Andrzej Klimowski

The Master and Margarita is one of my favorite books, so I was delighted when I saw that there was a graphic novelization. Until, that is, I read it. To be honest I was concerned when I picked up this slender volume and saw that it was the ONLY volume. How were they going to fit all the symbolism and madcapness and the novel within the novel and all the blessed side characters in this?

Answer: not so much. This adaptation is SO condensed that many of my favorite aspects are entirely missing. Here, Behemoth never speaks, Margarita asks only for the return of The Master, all of the satire of Stalinist Russia is gone, and in the end it all but declares that the entire thing was The Master's dream.

That said. For all of its truncatedness, some scenes replicated were surprising in their entirety — most of the Pontius Pilate stuff, Woland's appearance at Patriarch's Pond. The show at the theater. But I don't understand why these things when others were skipped, and in general this adaptation lost the sense of giddiness I so love about the book.… (mehr)

4P. This graphic adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde is a real find. The stark black and white illustrations reveal the horror of Dr. Jekyll's creation: his evil "twin", Mr. Hyde. They also chart the decline of a man of genteel society to, literally, a monster.

This adaptation is completely unsympathetic to Dr. Jekyll and to his "solution"; a view of the character which I consider appropriate given the self-serving nature of his "experiments" and Jekyll's initial lack of remorse for his deeds as Hyde: murder and human devastation. Jekyll's end is inevitable, and it is what he deserves.… (mehr)