Richard Matheson, the author of I Am Legend died just over a week ago, on June 23rd. He wrote a lot of other things, including several Twilight Zone episodes, but that's the only book of his that I've read, and that was after seeing the 2007 movie adaptation. That adaptation went in quite a different direction from the book. I like both stories, and I highly recommend reading the book.
I read I Am Legend back in 2007, and hadn't thought of Matheson much until recently, when I was idly browsing the graphic novels section of my local library and spotted a comic book adaptation of the novel. That was about a month ago, and I've yet to read it, though I intend to start it at some point today. I'd been toying with the idea of rereading the novel, and the comic seemed like an interesting compromise.
Note here; I like the word comic. I don't want to call them 'graphic novels' simply because that phrase seems like it was coined in order to give comics a bit of legitimacy as a literary art form, and I think they have that as comics. It's like sticking 'adult' covers on the Discworld and Harry Potter books - it's still the same story underneath. That said, I absolutely do believe in judging books by their covers. Short version; publishers want you to find books that you like. They don't want to trick you, or at least, not too much. Thus, you can usually, at the very least, tell what a publisher thinks of a book from it's cover, what category they would put it in, what books they think it resembles, if nothing else. That doesn't mean there are no surprises; just that the cover is a rather better indicator than that phrase would suggest, and yes, this absolutely does apply to the metaphor as interpreted as applying to other objects. Anyway, yes, I take a childish joy from using the word 'comic'.
I guess what I wanted to say here is, what a shame. He was 87, which is better innings than most people get, but it's always a shame when people die. He influenced a number of other creators, including Stephen King who dedicated the novel Cell to him. He was due to receive the Visionary Award at the 39th Saturn Awards ceremony, which was held on June 26th. The award was given posthumously, with the ceremony dedicated to him.
I read I Am Legend back in 2007, and hadn't thought of Matheson much until recently, when I was idly browsing the graphic novels section of my local library and spotted a comic book adaptation of the novel. That was about a month ago, and I've yet to read it, though I intend to start it at some point today. I'd been toying with the idea of rereading the novel, and the comic seemed like an interesting compromise.
Note here; I like the word comic. I don't want to call them 'graphic novels' simply because that phrase seems like it was coined in order to give comics a bit of legitimacy as a literary art form, and I think they have that as comics. It's like sticking 'adult' covers on the Discworld and Harry Potter books - it's still the same story underneath. That said, I absolutely do believe in judging books by their covers. Short version; publishers want you to find books that you like. They don't want to trick you, or at least, not too much. Thus, you can usually, at the very least, tell what a publisher thinks of a book from it's cover, what category they would put it in, what books they think it resembles, if nothing else. That doesn't mean there are no surprises; just that the cover is a rather better indicator than that phrase would suggest, and yes, this absolutely does apply to the metaphor as interpreted as applying to other objects. Anyway, yes, I take a childish joy from using the word 'comic'.
I guess what I wanted to say here is, what a shame. He was 87, which is better innings than most people get, but it's always a shame when people die. He influenced a number of other creators, including Stephen King who dedicated the novel Cell to him. He was due to receive the Visionary Award at the 39th Saturn Awards ceremony, which was held on June 26th. The award was given posthumously, with the ceremony dedicated to him.
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