You Died: An Anthology of the Afterlife

An impressive anthology, no clunkers across 24 stand-alone stories offering a wide variety in tone, illustration style, and overall aesthetic. The stories also approach their narratives in a diverse manner, ranging from fantastic to scientific, from somber to almost twee. I enjoyed reading each one, and the quality convinced me to seek out other Iron Circus anthologies. Of particular interest are the Cautionary Fables & Fairytales series, and two thematic anthologies: one on horror (The Sleep of Reason) and another perhaps on faerie weird (Tim'rous Beastie).

Some recurring themes became evident across unrelated chapters, seemingly written without knowledge of one another: memory (on the part of the living, and also that of the dead); show more ways of moving on after the death of a loved one; teasing out the choices wound up in death, however minor or unrecognised these choices might seem.

Favourite contributions: "Ghost Friend" (heartwarming characters); "Inanna's Descent to the Underworld" (mythological); "What Eats Us" and "Peat, Bone, Oak" (grossly informative).

I almost missed the clever spot colour on the cover, until turning out the light after a reading session in bed and the art transformed before my eyes. show less

To paraphrase: god, I hope you’re ready for a book about DEATH!

Despite the heavy subject matter, I often found myself smiling and laughing as an assortment of three dozen comic creators walk us through their visions of death and dying, grief and mourning, life and the afterlife in mostly fictional stories.

Standouts include "Inanna's Descent to the Underworld" by Ahueonao, an adaptation of Mesopotamian mythology, and "Funeral in Foam" by Casey Gilly and Raina Telgemeier, a delightfully macabre reminiscence that turns the spreading of cremains into a celebration of life and love. The rest of the stories actually keep to a fairly high standard too, with only one or two clunkers in the bunch.

The diversity of characters and creators seems show more pretty good, with a lot of female and LGBTQ+ representation. show less

This is a series of short stories in graphic novel format about death and the afterlife. Some of the stories are funny and some are not. There is a bit of everything in here. The cover will grab someone's attention, but I might have rearranged the stories a bit and put a better one up front. One of my favorites is about the gods and the underworld.

Anthologies are always uneven and always introduce me to some great folks to look for later. In this case
Holley Adkins
M.Cat.Waite and Shay beagle