One of the characters left on the "cutting room floor" is a large tree with red leaves that talks. The character was based on singer/songwriter (and Gaiman's friend) Tori Amos. She references this in the song "Horses" on her 1996 album Boys For Pele: "And if there is a way to find you I will find you/but will you find me if Neil makes me a tree?"
? Characters created or embellished to help move the story along in the film version include: Captain Shakespeare (played by Robert DeNiro), a pirate captain whose flying ship captures lightning bolts to sell; and Ferdy the Fence (British comedian Ricky Gervais), a less-than-scrupulous occult salesman who draws the wrath of the sorceress Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer).
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What does the future hold for Charles Vess? It's written in the stars ...
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