A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel

A Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award nominee, writer Abraham is renowned for his own fantasy and horror writing as well as experience in adapting Martin's work to sequential art (as in Fevre Dream; "Skin Trade"). Basing their effort on the first novel in Martin's "A Song of Fire and Ice" series, Abraham and Patterson (Farscape) have created two volumes, with an anticipated third forthcoming, that contain half of Dynamite Entertainment's 24-issue comic book series, plus an array of extras, including a too-generous foreword for Volume 1 by Martin, preliminary drawings, and a scene's original-text-to-finished-artwork dissection in Volume 2. Unfortunately, each virtue reveals a vice. While the artwork is consistently handsome and vivid, it fails to convey the medieval grit of the books (and the TV series) when it should. The scripting respects the source text, and fans may enjoy comparing the similarities and differences of the adaptations to the originals. However, only readers already familiar with the material will understand the context of the larger work and the important developments to come, which is necessary to counter the frequent unpleasantness on display. Based on the first two volumes alone, casual readers will wonder what all the fuss is about rather than crave more; stick with the TV show or Martin's original books.