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Discworld Graphic Novels #1-2
The Discworld Graphic Novels: The Colour of Magic & The Light Fantastic
The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic—the first two volumes of Terry Pratchett’s phenomenally successful, New York Times bestselling Discworld series—are now available in this special anniversary graphic novel edition. Strikingly illustrated and painstakingly adapted, The Discworld Graphic Novels brings Prachett’s bizarre, outrageous—yet strangely familiar—universe of wizards, witches, vampires, bureaucrats, policemen, golems, dwarves, and living luggage to bold, visual life.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2008
80 people are currently reading
2031 people want to read
About the author
Terry Pratchett
684 books46k followersSir Terence David John Pratchett was an English author, humorist, and satirist, best known for the Discworld series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983–2015, and for the apocalyptic comedy novel Good Omens (1990), which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman.
Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death.
With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (now Alzheimer's Research UK, ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with the condition for the BBC, and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66.
Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death.
With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (now Alzheimer's Research UK, ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with the condition for the BBC, and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 246 reviews
July 18, 2012
When I saw this on the library shelf, I thought it would be the perfect supplement to the first two Discworld novels. I spent so much time mentally visualizing things while reading the books - the elephants that stand on the giant turtle, the chest with hundreds of little feet, the giant tower where the final showdown takes place - I was really keen on seeing someone else draw it all out for me.
The only problem is, it didn't really match up with what I'd had in my head. The Discworld seems so Legoish - I was expecting bold colors, bright designs, something cartoonish to go with the jubilant humor. It didn't LOOK funny, if that makes any sense whatsoever.
Also, the text-to-graphic-novel adaptation wasn't extremely successful. If I hadn't read the novels first, I doubt I'd have been able to follow what was going on. The novels skip from location to location with minimal transitioning, and the graphic novels completely strip what transitions there were. There is NO explanation of how they go from one scene to the next.
And, finally, most of Pratchett's humor is in his words. When you change the words into pictures, that humor disappears. So while it was nice to see the Discworld finally, the translation to pictures removed its heart.
The only problem is, it didn't really match up with what I'd had in my head. The Discworld seems so Legoish - I was expecting bold colors, bright designs, something cartoonish to go with the jubilant humor. It didn't LOOK funny, if that makes any sense whatsoever.
Also, the text-to-graphic-novel adaptation wasn't extremely successful. If I hadn't read the novels first, I doubt I'd have been able to follow what was going on. The novels skip from location to location with minimal transitioning, and the graphic novels completely strip what transitions there were. There is NO explanation of how they go from one scene to the next.
And, finally, most of Pratchett's humor is in his words. When you change the words into pictures, that humor disappears. So while it was nice to see the Discworld finally, the translation to pictures removed its heart.
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November 2, 2022
[ to review at a later date - perhaps even re-read and review at a later date as well, though not urgent ]
November 14, 2013
This was... ok. Disappointingly, a lot of the humour is lost in the translation form word to image, and I also found the artwork - especially in The Colour of Magic - to be fairly lacklustre. All in all, the graphic novel somehow makes the stories... bland. There are redeeming features, and by the end of The Light Fantastic I was really enjoying the interpretations of one of my favourite worlds, but I still can't say I loved it overall.
September 2, 2024
This covers the first two Discworld books, in graphic novel form. It was exactly what I wanted it to be - a fun, somewhat abridged, adaptation of The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic. I’ve read the original novels before, albeit a long time ago, so I was already familiar with the characters, and they were brought to life quite well. It was a quick and easy way for me to revisit the first two books, with the extra enjoyment of seeing it all as a graphic novel.
I found myself dipping into the novels a few times, just out of curiosity about the accuracy of the adaptation (was Liessa really dressed like that?), and was always pleasantly surprised - but pleasantly surprised in two ways: firstly, that the adaptation seemed very accurate (yes, she really was dressed like that), but also that the richness, humour, and fun from the books was all coming from Pratchett’s writing. The graphic novel does a decent enough job of, well… telling the story graphically - and is certainly an excellent illustration of the original novels. And while the abridgement suited The Colour of Magic quite well, as the book is a series of short, relatively unrelated episodes, The Light Fantastic felt a little disjoint in places. The thing I found must surprising about my experience of reading the graphic novels, though, was that it made me want to read the original books.
