Customer Reviews

Beowulf

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Super-hero stories are probably as old as spoken language. Hinds has done an outstanding job of reaching out of our own Super-Hero-In-Tights (S-H-I-nevermind) idiom, and bringing a classic hero to new life.

Like so many myths, Beowulf includes elements of historical fact, such as the death of lord Hygelac. The story goes far beyond the mere historical, though. It describes the monster Grendel and his attacks on the halls of peaceful and prosperous king Hrothgar. Right from the start, this lets Hinds apply visual techniques that owe equally to the Bayeux Tapestry and to the Alien movie. Then, as heroic Beowulf braces himself for fighting the monster, Hinds makes the most of the visual medium. Over twenty pages pass without a single written word, mute but hardly silent as Beowulf and Grendel grapple throughout the hall. Hinds allows himself some modern imagery during this fight, without stooping to buckets of red ink. In the end, the subdued palette shows Grendel's defeat as vividly as more explicit gore would have.

That's just the first 1/3 of this book. Hinds's strong, painterly style also brings to life Beowulf's fight against Grendel's mother, a bloated troll with flapping dugs, and his triumph over the dragon.

Comic art and storytelling has been getting better and broader in recent years, allowing work like Hinds's to get to the audience it deserves. This work won't change the face of comic art, but it's distinctive, it's done well, and it carries the narration strongly. I recommend this to any comic fan who wants a diffferent look at an old tale.

-- wiredweird

King Hrothgar of Denmark could not spend the night in his great hall of Heorot, for anyone who did was certain to die at the hands of the Grendel, a monster of great power and cunning. But, hope is not lost, for a mighty man has come to rid Hrothgar of his bane - Beowulf, a valiant chieftain from the land of the Geats (in southern Sweden). This is the story of Beowulf's adventures, his battles, and his trials.

Beowulf is one of the foundational classics of Western literature, having first been written down in the early Middle Ages, perhaps as early as the eighth century. It is set in the late fifth and early sixth centuries, and is a marvelously exciting tale.

This book is a graphic novel retelling of Beowulf, and I must say that I think that Gareth Hinds did an excellent job. His use of stark colors does an excellent job of presenting the horror of the encounters giving the reader an idea of what it must have been like to hear the story as they were first told around the fire so long ago. Overall, I found this to be a fascinating read, and a great retelling of the old story.

Now, I must agree that the subject matter of this book is not for children, and the images of bloody battle and death are quite stark. So, you should bear that in mind if you are thinking of buying this book for a younger or more sensitive reader. But, if you are buying it for someone who likes horror and monsters and great heroes then this is the book to buy!

I read the text version of Beowulf once in high-school, and once in college. And never was it as exciting as Mr. Hinds' graphic novel. The author has collected the most important aspects of this epic adventure tale and illustrated them with such life and detail, that the story is now vividly etched in my mind. His rendition of Grendel's assault on the meade hall is easily one of my favorite moments in literary history.

I was also surprised by the author's fidelity to the original text. Many of the descriptive passages are directly from the original, and the books are preceeded by a glossary. But even more importantly, the author remains true to the themes and tones of the orginal tale, while still managing to make this a thrilling narrative that moves with cinematic fluidity.

The books are also great as pieces of art. Each one seems to be rendered in a different medium to better express the stages of Beowulf's life. And the illustrations are to die for, offering incredible action, style and human emotion. This is art. This is what more comic-book/graphic novel work should be like.

I have ordered the author's King Lear and am excited to see how Mr. Hinds tackles Willy S. I can only hope that classics like Don Quixote and The Count of Monte Cristo will also someday be on his list.

Beowulf, the poem, is over 3000 lines long. The graphic novel version probably has a couple of hundred. This gives the reader a sense of the tone of the original, but cannot approach its majesty. That said, the images that tell the tale of heroic Beowulf and his conquest of his monstrous enemies are very well rendered. The focus is on scenes of battle and violence, with black-red blood splattered over many pages. There are horrific decapitations, severed limbs and gnawed flesh galore, and many pages in which battles, ably depicted and fascinating, occur with no words and little sound. The monsters, especially the flesh-eating Grendel, are drawn in frightful detail, with Aliens-like fangs, slashing nails and obsenely-muscular arms and legs. The monsters are depicted without clothing (naturally enough) with trailing wisps of hair to shield the genitals. They are the epitome of mindless natural evil -- indomitable, unforgiving and ferocious -- and requiring a hero equal to their strength and brutality for their obliteration.

Unmediated, Beowulf (the poem) may be daunting for many readers. This edition is no substitute for the original, but can serves as its ornament, providing context and images that might otherwise be difficult to conjure up.

Gareth hinds brings the classic Norse legend of Beowulf to life. With his poetic wording and fine stylistic color paintings the action and feeling leap off the page and into your imagination. And best of all it follows the original storyline unlike some Beowulf renditions I could name. Also doesn't include to much of the Christian nonsense the Catholic monks added when they copied the text.

This graphic novel is a pretty close adaptation of the events of Beowulf. It follows the traditional format and starts not in the middle of the action, but with backstory about Scyld Sheafson, an ancient king of the Danes. The art style is very grim and straightforward, but the artistic choices sometimes change for a page, like the picture of Scyld's funeral barge, which has a deep blue ink background with wisps of ghostly figures etched into it, or the page that lists several of Denmark's kings and depicts them in a medieval woodcut.

