Vorkosigan comic post
Being a silly person, I finally succombed to temptation and bought this, despite my French being both rusty and not too great to begin with:
That would be the French comic book version of The Warrior's Apprentice - art by one José Maria Beroy - well, the first third of The Warrior's Apprentice, to be precise - 48 pages, stopping right before Miles and his merry band of misfits board the mercenary vessel (which means no Bel nor Tung yet :-( ). The publisher has published other comic book versions of fantasy and science fiction novels, including Robin Hobb's Royal Assassin.
I'm kind of ambivalent about this comic, actually - partly because the art style is balancing on the fine edge between realism and cartoonish and doesn't quite fit my personal taste. More to the point, there's the usual issues when a beloved book is turned into something in a visual medium - that is, things look wrong. Barrayar looks too science-fiction-y (seriously, where's the Barrayar that scandalizes the Betans by burning wood?), Beta Colony looks - well, not nearly scandalous enough. Stuff like that. Minor stuff. General stuff.
Oh, there's specific things that annoy me. Like Gregor having a beard. Like when Mayhew is sworn in by Miles - does that look like someone putting their hands between another's to you?
And I'm sorry, but this doesn't exactly look like I ever imagined Elizabeth Naismith, but maybe that's just me?
Incidentally, she's the only Betan we get to see wearing earrings - and they don't really seem to have any point besides fitting her clothes. It's just the little things like that, you know - annoying things. I mean, how hard would that have been?
The story is edited down a bit - for instance, most of the references to Miles relationship with his grandfather seems to be cut, and Elena's search for her mother (though maybe that's due to the quality of my Frenc, though I don't think so) - and some thing things are moved around a bit. And then there's the scenes that has been - altered a bit. Like the bit where Miles comes down from his crème de meth-high. In the novel, it goes like this:
"His crème de meth just wore off," Mayhew explained. "Drops you in a hurry, doesn't it, kid?"
Miles mumbled, an inarticulate groan. Bothari growled something exasperatedly under his breath about "deserve," picked him up, and slung him unceremoniously over his shoulder.
"Well, at least he'll stop bouncing off the walls, and give us all a break," said Mayhew cheerfully. "I've never seen anybody overrev on that stuff the way he did."
"Oh, was that liquor of yours a stimulant?" asked Elena. "I wondered why he didn't fall asleep."
"Couldn't you tell?" chuckled Mayhew.
"Not really."
Miles twisted his head to take in Elena's upside-down worried face, and smile in weak reassurance. Sparkly black and purple whirlpools clouded his vision.
Mayhew's laughter faded. "My God," he said hollowly, "you mean he's like that all the time?" (end of chapter 7, The Warrior's Apprentice.)
In the comic:
Don't get me wrong, I get that 48 pages worth of comic can't contain every line from about 140 pages worth of book, but still, did they have to cut Mayhew's reaction at the end?
Minor quibbles. More annoying is the general appearance of Miles. He's - well, he's - well, he doesn't really come across as a dwarf or a mutant (except when, once in a rare while, he does). Not to me, anyway. Mostly, when standing next to people, he's about shoulder-height. He just seems - well, kind of short. And that's it, by the way. This Miles is mostly just a short guy - yes, he's wearing leg bracers, but they only appear after he breaks his legs jumping off the climbing wall. And no hunchback or questionable proportions or anything... Art style aside, he doesn't quite look like Miles.
Okay, I need to stop bitching. It's not like it's not a nice graphic novel, even if they have kind of cut a lot in favour of getting to Beta Colony quickly, getting to the action parts. Also, for a French comic, this is downright prudish compared to some I've read. I mean, there's the occasional scene where Miles (bless his hormone-riddled teenage heart) notices Elena's - ahem - charms, and a dream sequence - but still, not a single naked person. I didn't think the French could live without them...
Also, while it definitely isn't what I imagined a Barrayaran military uniform to be, then I am a little bit in love with Aral's uniform, in all it's not-quite-steampunk-ish glory.
And teenage Ivan is actually the person in the comic that looks most - well, true to my imagination - all two pages of him
So, to conclude, maybe not the best adaption you could have hoped for, but bitching aside, I'll probably buy the next album too. I want to see Bel, you know?
