One of my all-time favourite authors, Robert Louis Stevenson, is to get the graphic novel treatment according to the Herald, with no less a pair of talents than Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy adapting RLS’ classic Kidnapped. Waverley Books are planning to release the graphic novel adaptation sometime next spring as part of the ongoing Unesco City of Literature celebrations in Stevenson’s home city of Edinburgh – of course we will bring you more when we hear about it. Alan commented:
“Hopefully the fact it’s an illustrated version is going to get younger readers to pick it up, as that’s really what our brief is. If Stevenson had been alive now I like to think he would have been writing Batman stories because he had exactly the right kind of mind for it.”
Given RLS’ penchant for the psychological mixed with adventure I suspect he is right – the man who created Jekyll and Hyde would probably fit Batman perfectly.
A friend once described Kidnapped as ‘probably the finest Boy’s Own adventure ever written in any century’ and I think his brief review of it is pretty accurate: it is a rollicking adventure. By curious coincidence I came across this story just the day after passing by the inn on the River Forth where David Balfour is forcibly taken away in the book and I’m writing this post right across from where Stevenson studied and right round the corner from one of his favourite pubs where he would go to avoid those studies (students, eh??). Books and real life intersect more than some people think.
So probably fair to say I am a little biased here, loving RLS and also being a fan of Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy (check out the recent Judge Dredd: the Art of Kenny Who? For some brilliant cod-Scottish tales which are hilarious yet still make serious points about events like the Clearances), but at the end of the day Kidnapped is a tale still read by millions around the world every year, so I’m obviously not alone. And if a graphic novel version also serves to help entice more boys into reading as well, surely that’s no bad thing either?
Mon, Jul 17, 2006
Books, News