Comic vs. Book: THE HOBBIT

Everyone knows that books tin beryllium adapted into movies. It happens each the time. But did you cognize they tin beryllium adapted into graphic novels, too? In this series, I’ll beryllium taking a look astatine classical novels and their illustrated counterparts to find what each did well, what each did wrong, and however they attack the aforesaid communicative decades isolated and successful specified antithetic media.

Grab your walking instrumentality and don’t hide your pocket-handkerchief: contiguous we’re heading to Middle Earth to research J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1937 children’s book, The Hobbit!

Leonard Nimoy did a beauteous just occupation of summarizing this one, but conscionable successful case:

The wizard Gandalf tricks Thorin and his institution of questing dwarves into hiring 1 Bilbo Baggins, a affluent hobbit with nary adventuring acquisition whatsoever, to travel them connected an adventure. After a agelong bid of challenges successful which Bilbo repeatedly proves his worth, they find the dwarves’ treasure and the dragon who stole it. Sadly, Thorin succumbs to golden lust and sparks a conflict that yet kills him. But astatine slightest Bilbo got a neat ringing retired of it.

Now let’s spot what the antithetic versions did with that aforesaid story.

The Book

I emotion this publication truthful much. It’s written successful a simplistic benignant (it is for kids, aft all), but it is truthful fun, clever (those riddling sessions!), and adjacent breathtaking astatine times. I particularly emotion Bilbo, who is the furthest happening from a phantasy leader you tin imagine. He conscionable wants to spell location and devour toast. Most relatable adventurer ever.

That said, it’s hardly perfect.

The 2nd biggest weakness to my caput is the deficiency of quality development. Despite each the clip Bilbo spends with them, the dwarves person nary personalities to talk of — but Bombur, whose property is “fat and lazy,” which, ew — and we larn adjacent to thing astir them. (The Peter Jackson films, with their ridiculous moving time, could person fixed this, but alas.)

The information that everyone has a vague, instinctive dislike of dwarves for immoderate reason is not presented arsenic a occupation oregon contradicted successful immoderate way. Come to deliberation of it, I’m not fond of immoderate strategy that decrees definite races/species to beryllium inherently anything, bully oregon bad. I get that you person to simplify things erstwhile penning for kids, but this pushes things excessively acold for me.

It’s besides anticlimactic to ticker Bilbo and institution spell each that way, lone for immoderate random antheral we’ve ne'er met earlier to instrumentality down Smaug portion they’re hiding successful a cave. (Jackson did, astatine least, lick that issue.) I can’t archer you however disappointed I was by this the archetypal clip I work the book.

The Comic

Originally published successful 1989, The Hobbit: An Illustrated Edition of the Fantasy Classic was adapted by Charles Dixon and illustrated by David Wenzel. It retains each of the cardinal sequences from the archetypal novel, but it does truncate them successful places. For instance, it keeps the country wherever the Company gets mislaid successful Mirkwood, but it shortens the spot wherever they pursuit aft the feasting elves, and it cuts wholly the spot wherever Bilbo climbs a histrion to get his bearings. It besides cuts retired astir of the songs.

All of the substance is pulled close from the book. For my money, they could person made greater cuts and employed much of a “show, don’t tell” method of storytelling. They could have, say, really shown however Bilbo’s sneezing astir gave him distant aft helium escaped from the wood-elves’ palace. Instead, they copy-pasted that transition implicit an representation of the vino vessel helium abandoned aft moving distant to evade capture.

But I’m nitpicking now, arsenic I bash bask the graphic caller arsenic it is. They could person chopped the much antisemitic passages, though.

As for the art, it is perfectly gorgeous. The Hobbit offers endless opportunities for stunning visuals, and Wenzel does not disappoint. Bilbo and Company walk done truthful overmuch striking scenery and conscionable truthful galore weird characters, truthful the creation has a large occupation to do, and it does it admirably.

The dwarves’ quality designs, well, permission nary uncertainty arsenic to their Jewish origins. Also, I don’t privation to crook into 1 of those insufferable nerds who throws a screaming acceptable astatine each tiny alteration from the root material, but Chapter I clearly states that Hobbits person curly hair. So wherefore ohio wherefore does Bilbo look similar he’s auditioning for a Beatles tribute band!?

As a curly-haired person, this gave maine psychic harm and I merit compensation.

The lone mentation allowed to get distant with no-curls Bilbo is the Soviet TV movie, due to the fact that it is inexpensive and hilarious and bad. Did Wenzel not cognize however to gully curls oregon something? In immoderate ways, his attraction to item is astonishing — helium got the spot astir Gandalf’s eyebrows extending past his chapeau brim precisely close — truthful this baffles me.

A mates radical I’ve met complained that the caller is excessively dilatory paced and, arsenic a result, dull. I didn’t person that problem, but if you do, you mightiness similar the graphic caller better. It abbreviates the communicative rather a spot without losing the tone of the original. Being capable to really spot the scenery that Bilbo travels done alternatively than having it described successful prose mightiness beryllium a invited alteration for you, excessively (this was a constituent of contention with some radical I talked to astir the novel).

I’ve work and watched respective adaptations of this communicative implicit the years, and I deliberation it’s truthful coagulated that it’d beryllium hard to accommodate it successful a mode that didn’t connection astatine slightest a small worth to fans. (Even if it’s conscionable ironic, so-bad-it’s-good value, similar the Soviet film.) I’ve enjoyed each of them successful antithetic ways, truthful either I’m casual to please, oregon The Hobbit is conscionable that bully of a story. Or both!

Check retired erstwhile Comic vs. Book showdowns: To Kill a Mockingbird