The Hobbit: An Illustrated Edition of the Fantasy Classic

Tis the season of The Hobbit. The fantasy story, first published in 1937, remains the same: Bilbo Baggins joins Thorin Oakenshield and his band of dwarves on a quest to recover stolen treasure from the evil dragon, Smaug. Any time good goes up against evil, there is going to be conflict. In this episodic quest, the challenges include trolls, goblins, giant spiders, and a Gollum who has an unhealthy obsession with a ring. Though things go awry, with no more than a couple of twists of deus ex machina, it turns out as well as can be expected in the end.

Charles Dixon’s adaptation transforms Tolkien’s written words into a comprehensive graphic novel. David Wenzel’s illustrations suit the narrative well. They succeed because they don’t try to compete with Tolkien’s original drawings. This is an expanded edition of the graphic novel first released by Eclipse Books as a three-volume set in 1989-90, and by Del Rey as a single volume in 2001. Six new pages of artwork have been added to this expanded edition.

This book will delight bibliophiles who want something to help them envision Tolkien’s world but prefer their pictures in a graphic format rather than moving across a screen.

A version of this review appears on the SF Site website.