Open Critique Day #8 / Mini review: The Hobbit

Good morning! It's Sunday, and that means Open Critique Day.

Show us your artwork in the comments section below. I will offer my opinion on everything that gets posted during the day.

Please note that the forum rules apply here. That means no nudity, no profanity, no copyrighted characters or characters from copyrighted settings.

So, I just watched The Hobbit.

This one.

Yeah, I'm a bit late to the party, I guess, but I was waiting until I could see it on dvd with a good friend of mine.

I liked it. It was very much what I expected.

But I'm not really here to talk about the movie, half a year after its release. See, I was reminded of the 1989-1990 comic book adaptation by Chuck Dixon and David T. Wenzel.

This one.

Dixon has condensed the plot expertly to 133 pages over three issues. Nothing feels left out, but nothing feels rushed either. The transition from novel to comic works incredibly well, arguably better than for the movie, and it makes me a bit surprised how these sorts of adaptations are so rare.

Thorin has come to ride barrels and kick *ss. And he's seriously sick of barrels.

Wenzel's art is just beautiful. His previous work mostly consisted of children's book illustrations, and his soft colours and generally friendly style fits the narrative well, while also providing a nice contrast to elements like Gollum, the goblins and the spiders, who all look genuinely creepy.

Yep.

And not to spoil anything, things do get suitably epic towards the climax.

I highly recommend this book if you're a Tolkien- or a fantasy fan, if you're looking for a present for a child (gotta get them hooked on fantasy while they're young, you know) or if you're just looking for a pleasant bit of reading.