So this graphic novel gave me exactly what I wanted: it was a quick and easy way to revisit those first two novels, to kick off my intended journey through the entire series. And it was nice to see the cowardice of Rincewind, the naivety of Twoflower, the unstoppable tenacity of the Luggage, and the unlikely romance between Cohen and Bethan, all played out for me again.
Has this whetted my appetite for the rest of Discworld? Yes, definitely. Would I read them in graphic novel form if they were all available as such? Probably not.
I found myself dipping into the novels a few times, just out of curiosity about the accuracy of the adaptation (was Liessa really dressed like that?), and was always pleasantly surprised - but pleasantly surprised in two ways: firstly, that the adaptation seemed very accurate (yes, she really was dressed like that), but also that the richness, humour, and fun from the books was all coming from Pratchett’s writing. The graphic novel does a decent enough job of, well… telling the story graphically - and is certainly an excellent illustration of the original novels. And while the abridgement suited The Colour of Magic quite well, as the book is a series of short, relatively unrelated episodes, The Light Fantastic felt a little disjoint in places. The thing I found must surprising about my experience of reading the graphic novels, though, was that it made me want to read the original books.
So this graphic novel gave me exactly what I wanted: it was a quick and easy way to revisit those first two novels, to kick off my intended journey through the entire series. And it was nice to see the cowardice of Rincewind, the naivety of Twoflower, the unstoppable tenacity of the Luggage, and the unlikely romance between Cohen and Bethan, all played out for me again.
Has this whetted my appetite for the rest of Discworld? Yes, definitely. Would I read them in graphic novel form if they were all available as such? Probably not.
January 6, 2021
Strap in folks this is going to be a long one :lol . I feel the need to preface this review by saying i'm actually feeling pretty good right now. I'm also not angry at this work, i'm just disappointed... :P actually bemused would be more accurate.
Before starting this i had very low expectations partially bcause the original books arn't exactly great, but then i thought, maybe this could actually be better than the originals? That feeling did not last long...
The reasons we give the originals a break is mostly because of their age and place in the Pratchett canon but when you repackage something like this any nostalgic feeling is removed. So readers are going to be judging this as an original work and given the weaknesses of the source material it becomes an uphill battle.
Also.. and i can't fault the adaptors on this point because it is difficult to realise at first.. but it turns out Pratchett isn't funny just because of his words, a large portion of the humour is created by timing and the flow of the text across the page. I only know this because when the same jokes are presented in this format they often become completely humourless.
Right enough preamble on to what they did wrong (*spoiler alert*, everything :P ).
The writer is slavishly adherent to the original text, never changing anything that i couuld detect, even when just cutting and pasteing sentences doesn't work for the story. Some might give him points for loyalty but when it adds to a disjointed reading experience he'll get no sympathy from me.
A minor critique of the art (before the major one). Some of the artists asthetic, especially with armour but also sometimes with clothing or architecture; is more appropriate for sci-fi fantasy than high fantasy. I could see some of these designs fitting in a Star-Wars comic.
In addition, somehow the dragon lady and dryad end up looking like the most demure female characters despite their penthouse descriptions in the original, but i expected those to be toned down a tad.
HOWEVER, every other female character goes in the opposite direction, including Deaths daughter. Also random extreme violence for no particular reason. I'd add pictures but i might get banned ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
Just to keep things terrible there are a few glaring and amateurish errors here and there both in the art and text.
The memorable conversation between The Lady and Fate is ruined. It can be hard to know which text to read next sometimes, which IS a problem with many modern comics but thats usually because of amazing artists who's pictures tend to flow weirdly across the page, this book does not have that excuse.
Sometimes like when the wzards are running from room to room, the speech bubbles just seem to be placed in the wrong places for a natural reading flow.
