The Book of Lost Souls was an American comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 series

Book series

A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publisher....

 published under the Icon Comics

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:...

 imprint

Imprint

In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...

, owned by Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

. It was written by J. Michael Straczynski

J. Michael Straczynski

Joseph Michael Straczynski , known professionally as J. Michael Straczynski and informally as Joe Straczynski or JMS, is an American writer and television producer. He works in films, television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. He is a playwright, a former journalist,...

 and pencilled by Colleen Doran

Colleen Doran

Colleen Doran is an American writer/artist, film conceptual artist, and cartoonist. She has illustrated hundreds of comics, graphic novels, books and magazines, and dozens of stories and articles, including works written by Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Anne Rice, J...

.

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

The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...

 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 your point of view.

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:

"You name:"

"The words that brought you here:"

"The words that will release you:"

Jonathan writes his name and "All love is unrequited. Haven't you heard?". Mystery said 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

Daydream

A daydream is a visionary fantasy, especially one of happy, pleasant thoughts, hopes or ambitions, imagined as coming to pass, and experienced while awake. There are many types of daydreams, and there is no consistent definition amongst psychologists. The general public also uses the term for a...

s: she is a princess and her husband is a dragon. After she found out that he had an extramarital affair, Jonathan said 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 went to see her husband but chooses not to kill him, but manages in the sparing of his life, to save herself by ridding her fear of him.

The Insufficiency of Rain

Issue Three: Jonathan encounters a homeless artist whose boyfriend named Lee died of a drug overdose

Drug overdose

The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced...

. 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 the 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 Quints new life, hidden with a new identity. On the road however Jonathan decides not to save Quint, as the Dark Man ordered. The souls of those 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 him and the Dark Man are now at war, and forever shall be.

The Mystery Of

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

External links

• The Book of Lost Souls at The Grand Comics Database
• Worlds of JMS The Book of Lost Souls Page