Welcome to Exhibit A Press!

Sonovawitch! Introduction

by Neil Gaiman

Several Introductory Remarks
The funniest legal fictions ever created1 are A. P Herbert’s Misleading Cases. I found the two volumes of fictitious suits and torts2 as a small boy and, reading Herbert’s strange court cases, which established, amongst other things, whether or not slugs were wild animals and whether the law of the road or the law of the sea applied on a flooded road, I felt a mighty yearning to become a barrister3, to wear a wig and gown4, to address a fusty and doddering Judge as "Me lud." I felt the lure of the law. I knew, instinctively, that of all the fictions mankind has come up with, the law was the funniest, the strangest, and the weirdest.

So, aged about 14, I volunteered for paralegal work, and a local legal body, more fool they, took me up on it. It only took a couple of days of gathering papers (on, if memory serves, and I’m sure it does, the SOLAS Convention 5) for me to decide that if, as Mr Bumble had suggested, the law was an ass6, the primary function of that ass was not that of entertaining 14-year-old boys. It was not, I reluctantly admitted to myself as I threw in the towel, funny. And that was the end of my infatuation with The Law.

Or it was for many years, at any rate. As I grew older, I learned to think of the law as a wearisome expensive thing, a sour-faced, mean-spirited crap shoot of a game. With one shining exception, a volume of which you are holding in your hand.

Opening Argument
Batton Lash’s delicious Wolff and Byrd tales—Supernatural Law—are the second funniest legal fictions ever created. On the other hand they are the finest funny supernatural fictions ever created, and (as you will see as the tales in this book unfold) one of the best legal soap operas out there.

Mr Lash’s7 primary genius is in creating people one cares about and making the humour comes second to the people. His secondary genius is in larding his confections with rare delights, gags and moments you’ll only notice on the second or third reading. There are puns aplenty, in-jokes (it doesn’t matter if you don’t know who the Friends of Lulu8 are, though, nor need you have heard of Northampton cartoonist Jill deRais and her deconstructive strip cartoon Maxwell the Magic Cat.9 It’s still funny—it’s pretty much always funny). There are artistic tributes galore here, moments to take pleasure in (the first few Ditkoesque10 pages of the Mavis chapter are a particular delight) but again, they all come in second. The most important thing is the story and the people (and monsters) who people (and monster) it.

Summing Up: Some Frequently Asked Questions
I am a lawyer. Will I find Sonovawitch! funny?
Many lawyers have quite finely developed senses of humor, at least until it comes to the matter of their fees.

I am a monster. Will I find Sonovawitch! funny?
While many monsters do find it difficult to laugh at themselves, they can, along with the rest of the human race, and many lawyers, find enormous and hearty amusement in the suffering of others.

I am a general reader of books who knows nothing of comics and frankly I find the whole thing pretty suspicious. Will I find Sonovawitch! funny?
You read comics left to right, from up to down. Other than that, you’re on your own.

And yes, it’s funny.

Neil Gaiman
June 2000

1 After the thing about corporations really being people who never die.
2 Nothing to do with clothing or cakes.
3 An English lawyer who can plead in court. Although these days solicitors can plead in courts too.
4 It’s an English thing, like flagellation and rhubarb crumble.
5 It’s short for Safety of Lives At Sea. See? You’re actually learning things from these footnotes.
6 A donkey. Mr Bumble was not swearing, although nobody would have blamed him if he had.
7 When I’m chatting to him I call him Bat.
8 It’s an organization to help promote the standing and work of women in the field of comics.
9 Nope. You’re on your own. These aren’t really helpful footnotes. These are the other kind.
10 In re: Ditko v. The Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth. 722 MBRE. Misc. 2D139.