Modern reworking of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
The lovely Steve Niles has an instant fan for life, as much for his books as for being just a generally awesome kind of guy.
When I accompanied Jonathan and Josh to the Baltimore Comic-Con, I had the pleasure of eating breakfast with ericstevensen (did I do that right?), Robert Kirkman and Steve Niles… and those pesky Luna Brothers, all of Image Comics. Jonathan and Josh refer to Steve Niles as the George Clooney of comics – find a picture of him and you’ll see why.
Anyway, I went by Niles’s table at the con after breakfast and asked if I could look through his books, telling him that I had something of his on my Amazon wish list, but I couldn’t remember what – because I was interested in so many of his books. I eventually determined it must have been his adaptation of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, even though all of Niles’s books look so good. He snatched up the book, signed it and handed it to me. What a doll. As I said, a fan for life.
A gift from the magnanimous Steve Niles
I read Wake the Dead, his reworking of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, on the airplane with Jonathan on the way to L.A. a couple of weeks ago, and it was lovely. I don’t know who this “Chee” person is – and maybe this reveals what I newbie I am to comics – but the art was beautiful. What amazed me was that this modern retelling of the story matched the original almost beat by beat without feeling at all diluted. Frequently, an adaptation of an original story will only make sense if you are already familiar with the original story, and of course I am quite familiar with the original Frankenstein, but there didn’t seem to be anything terribly cryptic about this version. All that said, I don’t want to give away the details of the modern story, because that’s half the fun of reading it.
Anyway, what am I reading now? While vampires may have been slightly more appropriate for last month, I am trying to finish New Moon before the movie comes out… meaning I have just begun the book today. Sigh. I’m excited to read it, but I’m going to miss reading a new comic book every couple of days.
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