No, I'm not talking about Charles Burns' award winning series, although that's also good. I'm talking about the Whitman (Western Publishing) adaptation of the 1979 Disney movie. I am of the generation that was too young to truly spot the difference in quality between
Star Wars,
Battlestar Gallactica and
The Black Hole. I had a Black Hole beach towel,a few of the action figures and various coloring books etc... I haven't seen the movie in nearly 30 year and I can't say that much of it has resonated with me, but when I had the change to pick up the adaptation for $1 per issue recently, I simply could not say no. I realized that I'd never read these as a child, and boy did I miss out.
I don't know who wrote the adaptation (the GCD has been driving me nuts these days), but he did a fantastic job by focusing on the key themes of the film and cutting out a lot of the fat. The script is very efficient; the characters are quickly introduced and we get right into the action (or lack thereof, perhaps). The great Dan Spiegle handles the art chores here, and he does a magnificent job of telling the story. His pacing is fantastic and what I discovered is that this is actually quite an interesting and tense tale. The characters all look quite different than the movie actors, and that's a good thing as they all have that Spiegle touch. His work on Dr. Reinhart is particularly great - with flowing hair and distinctive facial hair really give him the look of a mad scientist. This two-issue adaptation (also published as single volume) demonstrates that there's a lot of good stuff to be found in this story, and it's easier to digest once you've removed the 'funny' robot voices. Great stuff.
No, I'm not talking about Charles Burns' award winning series, although that's also good. I'm talking about the Whitman (Western Publishing) adaptation of the 1979 Disney movie. I am of the generation that was too young to truly spot the difference in quality between Star Wars, Battlestar Gallactica and The Black Hole. I had a Black Hole beach towel,a few of the action figures and various coloring books etc... I haven't seen the movie in nearly 30 year and I can't say that much of it has resonated with me, but when I had the change to pick up the adaptation for $1 per issue recently, I simply could not say no. I realized that I'd never read these as a child, and boy did I miss out.
I don't know who wrote the adaptation (the GCD has been driving me nuts these days), but he did a fantastic job by focusing on the key themes of the film and cutting out a lot of the fat. The script is very efficient; the characters are quickly introduced and we get right into the action (or lack thereof, perhaps). The great Dan Spiegle handles the art chores here, and he does a magnificent job of telling the story. His pacing is fantastic and what I discovered is that this is actually quite an interesting and tense tale. The characters all look quite different than the movie actors, and that's a good thing as they all have that Spiegle touch. His work on Dr. Reinhart is particularly great - with flowing hair and distinctive facial hair really give him the look of a mad scientist. This two-issue adaptation (also published as single volume) demonstrates that there's a lot of good stuff to be found in this story, and it's easier to digest once you've removed the 'funny' robot voices. Great stuff.
4 comments:
I loved the Black Hole movie as well Scott. It blew me away when I was a kid. I remember as soon as I got home I got my dad to help me build a wooden model of the robot V.I.N.CENT, which I promptly painted. Thanks Scott, I'll have to track down some of those comics. And yes, the GCD is driving me nuts as well. It's been that way for a while now. It's a killer when one is looking about at non-Big Two books especially!
Hey Scott, it's The Confessor from the CBR forums here! I love these Black Hole comics too...I'm sure you already know this but there was also an issue #3 and #4 continuing the crew of the Palomino’s adventures after they went through the Black Hole at the end of the movie. Issue #3 is pretty easy to find but issue #4 is like hen's teeth...a fact that is usually reflected in its asking price. Both issues are well worth picking up though if you can find 'em at a reasonable price.
Hey Paul
Thanks for stopping by. I do, indeed, have #3 - but just didn't comment on it as it wasn't part of the adaptation of the movie. I thought it was so-so, too much of a rehash of the film (a new villain would have been better). If I ever see a #4 for less than $5, I'm all over it.
Did you know that Kirby also did a Black Hole movie adaptation? There is blog posting about it being published in Disney Comix Zone magazine a while back here:
http://www.comicmix.com/news/2007/09/03/jack-kirby-at-the-supermarket/
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