From School Library Journal
Grade 5 Up–Designed to bring the classic television series to a new generation, these graphic novels are adaptations of scripts from original episodes. In
Wish, a washed-up prizefighter, is trying to make a comeback. When a young neighbor watches him going down in defeat, he wishes for a different outcome. Bolie finds himself the victor, but with memories of being down for the count. Henry tells Bolie about his wish, and the magic of belief that made it a reality. Bolie, unfortunately, cannot accept Henry's faith in him, or, ultimately, in himself, and he finds himself back in the ring, down and defeated. Lie's art fits the darkness of the subject matter, with muted, rather muddy colors. The illustrations are fairly original, only vaguely resembling the actors who played the original roles. In
Martian, two state troopers investigate a call about a downed UFO. They locate the vehicle and follow the tracks in the snow to Haley's Diner, where they find the passengers of a bus and the diner's owner. The troopers question the people and finally have to confess that they are looking for an alien. Tension builds and suspicion flares among the people, the electricity goes out, and the jukebox intermittently plays. The troopers and bus leave, none the wiser about the alien. However, the ending has a typical
Twilight Zone twist that will surprise readers. Ellis's illustrations are a bit closer to the original look of the episode as broadcast. The dialogue balloons follow the scripts well, condensing the stories without diluting them. Introductions, afterwords, and production notes from the original televised episodes are included.
–Suanne Roush, Osceola High School, Seminole, FL Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
About the Author
ROD SERLING (creator) has won the most Emmy awards for dramatic writing in the history of television. He wrote over seventy-five episodes of the Twilight Zone series, for which he won three of his Emmys. He was also the show’s host and narrator.
MARK KNEECE (adaptor) has written stories for numerous comics, including Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. He helped found the sequential art department at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and teaches comics writing as a professor of sequential art. He lives in Savannah, Georgia.
CHRIS LIE (illustrator, The Big Tall Wish) has worked with several comic publishers on properties such as GI Joe, Transformers, Return to Labyrinth, and Dungeons and Dragons. He also illustrated Deaths-Head Revisited. He lives in Jakarta, Indonesia.
