Product Description

This exhilarating graphic-novel edition of an ancient classic honors the spirit of the original as it attracts modern readers.

The epic tale of the great warrior Beowulf has thrilled readers through the ages — and now it is reinvented for a new generation with Gareth Hinds’s masterful illustrations. Grendel’s black blood runs thick as Beowulf defeats the monster and his hideous mother, while somber hues overcast the hero’s final, fatal battle against a raging dragon. Speeches filled with courage and sadness, lightning-paced contests of muscle and will, and funeral boats burning on the fjords are all rendered in glorious and gruesome detail. Told for more than a thousand years, Beowulf’s heroic saga finds a true home in this graphic-novel edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59746 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-13
• Released on: 2007-03-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The king of heroic epics gets a lavish visual interpretation in Hinds's full-color mixed-media gem, originally self-published as three separate issues in 2000. He begins with a credit to two versions of the familiar story (A.J. Church's 1904 translation and that of Francis Gummere), in which a vicious monster named Grendel terrorizes the great hall of King Hrothgar for 12 winters, and the hero Beowulf arrives from afar, to try to defeat the creature and succeeds—with his bare hands. Then he must contend with Grendel's mother, when she comes to avenge her son's fate; the third chapter deals with the mournful end to the hero's life, resulting from a battle with an enormous dragon. Each chapter begins with a brief narrative (paying homage to the cadences of the story's early verse renditions), before giving way to a lengthy, wordless and bloody battle. Hinds's angular perspectives and unusual color palettes (dark, ruddy colors, deep burgundy blood, and not a ray of sunshine in sight) lend the book an almost overwhelming sense of menace. The third and most emotionally forceful chapter centers around an incredible two-page spread that shows the dragon awakening; it's an arresting image in a book filled with many. For fantasy fans both young and old, this makes an ideal introduction to a story without which the entire fantasy genre would look very different; many scenes may be too intense for very young readers. Ages 10-up. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Grade 10 Up–This epic tale is exceptionally well suited to the episodic telling necessary for a successful graphic novel, as the warrior-hero fights Grendel, Grendel's mother, and, ultimately, the dragon that claims his life, and (in true comic-book fashion) each challenge is significantly more difficult and violent than the one before. Although greatly abridged and edited, the text maintains a consistent rhythm and overall feel appropriate for the poetic nature of the story. Dialogue and narration are presented in identical text boxes, but astute readers will be able to decipher from the images which character is speaking. Each specific event is complemented by illustrations that effectively convey the atmosphere–historical details are paired with sketchy, ethereal drawings, the violent battle scenes are darkly tinted with red, and the end of Beowulf's life is indicated by gray, colorless imagery. Hinds's version will make this epic story available to a whole new group of readers. This book is likely to be especially popular when the Beowulf movie, directed by Robert Zemeckis, is released in November 2007.–Heather M. Campbell, Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Candlewick's first foray into the graphic novel format proves an odd blend of ancient history and modern action. It's an epic poem seen as a video game. Beowulf, written circa 800 CE, is the story of a warrior-hero charged with dispatching the marauding monster Grendel and its terrible mother. An action epic in any form, this abridged translation is no exception, and it retains the original's dominant themes, including what warriors, and fathers, leave behind for future generations. The original's poetry has become prose narration, loaded with portent and melancholy even amid images of bloody (very bloody) battles between sword and claw. Hind's watercolor art is thick with atmosphere and grand in its conception of vast halls and shadowed caves, but the line work is somewhat amateurish. The book makes a gorgeous whole, though; the long, wordless battles reproduced on glossy, high-quality paper are particularly noteworthy. It all feels a bit like dressing a Lethal Weapon movie up like a Shakespearean drama, but this offering will have high appeal for many, particularly fans of video games and action movies. Jesse Karp
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Exciting visual story-telling
Super-hero stories are probably as old as spoken language. Hinds has done an outstanding job of reaching out of our own Super-Hero-In-Tights (S-H-I-nevermind) idiom, and bringing a classic hero to new life.

Like so many myths, Beowulf includes elements of historical fact, such as the death of lord Hygelac. The story goes far beyond the mere historical, though. It describes the monster Grendel and his attacks on the halls of peaceful and prosperous king Hrothgar. Right from the start, this lets Hinds apply visual techniques that owe equally to the Bayeux Tapestry and to the Alien movie. Then, as heroic Beowulf braces himself for fighting the monster, Hinds makes the most of the visual medium. Over twenty pages pass without a single written word, mute but hardly silent as Beowulf and Grendel grapple throughout the hall. Hinds allows himself some modern imagery during this fight, without stooping to buckets of red ink. In the end, the subdued palette shows Grendel's defeat as vividly as more explicit gore would have.

That's just the first 1/3 of this book. Hinds's strong, painterly style also brings to life Beowulf's fight against Grendel's mother, a bloated troll with flapping dugs, and his triumph over the dragon.

Comic art and storytelling has been getting better and broader in recent years, allowing work like Hinds's to get to the audience it deserves. This work won't change the face of comic art, but it's distinctive, it's done well, and it carries the narration strongly. I recommend this to any comic fan who wants a diffferent look at an old tale.

-- wiredweird

For anyone who likes horror and monsters and great heroes
King Hrothgar of Denmark could not spend the night in his great hall of Heorot, for anyone who did was certain to die at the hands of the Grendel, a monster of great power and cunning. But, hope is not lost, for a mighty man has come to rid Hrothgar of his bane - Beowulf, a valiant chieftain from the land of the Geats (in southern Sweden). This is the story of Beowulf's adventures, his battles, and his trials.

Beowulf is one of the foundational classics of Western literature, having first been written down in the early Middle Ages, perhaps as early as the eighth century. It is set in the late fifth and early sixth centuries, and is a marvelously exciting tale.

This book is a graphic novel retelling of Beowulf, and I must say that I think that Gareth Hinds did an excellent job. His use of stark colors does an excellent job of presenting the horror of the encounters giving the reader an idea of what it must have been like to hear the story as they were first told around the fire so long ago. Overall, I found this to be a fascinating read, and a great retelling of the old story.

Now, I must agree that the subject matter of this book is not for children, and the images of bloody battle and death are quite stark. So, you should bear that in mind if you are thinking of buying this book for a younger or more sensitive reader. But, if you are buying it for someone who likes horror and monsters and great heroes then this is the book to buy!

iF ONLY ALL CLASSICS WERE RETOLD THIS WAY...
I read the text version of Beowulf once in high-school, and once in college. And never was it as exciting as Mr. Hinds' graphic novel. The author has collected the most important aspects of this epic adventure tale and illustrated them with such life and detail, that the story is now vividly etched in my mind. His rendition of Grendel's assault on the meade hall is easily one of my favorite moments in literary history.

I was also surprised by the author's fidelity to the original text. Many of the descriptive passages are directly from the original, and the books are preceeded by a glossary. But even more importantly, the author remains true to the themes and tones of the orginal tale, while still managing to make this a thrilling narrative that moves with cinematic fluidity.

The books are also great as pieces of art. Each one seems to be rendered in a different medium to better express the stages of Beowulf's life. And the illustrations are to die for, offering incredible action, style and human emotion. This is art. This is what more comic-book/graphic novel work should be like.

I have ordered the author's King Lear and am excited to see how Mr. Hinds tackles Willy S. I can only hope that classics like Don Quixote and The Count of Monte Cristo will also someday be on his list.