Comments on: Agatha Christie Comics

By: Vee

Vee — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 11:34:19 +0000

interesting article, thanks

By: Agatha Christie PC games fan

Agatha Christie PC games fan — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:14:59 +0000

I can’t see the point of doing comic adaptations? Adapting novels to TV or film already loses some of the character depth developed in a book. Reducing a novel even further into a comic doesn’t make sense to me?

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 13:02:52 +0000

I think the tension created by the possibility of action is going to be much more present in a hard boiled comic, though.

Your point about heritage comics is a very good one – there are a few artists who could do a good Christie adaptation but I doubt they’re going to hire one.

By: Pete Baran

Pete Baran — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:49:13 +0000

I’m not sure I agree with you about the need for ACTION in comics (though it is something that comics can do very well). And there are a lot of good “talkie” comics out there, punctuated by the odd bit of breathless excitement (murder, investigation can involve this – though I agree that the drawing room scenes are not ideal denouements). What comics can do is illustrate the process, show us the crime scenes replete with the evidence. (CSI comics do this exceptionally well.)

As such Poirot is a poor lead to pick as his little grey cells method is fiendishly obscure to the reader. I think the key point is this issue of adaptation, and semi-redundancy. Is there a comic crossover audience for Christie, or could there be. There is an aspect of serial fiction (which comics does exceptionally well) to Christies recurring characters, but the actual audiences seem too disparate. This being “heritage” comics means the art choices will be competent rather than interesting, and the script will equally remain “faithful”. I have read some terrific hard boiled comics which are just as talky and static but they had the advantage of innovative art and stylistic writing. The death here I’d imagine is in the adaptation, not necessarily the form

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:30:54 +0000

Yes it’s not impossible but much more difficult than on film, where the nuances of reaction and emotion can come across very well, and where good direction can add a lot of drama to a static scene.

Of course good artists can do these things too! But the skills needed are a lot rarer for whatever reason – I think probably it’s harder.

By: Kat

Kat — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:18:47 +0000

I suppose adapting a novel for a comic is just as fraught with difficult as adapting a novel for telly – turning dialogue/monologue into a visual depiction. Though it must be far more difficult for an artist to capture the tension of a verbally dramatic scene statically than a director to film it, it’s surely not impossible? I can’t judge this particular Agathexample obv as I have read neither her nor many comic adaptations.