The classics drawn again

Resurrection of comic-book line off to good start

Terry England | The New Mexican

1/27/2008 - 1/27/08

THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

By Kenneth Grahame; adapted by Michel Pessix

Papercutz
130 pages, $13.95
Growing up in the latter half of the 20th century meant you were surrounded by comic books. By the 1950s and '60s, the medium had become well-enough established from its birth in the '30s that they were ubiquitous, even if they were frowned upon by adults in general.

Except perhaps for the Classics Illustrated series. They were still comics, but at least they had a lofty goal: To bring "literature" to young minds by capturing them with drawings. It worked occasionally; to this day, few renderings in movies or comics of the Martian war machines beat the Classics Illustrated version for War of the Worlds. And we were urged to read the original book once we'd finished the comic version. How successful that was is open to question. (It was a long time between the comic War of the Worlds and the reading of the novel.)

Various attempts have been made to revive the line, but not all have been successful. With the explosion of comic books and graphic novels, that seems odd.

Papercutz is giving it the latest try. The publisher operates out of New York and specializes in illustrated stories. One of their projects was graphic-novel-like versions of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. They were "manga-ized," that is, drawn is the style of the popular Japanese comics.

Papercutz's version of the Classics Illustrated books will draw upon various artists and styles to tell their stories, but the first in the series, The Wind in the Willows, is done in a clean and detailed style that's easy on the eyes. That is, you can see the art and read the words without trouble.

Actually, Michael Plessix, the artist, did a wonderful job with Kenneth Grahame's beloved story. The art has a whimsical style that fits a tale of anthropormorphized animals perfectly. If the humans in the story look like cartoony caricatures, well, so what? (Except the jailer's daughter who helps Toad escape from prison; she looks fairly real and fair to boot, someone to get a toadish heart a'thumpin'.)

Along with Toad, Mole, Rat, Otter and Badger come to visual life, resembling the English country gentlemen they represent in Grahame's tale. Toad Hall sit imperiously on the hill, filled with the odd items a rich lord's hall should be filled with. The autos of Toad's infatuation are detailed and real — no rubbery wheels, no impossible bending of metal car frames as they go around corners.

And the woods and rivers of the tale's setting are done in loving detail by Plessix. The Wind in the Willows is an elegy to a country life at the turn of the 20th century: "A breeze sprung up, making the poplars shiver and shimmer like a downpour of fine pieces of gold ... it danced through the lilies and wild roses still covered in light dew ... and blew lightly in the faces of our friends, giving them the last gift of the friend: forgetfulness."

That "friend" is a forest god, large and mysterious, wondrous and awe-inspiring under Plessix's able pen.

This version of The Wind in the Willows is the first of the "Deluxe" Papercutz series. If it's an example of what we can expect — and the covers of the upcoming books suggest this will be so — then the series will be well worth bringing back. The news release accompanying the review copy reminds us that 2008 is the 100th anniversary of The Wind in the Willows. A century later, the story still weaves its magical spell. The book does urge the reader to read the original book; but I don't know ... maybe that won't be necessary.


England is the Books page editor.