I Am Legend

(Eclipse)
™ and © Eclipse Comics

Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel I Am Legend may be one of the best vampire novels ever written, and, following its run at Eclipse, survived to be reprinted on its 50th anniversary in a beautiful hardcover edition from IDW.

The story revolves around Robert Neville, the only man left on Earth, who lives alone fighting to survive the wrath of vampires that roam the planet. This story is not just about a man fighting vampires; it is a self-discovery of what it is like to be truly alone and hope for human companionship. (It blows the film Castaway out of the water.)

Niles is already famous in the comics community for his horror writing — especially his vampire-themed 30 Days of Night and Dark Days — so it was logical that he would take on Matheson’s classic.

This series, however, is not so much a graphic novel as it is an illustrated novel. It is comprised primarily of text accompanied by illustrations of Neville and his struggle to survive as the only man left in Los Angeles and, possibly, the world. Word and thought balloons are kept to a minimum, although they’re used during conversations. But, of course, there aren’t many conversations in the story of a man who lives alone, fighting creatures of the night.

Brown’s art fits the story perfectly. Through the fantastic imagery, the reader grows to know Neville and his surroundings. This is not a story that can be told with the abstract art that Ben Templesmith used in Thirty Days or Dark Days, it needs the straight-up style that Brown brings.

— Nathan Melby

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