The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien’s…)

(Eclipse, 1989-1990)
™ and ©1965 J.R.R. Tolkien. Adaptation ©1989 Charles Dixon and David Wenzel

The comic adaptation is always somewhat the bastard son, produced under restrictions and never quite able to convey the entire book or film. This begins well, though. For his part, artist David Wenzel refrains from cuteness. His dwarves are careworn weather-beaten creatures, his Gandalf suitably noble, his Gollum suitably deranged, and his vistas beautiful. Only with the hairy feet of Bilbo Baggins does he lack the necessary touch. Three issues permit some breathing space, but by the third, in particular, writer Chuck Dixon is incorporating large chunks of captioned text and requires massive word balloons for the voluminous amount of dialogue, resulting in lots of cramped illustrations. For this amount of text one might as well read the book. Fans of The Hobbit will probably enjoy a new view of an old friend, but for all the fine illustration, this is another compromised adaptation.

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