The first volume of a 3-part comic book adaptation of the classic hero saga. The mighty warrior Beowulf travels from his home to the great mead-hall of Hrothgar, king of the Danes, to face the marauding swamp-fiend Grendel, who is terrorizing Hrothgars kingdom and slaying his people. Beowulf and Grendel meet unarmed in the night-darkened hall, to battle to the death.
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Review
"Book 1 of Gareth Hinds Beowulf trilogy opens with a glossary of terms that are used in the comic, but that readers will not by and large find in colloquial use. Thanes, Scyldings and Werers, while not part of the vernacular, are very much at the core of this story, a graphical rendering of the Beowulf legend taken from the Harvard Classics translation. Hinds has done a phenomenal job of expressing the sinister aura of the text, and refining what is essentially one of the greatest sagas of the Dark Ages into a very exciting, very atmospheric comic. Hinds does a wonderful job of fusing offbeat visual effects into the story flow: astronomical charts stand in for the night sky , the agonized cries from hand-to-hand combat appear as floating scrolls in the sky, and decapitations at Grendels hand are depicted as running ink smears. All nice touches in service of what is a very visceral visual narrative." -- Jim Wentzel, Indy Magazine
About the Author
Gareth Hinds is some sort of artist, but what sort is anybody's guess. He lives in Boston, where he rides around on the subway and draws people without their permission. The rest of the time, he makes comics and computer games.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent synthesis of classic epic and modern comicbooks,
This review is from: Beowulf: With Grimmest Gripe (Paperback)
I'm already a fan of the Beowulf legend, but for the unitiated, these comics are a great way to be introduced to the Indo-European epic tradition, and to the Beowulf legend in particular. There are no word balloons here, and few onomatopoeic words like "crack" and "boom" (though there are a few well-place exceptions). The comicbook uses text directly from the poem, using the Gummere translation, which is freely available on the Internet, but while the Gummere trans. serves its purpose, I would recommend that any curious reader try Seamus Heaney's new version). The art is beautiful and the comics themselves well-made; and the story stays quite faithful to the poem. In summation, I would say that this comicbook would make a great addition to any Beowulf collection.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Comic Book Version,
By "disneychick" (Main Street, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Beowulf: With Grimmest Gripe (Paperback)
Beowulf has served as the inspiration for many comic books and graphic novels, including the 1970s DC series (with Beowulf as a pagan warrior filled with rage) and the 1980s graphic novel by Jerry Bingham. This version, by Gareth Hinds, is a good example of how the Beowulf poem can be effectively translated into a visual medium. It is one of a three-part series, and each of the series of beautifully rendered. Hinds uses the Francis Gummere translation, in part because it is poetic and in part--I suspect--because it is part of public domain. But his use of Gummere's translation is not merely supplemented by the visuals because his illustrations are as important to the translation as anything else. The visuals are absolutely important to his version of Beowulf.Especially impressive is how Hinds lets his illustrations convey both the action and some of the underlying themes in Beowulf. For instance, the battle with Grendel is "told" by the illustration, without Gummere's translation. One of the most prevalent themes, wyrd (fate) of the Old English poem, is subtly presented throughout this comic book series by the use of constellations in the backgrounds. It is this kind of attention to detail--using both the poem and the artistic medium--that really makes Hinds' work stand out. This series is recommended to anyone interested in contemporary versions of Beowulf in popular culture (I would even go so far to call this a translation in a certain sense) or for those who enjoy graphic novels.
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