That would be the French comic book version of The Warrior's Apprentice - art by one José Maria Beroy - well, the first third of The Warrior's Apprentice, to be precise - 48 pages, stopping right before Miles and his merry band of misfits board the mercenary vessel (which means no Bel nor Tung yet :-( ). The publisher has published other comic book versions of fantasy and science fiction novels, including Robin Hobb's Royal Assassin.
I'm kind of ambivalent about this comic, actually - partly because the art style is balancing on the fine edge between realism and cartoonish and doesn't quite fit my personal taste. More to the point, there's the usual issues when a beloved book is turned into something in a visual medium - that is, things look wrong. Barrayar looks too science-fiction-y (seriously, where's the Barrayar that scandalizes the Betans by burning wood?), Beta Colony looks - well, not nearly scandalous enough. Stuff like that. Minor stuff. General stuff.
Oh, there's specific things that annoy me. Like Gregor having a beard. Like when Mayhew is sworn in by Miles - does that look like someone putting their hands between another's to you?
And I'm sorry, but this doesn't exactly look like I ever imagined Elizabeth Naismith, but maybe that's just me?
Incidentally, she's the only Betan we get to see wearing earrings - and they don't really seem to have any point besides fitting her clothes. It's just the little things like that, you know - annoying things. I mean, how hard would that have been?
The story is edited down a bit - for instance, most of the references to Miles relationship with his grandfather seems to be cut, and Elena's search for her mother (though maybe that's due to the quality of my Frenc, though I don't think so) - and some thing things are moved around a bit. And then there's the scenes that has been - altered a bit. Like the bit where Miles comes down from his crème de meth-high. In the novel, it goes like this:
"His crème de meth just wore off," Mayhew explained. "Drops you in a hurry, doesn't it, kid?"
Miles mumbled, an inarticulate groan. Bothari growled something exasperatedly under his breath about "deserve," picked him up, and slung him unceremoniously over his shoulder.
"Well, at least he'll stop bouncing off the walls, and give us all a break," said Mayhew cheerfully. "I've never seen anybody overrev on that stuff the way he did."
"Oh, was that liquor of yours a stimulant?" asked Elena. "I wondered why he didn't fall asleep."
"Couldn't you tell?" chuckled Mayhew.
"Not really."
Miles twisted his head to take in Elena's upside-down worried face, and smile in weak reassurance. Sparkly black and purple whirlpools clouded his vision.
Mayhew's laughter faded. "My God," he said hollowly, "you mean he's like that all the time?" (end of chapter 7, The Warrior's Apprentice.)
In the comic:
Don't get me wrong, I get that 48 pages worth of comic can't contain every line from about 140 pages worth of book, but still, did they have to cut Mayhew's reaction at the end?
Minor quibbles. More annoying is the general appearance of Miles. He's - well, he's - well, he doesn't really come across as a dwarf or a mutant (except when, once in a rare while, he does). Not to me, anyway. Mostly, when standing next to people, he's about shoulder-height. He just seems - well, kind of short. And that's it, by the way. This Miles is mostly just a short guy - yes, he's wearing leg bracers, but they only appear after he breaks his legs jumping off the climbing wall. And no hunchback or questionable proportions or anything... Art style aside, he doesn't quite look like Miles.
Okay, I need to stop bitching. It's not like it's not a nice graphic novel, even if they have kind of cut a lot in favour of getting to Beta Colony quickly, getting to the action parts. Also, for a French comic, this is downright prudish compared to some I've read. I mean, there's the occasional scene where Miles (bless his hormone-riddled teenage heart) notices Elena's - ahem - charms, and a dream sequence - but still, not a single naked person. I didn't think the French could live without them...
Also, while it definitely isn't what I imagined a Barrayaran military uniform to be, then I am a little bit in love with Aral's uniform, in all it's not-quite-steampunk-ish glory.
And teenage Ivan is actually the person in the comic that looks most - well, true to my imagination - all two pages of him
So, to conclude, maybe not the best adaption you could have hoped for, but bitching aside, I'll probably buy the next album too. I want to see Bel, you know?