Grendel's interpretation is interesting. With his mouthful of spiky teeth, yellow reptilian eyes, and hideously muscled platinum-colored frame, he looks slightly like Colossus from the X-Men with the face of a deranged clown. There's no pitying this version of Grendel--he's pure evil in corporeal form. This version notably refrains from saying why he's attacking Heorot; it's just something that he does, and when he barges in, sprays of black blood soon fill the mead hall's tan and brown interior.

This version also knows when to keep dialogue and when to cut it. We skip Beowulf's explanatory talk with the Danish coast guard, and just have the doorkeeper announce him. The dialogue has no quotes, just big squares of text situated near whoever's talking, which is good because Beowulf needs its speeches, and it would be hard to reduce the language to comic book style one-liners and soundbites. This graphic novel also makes use of silence in the scenes, and I like that it seldom tries to introduce sound effects--the actions stand alone, and are so impressive they don't need the embellishment. Beowulf himself is similarly understated. He doesn't see the need to talk either during the fight or afterward, when he's holding Grendel's wrenched-off arm.

In Chapter 2 (the book is sectioned off according to the three monster battles), Grendel's mother comes calling for revenge. Now, Beowulf has to go into enemy territory and fight another chilling monster, but this time underwater. The way Beowulf looks while rising from the water after the fight is almost as terrifying as any of the monsters. Once Beowulf has defeated all the Danes' monsters, he goes home to the Geats and brings gifts to honor his king, Hygelac. At no point do you get much of a sense of Beowulf as a person, but you never do in any other rendering of this epic, either. He's there to do battle, and when he's not battling, he's pretty well-behaved, and he rules his kingdom well, though we don't see him do it.

Chapter 3 introduces the gold-hoarding dragon, who is serpent-like and doesn't have any limbs, just small wings. The pages relating to the dragon's story are all in shades of gray, possibly to indicate that this is near the close of Beowulf's life. The end is coming, both for the hero and the story. The dragon is a level up enemy-wise, because instead of facing him with bare hands, Beowulf takes his sword and shield along. The book ends on this unbelievable image: the text block says that the Geats build a funeral vault for Beowulf and fill it with treasure, trusting that no one would ever dare to disturb a barrow in honor of so great a king. The illustration, however, shows a wide gray ocean and a cliff with a smashed vault that has clearly been raided, so the visuals reinforce the original downer ending.

This book seems like an excellent supplementary resource for learning Beowulf, and it shows great respect for the source material.

Written and illustrated by Gareth Hinds, this is a faithful re-telling of the Beowulf story, breaking the classic anonymous tale down into three books: 1) Beowulf battles Grendel; 2) B. battles Grendel's mother; and 3) B. battles the Dragon. Some of the drawings are amazing: lush and colorful and brimming with movement and substance. Others seem a bit rushed or underdrawn, which makes the novel on a whole a bit inconsistent and disappointing. Having read the Seamus Heaney translation (but having not seen the Zemeckis-directed movie) I enjoyed revisiting this tale and becoming immersed in another land, another time.

Something interesting: In the "Acknowledgments" section at the back of the book, Hinds thanks his "numerous martial arts mentors and instructors." Then, further down, he dedicates "this book with my apologies to those people in my life who have suffered through my insensitivity -- particularly those whom, when I was younger, I physically bullied or picked on." Wow, heavy stuff. And who knew comic book artists could kick anyone's asses? Hardcore, this Gareth Hinds guy is.

This is a portion of translations of Beowulf accompanied by art done in the comic book veign. I thought the art captured the feel of Beowulf very well. I actually went out of my to buy a hardcover edition of this after already having the trade paperback a few years back.

Being a high school English teacher, and one who teaches British Literature, I'm always looking for alternative ways that literature is presented. Beowulf is one of my favorites; and as I was searching for a graphic novel version (and there were many to choose from), I was impressed by the description and sample pages of this one. Once I got it, I was impressed even more. I felt that I had made the best choice when we chose a new anthology for class this year and sample pages from this graphic novel were included. It is vibrant in color and line and--for the most part--stays true to the story.

[note: this is a review of the poem generally, not this particular translation]

Beowulf is one of those Medieval works of literature that many have heard about but few have read. However, it's worth reading, if only to experience a story so different from modern sensibilities. The poem extols Beowulf's physical courage and bravery against monsters and dragons. It's an odd mix of early Christian and warrior ethos. Beowulf is not a modern hero. There's not much to recommend him to modern readers - he's boastful, relies on brawn not brains, and his search for glory ends up putting his kingdom at risk. Still, it's fascinating to read this type of story and realize how far away it is from our own times.

Because this is a translation of an Anglo-Saxon poem, it's worth saying a word about the text itself. It's readable, but isn't smooth reading for the uninitiated. I'd say this - if you don't like reading English-language poetry, you probably won't enjoy reading this poem. If you do make the effort, I'd recommend really making the effort. Go slow and make sure you understand the story. Don't skip over a few lines thinking they're not as relevant.