Peter B. Gillis (1952–2024)

This is an excellent comic adaption of Peter S. Beagle's classic novel. It's faithful to the novel, and the glossy, full-colour pages are astonishingly beautiful. The titular unicorn glows amid the dramatic backgrounds. Each panel is a digital painting. Spreads and panel layouts are fluid and creative. There are no gutters; either panels flow into each other or are superimposed on the previous panel.

While the movie is a classic in its own right, I think the comic actually 'outperforms' the show more movie and would be a more accessible visual introduction to the story: the art style will not age as the movie's animation has, and the comic includes several scenes not present in the movie which add considerable richness (such as Hagsgate and the incredible spread that details the story of the wizard Nikos and the unicorn.) Obviously, neither replaces the other: the comic is merely an addition to adaptations of The Last Unicorn. show less

The "Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom" graphic novel by Roger Stern, Mike Mignola and Mark Badger that ends this collection was the reason I bought it, and I was not disappointed. Great characterizations, fun premise, and an execution which does not feel dated in spite of the book being from 1990. Sure, the movement of the plot gets a little bland at times, but overall this was a great read, especially for Doctor Doom fans.

The rest (majority) of the collection is comprised of the first 13 show more issues of the 1988 relaunch of Strange's solo book. While nowhere near the OGN that ends the collection, I must admit I was quite pleased with this. Sure, it reads somewhat dated, with its overly dramatic final panels and hamfisted recaps of plot points in dialogue, but frequently much less so than I would have expected. The art holds up quite well, and the writing -- well, you can feel its age a bit, sure, but mostly I found this to come across in a charming way. The plotting is decent, too, and I find myself curious as to how the story continued after issue 13 (this being an ongoing book at the time, it of course does not resolve every plot by the end of the collection). The main joy of these issues, though, was the backup feature "The Book of the Vishanti", which recaps/elaborates and fills in blanks on various supernatural Marvel Universe history. All in all a decent little tome, and since the thirteen issues were placed before the collection's main attraction, I even got to finish my read with a satisfactory bump in quality. show less

My copy of The Last Unicorn was so dog eared and well loved when I was younger that it fell apart a little bit after my twelfth birthday. We won't even go in to how worn out the tape in my VHS was. This story...is beautiful. If you haven't read the original work, it's a masterpiece. A story of bravery, of love lost, of friendship and hardship. This isn't your average fairy tale and I love it so much for that.

Of course when I found out that there was to be a graphic novel I was overjoyed! A show more little wary as well, since I wasn't sure if the beauty of my favorite story would stay intact. I'm here to say, as a lover of Peter S. Beagle, there isn't a single element missing in this graphic novel. In fact, I daresay it gives it a whole new life. I am so glad that this epic story will be spread to a new group of readers!

The illustrations in this book are utterly, mouth dropping to the floor, gorgeous. They are vivid and fanciful, while still keeping one foot firmly planted in reality (albeit an alternate one). What I loved most was the use of light and dark. When things are going well the illustrations are bright and colorful. As soon as things start to go poorly, the pages become dark and dangerous. In all honesty even if you weren't able to read, the illustrations tell the story all on their own.

However obviously if you are already a lover of The Last Unicorn then you'll want to read the story. The beauty of this graphic novel is that, although the story has been shortened for this purpose, it remains beautifully intact just the same. The words still flow off the page, and mesh into the illustrations. All my favorite parts were still there to make my eyes tear up and take me back. In fact, I think these new illustrations may be my favorite part. It's like a new take on something that is so comfortable, and they did it right.

I'm rambling now I know. Suffice it to say that this graphic novel is fantastic. If you are a long time fan of this story, you'll fall in love all over again. If this is the first time you're coming in, I promise you'll be enamored. Hopefully you'll join the ranks of fangirls and fanboys who are utterly enthralled by this story. I know this just further reminded me why I fell in love in the first place. show less

In a fairy tale, nothing is without consequence. The unicorn, supposed to be the last, steps out of her forest, and it begins to die, she begins to fear, and she becomes the heroine. There is a point in the novel where the unicorn is turned into a human so as to escape detection from the being that would destroy her. They have no other choice, Schmendrick the Magician argues, as she becomes upset, knowing she may never become a unicorn again, that she may die in a prison. However, she knows show more as well as he, that one must continue the quest, because if she doesn't, no one else will.

This self-awareness is present in the entire novel, making fun of itself, of the form of the fairy tale and the fantasy novels that came before and have come since. At the same time, as many young people do, Peter S. Beagle interwove fantastic ideas about immortality and life which aren't exactly trite. The work teeters on the edge between fairy tale and parody, and Peter Beagle talks in the introduction about his own acceptance that what he had written was actually alright. I found that those glimpses behind the story were what made this ebook even more appealing.

The balance of good and neutrality, instead of good and evil, is a much more interesting one. There is a conversation near the end of the novel between a wizard and a unicorn where he says he isn't sure if he'll continue to do good or if he'll simply be neutral, an extremely nuanced reflection, something which Diana Wynne Jones also commented on in The Darklord of Derkholm, just as briefly as Beagle does here. The wizard in The Last Unicorn though is the kind I like best, having a wary oversight of the world and mortality - knowing that good vs. neutrality isn't really what the storytellers chop it up to be.

I must tell you that while The Last Unicorn is one of my favorite books, it isn't flawless, and knowing that Beagle went on to write Tamsin, another favorite book of mine, sets it as a marker of growth for him. But I hasten to add that the flaws found here are valuable to me, they are points around which we may compare the prose, which is lilac if any color should be ascribed to it, the characters, who aren't quite their archetypes, and plot, which is gripping if occasionally meandering. It's unusual and even while Schmendrick forces us through the ropes of the fairy tale, everyone knows that they live in such a world. They know the rules, even as they try to fight against it, even as they allow themselves to be pulled along by the course of it. It's a strange world that is as reliant upon participation as our own. If you don't participate, things just won't happen, a consequence seldom highlighted as it should be.

At times hilarious and bone-crawling, it is actually a bittersweet beautiful novel, much like it's protagonist. While the unicorn undergoes the most growth of all the characters, transforming from apathetic to heartbroken, I don't think we were privy to all of it. We know that while her time as a human showed her new things, I believe there was something already inside her which made her different from all the other unicorns, that made her leave the forest in the first place, and that had any other unicorn gone on the quest instead of her, the end result would not have been so heart wrenching. After all, not just anyone can star in a fairy tale.

For years fans of The Last Unicorn asked for a sequel, and Beagle vowed to never return to the tale. A casual promise made by his agent, however, pulled a story out of the fairy tale land 40 years later, promising us a future story with the kind of heroine YA fantasy aspires to. That Beagle could find her wandering around King Lír's kingdom, at ease among wizards and unicorns, kings and griffons, makes me very glad.

Two Hearts offers no promises, but in Sooz there is a great deal of potential. An adventure is lurking on her horizon. I will, however, only whisper of my anticipation. You know as well as I that this is a coda as much as a harbinger, but lets not jinx anything. Prophecy's have a way of being fulfilled, one way or another.

You can read Two Hearts on the author's website.

236pp. Conlan Press. 1st July 2013. show less