Marvel Illustrated: The Man In The Iron Mask
July 11, 2007 by Elijah
One last Dumas-related post before I move on to something else (or don’t and keep writing about Dumas).
I was buying comic books this afternoon (Wednesday is always new comics day, for those who don’t know) and ran across a graphic adaptation of Dumas’ The Man In the Iron Mask. I’d known for awhile that Marvel Comics were planning to bring back Classics Illustrated, and this was part of that. I actually didn’t end up buying it though, at least not yet.
Despite the uber-modern cover art, the inside (which I flipped through) seemed fairly old-fashioned (a Roy Thomas writing credit didn’t hurt) and so I wonder if this is even some sort of a reprint of an older Classics Illustrated sort of a thing. Either way, I’m hesitant to buy it because the story of the book on which it’s based is so incredibly complex that I really can’t imagine it being shortened to a six issue miniseries. I can tell you with utmost certainty that every time it’s been filmed it’s been turned into a very different story. (Not that that’s necessarily a complaint… although this version is terrible, despite a great cast.)
Part of me wants to get it and see if it’s any good, and part of me is scared that it’ll be more along the lines of the anime version of Count of Monte Cristo (which started promisingly and then spiraled into utter shit) than anything else. So if anyone’s actually read it, can recommend, or knows whether or not it’s even new or a reprint, by all means let me know. Perhaps I should just get everything Dumas-related, but that seems a bit much, even for me.
Hi there. I know that these aren’t reprints. I was at the comic shop today myself, and just happened to look at Marvels’ Treasure Island, and it looked pretty decent. Might make the move before the weekends out and make this an additional purchase.
Lew Newmark
http://www.fln50.com
Dang, if I could find those magazines I used to look that kind of stuff up in, I’d check into the reprint question. Whose art?
The art is Hugo Petrus, who I’ve never heard of. I guess I just assumed “reprint” because I had no idea that Roy Thomas was writing anything anymore.
I may eventually have to break down and buy the damn thing.
Ha ha, I love your “swashbuckling” tag.
I haven’t seen any Classics Illustrated, but I like the idea. I bet the interest some people in reading the classics they’re based on.
The most important tag of all.
Your link to “this version” goes back to a Man In The Iron Mask film.
I enoyed the Guy Pearce/Jim Cavaziel Count and thought that, although it was very different from the book, they made some good decisions when they adapted the tale to film. The only thing that really bothered me was the climactic fight at the end: Pearce and Cavaziel are both so petite and skinny that it was like watching the battle of a couple of two-legged spiders.
I hated the French mini-series with Depardieu. I assumed because French and because mini-series it would be better than the recent American film. Boy was that a mistake!