Greetings Shadow Chasers and Dust Makers.
Philip Pullman once said that stories often begin for him not with a theme, "but with a picture." In this regard, he is similar to C.S. Lewis, who frequently dreamt of lions and had had an image of a faun carrying a parcel in the snow long before he'd written about Narnia. As for Pullman, his young life was transformed when he moved to Australia as a boy and discovered the likes of Superman, Batman, and lots of other comics.
The possibility of telling stories with both words and pictures so inspired him he has since grown up to write his own graphic novels. I have recently read both Spring-Heeled Jack as well as The Adventures of John Blake, and can certainly recommend both. In the end, it is probably only natural that His Dark Materials is formally being adapted into graphic novels, with The Subtle Knife being published last month.
As Pullman has frequently stated, he is okay with multiple adaptions and interpretations of his works across different mediums because - after all - the original books will always still be waiting patiently on the shelf. With that in mind, I rather enjoyed seeing His Dark Materials in a new format, though as always it can be a bit of a hit or miss. And your Jordan Scholar here is always going to want the absolute best and most faithful versions of the novel possible, so standards can be quite high.
(On a side note, until this year I've never delved into or explored manga or anime at all, but after seeing what manga has done with other literary classics and what anime cane do visually with things like Demon Slayer, I have to admit, I am fascinated by what a full-on, long format manga/anime version of HDM would be like)
As for these graphic novels, I admit I've only taken the time to read The Golden Compass in its entirety, but I have given The Subtle Knife a thorough scan, so this review will probably suffice for both. I should add while Stephanie Melchior provided the text and writing on each, the artists were changed between books, with Clement Oubrerie drawing TGC, while Thomas Gilbert worked on TSK. Both are quite stylized, though I have to admit I prefer Oubrerie's illustrations, which is to say they line up more directly with my imagining of the world. It will be interesting to see if they change up artists again with The Amber Spyglass.
Speaking of stylized, I suppose we can begin by a word on the art work itself. Obviously one of the first things to focus on inevitably becomes character design, as the characters are such an indelible part of the story.
Lyra is pretty passable as a comic character, albeit a bit generic looking. Her interactions with Pantalamion are much like in the books, but sometimes daemons get a little too self-conscious about being daemons. Lord Asriel does a fair job commanding the page with his appearance, somewhere between a turn-of-the-century scholar and an adventurer. And the Jordan Scholars look much as one would think Jordan Scholars would. Mrs. Coulter perhaps trends on the prim and proper side rather than the glamorous, though she and the Golden Monkey can be pretty striking in certain panels.
Of course, some character designs can be simply off, and I'm looking at you, Farder Coram. Yes, the man is aged in TGC, but he is drawn more like his withered self in The Secret Commonwealth than here. He honestly seems a little Gollum to me in his strange appearance, which is rather unfortunate as I am very fond of his character. As for the armored bears, Iorek is drawn as big and powerful, though at times he is a little too anthropomorphic. For instance, he is sometimes depicted as walking upright, much like with some early illustrations of Aslan in Narnia. Though I will say no blood was spared during his brutal fight with Iofur, as the panels were not shy with the color red.
Much like the book, the graphic novel is divided up into three parts, from Oxford to Bolvangar to Svalbard. For the most part, I did enjoy the look and aesthetics of Lyra's world here, as it was tinged with just enough of an "alternate" vibe that made it look more magical than say, the HBO series. Love the series or no, there was precious little in the original season that read very alien or even exotic.
When it comes to the visuals, I will also say the illustrator sometimes does take full advantage of the graphic medium to provide some interesting angles on the story. Perhaps it could have used more big splash pages, as it does sometimes feel crammed with small panels. Granted, there was a lot of text to deal with, so maybe that's understandable.
Still, I really appreciated the more imaginative uses of the format. For example, there is a great illustration of Lord Asriel's legendary duel with Mr. Coulter as recorded in the Oxford Gazette, a plot point conveyed by fictional newspaper -
Other standouts include visual depictions of Asriel's exploits as conveyed in the tall tales of Lyra to some gyptians aboard ship, which were quite charming -
As well as a young Farder Coram encountering his eventual lover for the first time, thus giving form to what was formerly only second hand accounts -
My favorite series of images from TGC in the graphic novel are two expansive, dream-like pages of Lyra having a surreal conversation with Serafina Pekkala while on Lee Scorseby's balloon. It boasts some really dazzling night-time imagery, as Lyra figuratively falls under the witch's spell while talking to her, walking about the sky and the balloon, caught in a twilight between waking and sleeping. It really captures some of the poetic feel of Pullman's prose -
The last standout has to be the images at the very end, where Lyra and Pan stand before the opening to another world which Asriel has carved out of the northern lights, the splash panel evocative of a new vastness or potential erupting in the story itself -
Inevitably, there were some liberties taken with the text, including additions as well as subtractions There were new scenes added, such as John Faa physically fighting another gyptian who disagreed with him at the Roping. Not to mention other little discrepancies, like Tony Makarios' name being changed to Tim Makarios for some reason.
But by the end, I was genuinely surprised by how faithful to the original novel it was. As noted, it really was packed with dialogue, albeit sometimes slightly altered. Overall, it is definitely worth adding to your own Jordan Library, as the two books look nice together on the shelf. I have some doubts about the different character designs in TSK, but I will give it a chance too.
TGC can be ordered here, and TSK here, and I'll leave off with a few great images that initially caught my eye from the latter, such as when Will first cuts a window and exits into Cittagazze -
Or Lord Asriel's Paradise Lost-inspired fortress -
And perhaps most of all Mary Malone's interaction with the rebel angels -
I hope all of you have enjoyed this review
And as Always
Stay Dusty My Friends
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#BuildingTheRepublic #PullmanStudies #JordanScholarship
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