by Stevenson, Klimowski and Schejbal
Published by Self Made Hero.
I’m not going to fully review this one, as Joe’s already covered it so well in his review earlier this week. But I just wanted to add my praise to this one.
Adaptations can go a few ways, either being too literal and coming off a little flat and lifeless, or doing it right and transposing the essence of the source onto the comic page. Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde is one of those rare examples of an adaptation really getting it spot on and the co-adapters of the work, Klimowski and Schejbal succeed in bringing the real horror and tension of the original onto the page.
Of all of the Gothic classics, Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde is the one that stayed with me most when I first read them. It was all about the language that Stevenson used and the magnificent way that he used that language within what is effectively little more than a novella to construct a genuinely disturbing story exploring the darkest of human conditions. Most modern retellings of Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde tend to ignore the subtleties and very human horrors of the original, preferring to simply present it as just another saintly man vs evil monster tale. But Klimowski & Schejbal’s adaptation thankfully remains true to the original and despite having to lose a goodly portion of the dialogue and by necessity condensing the plot to fit the confines of the 121 pages of this graphic novel it still manages to convey all of the darkness and subdued horror of the original.
The art in the adaptation is split between the two artists, with Klimowski illustrating the first half, where the mystery is investigated and reported by the lawyer, Utterson and Klimowski handling the second half, chronicling the torment and slide into desperation of Jeckyll as he realises what a dire mistake he’s made. This artistic split is unusual, but, as with everything else here, it works beautifully.
(Schejbal’s art from Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde. That crooked smile in the bottom panel of Dr. Jeckyll perfectly distills the essence of the story for me; Jeckyll’s complete complicity in the darkness of Mr Hyde.)
Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde is published by Self Made Hero; a relatively new publisher whose lines at present consist of the Manga Shakespeare series and their Eye Classics series of classic literature adaptations. I’ve only seen a couple of the books as yet, but the quality and high production values of the books really marks them out as one to watch.
Sun, Apr 12, 2009
Propaganda, Reviews