As you'll know from my various musings on French comic creatives on ReadItDaddy, you'll know I'm completely in love with everything the French do when it comes to comics and Penelope Bagieu, Eisner-nominated creative powerhouse is no exception.
Here she's done something that no one could have seen coming. She's managed to out-Dahl Roald Dahl with a superb graphic novel adaptation of one of Dahl's "Darkest" children's stories, the fabulous "The Witches"
It begins mired in tragedy, as Dahl performs the usual middle-grade "Rule" of dispensing with a boy's parents, in order for him to assume his role as the central character. Looked after by his cheroot-smoking (and slightly ineffective) Grandma, our hero wonders what life will be like without his mum and dad. Quite eventful, as it turns out, as the boy has a near miss with a sinister woman and her pet snake, and jumps into action when Grandma falls ill, summoning the doctor in the nick of time.
When Grandma is prescribed a restful holiday by the sea, the adventure is far from over. The two check in to a grand hotel for a bit of R & R and as the boy plays with his new pet mice, he can't possibly imagine that some of the other guests are sinister child-hating witches who have gathered together to put an end to the UK's child population once and for all.
Their grand plan is to buy up all the sweetshops in the country, unleashing a secret formula on child-kind that will turn them all into mice. Thereafter, nature should take its course and see the child-vermin wiped out for good! The Grand High Witch is ready to ensure her plan goes without a hitch. Will the boy and his grandma and a new-found friend upset the witch's applecart?
Penelope expertly illustrates and re-plots each scene from the book beautifully, cramming her drawings with tons of detail and character, not falling into the trap of rendering anything that looks like the Anjelica-Huston-Starring movie, but establishing a comic world par excellence thanks to her brilliant artwork and style.
For those who don't know the story at all, you're in for a treat - suffice to say that the graphic novel version dispenses with the rather sickly sweet ending the film version had. It remains to be seen whether the upcoming big budget movie adaptation coming next year will do the same (my guess: Nah, not a hope!)
Penelope has made this story brilliant again and I really must get off my butt and get on with my French studies so I can read some of her other awesome work (the stuff that has yet to be translated at least).
If your kids are into darker stories and love Dahl and the Witches already, this is a brilliant version and a worthy addition to any kid's blossoming comic / graphic novel collection.
"The Witches: The Graphic Novel" by Roald Dahl and Penelope Bagieu is out on 3rd September 2020, published by Scholastic (kindly supplied for review).
Comments
Post a Comment