Also at one point, something which doesn't normally talk replys to Rincewind and he's surprised it can talk.. i was more surprised it was apparently TELEPATHIC as the response was to a 'thought balloon' instead of a 'speech bubble', which was another error just to be clear.
But enough of this lets get to the real problem.. yes indeed, i was just warming up before. The really awful thing about this is the art.
It is utterly humourless.. the wizards (apart from Rincewind) almost work.. but everything else is completely devoid of whimsy, or joy or absurdity. There really is no trace of Pratchett in the art, its just so dead and lifeless and completely incapable of converying the spirit of Discworld.
Interestingly, they switch artists for the last 2 parts of Light Fantastic, and even though he's stuck with the previously established designs.. the new artist almost makes it work. Some of his own design decisions may not be entirely appropriate either but overall, simply the quality of his art pulls through and if the entire thing had been done in that style i'm sure it would have been perfectly adequate.
If you've read Colour of Magic/Light Fantastic before then you'll get nothing of any interest here but if someone unfamiliar with Pratchett were to read this they may never read him again.. and that is quite unforgiveable.
Don't read it, don't sell it on, don't donate it to a library. I would suggest burning every copy but.. you know, apocalypse and all that.. so lets all recycle these into the appropriate bin and if we manage to rid the world of every copy maybe the Gods, or at least the Small Gods will give humanity a reprieve.
ah.. dang it, there goes my New Years resolution not to be mean.. oh well :)
Before starting this i had very low expectations partially bcause the original books arn't exactly great, but then i thought, maybe this could actually be better than the originals? That feeling did not last long...
The reasons we give the originals a break is mostly because of their age and place in the Pratchett canon but when you repackage something like this any nostalgic feeling is removed. So readers are going to be judging this as an original work and given the weaknesses of the source material it becomes an uphill battle.
Also.. and i can't fault the adaptors on this point because it is difficult to realise at first.. but it turns out Pratchett isn't funny just because of his words, a large portion of the humour is created by timing and the flow of the text across the page. I only know this because when the same jokes are presented in this format they often become completely humourless.
Right enough preamble on to what they did wrong (*spoiler alert*, everything :P ).
The writer is slavishly adherent to the original text, never changing anything that i couuld detect, even when just cutting and pasteing sentences doesn't work for the story. Some might give him points for loyalty but when it adds to a disjointed reading experience he'll get no sympathy from me.
A minor critique of the art (before the major one). Some of the artists asthetic, especially with armour but also sometimes with clothing or architecture; is more appropriate for sci-fi fantasy than high fantasy. I could see some of these designs fitting in a Star-Wars comic.
In addition, somehow the dragon lady and dryad end up looking like the most demure female characters despite their penthouse descriptions in the original, but i expected those to be toned down a tad.
HOWEVER, every other female character goes in the opposite direction, including Deaths daughter. Also random extreme violence for no particular reason. I'd add pictures but i might get banned ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
Just to keep things terrible there are a few glaring and amateurish errors here and there both in the art and text.
The memorable conversation between The Lady and Fate is ruined. It can be hard to know which text to read next sometimes, which IS a problem with many modern comics but thats usually because of amazing artists who's pictures tend to flow weirdly across the page, this book does not have that excuse.
Sometimes like when the wzards are running from room to room, the speech bubbles just seem to be placed in the wrong places for a natural reading flow.
Also at one point, something which doesn't normally talk replys to Rincewind and he's surprised it can talk.. i was more surprised it was apparently TELEPATHIC as the response was to a 'thought balloon' instead of a 'speech bubble', which was another error just to be clear.
But enough of this lets get to the real problem.. yes indeed, i was just warming up before. The really awful thing about this is the art.
It is utterly humourless.. the wizards (apart from Rincewind) almost work.. but everything else is completely devoid of whimsy, or joy or absurdity. There really is no trace of Pratchett in the art, its just so dead and lifeless and completely incapable of converying the spirit of Discworld.
Interestingly, they switch artists for the last 2 parts of Light Fantastic, and even though he's stuck with the previously established designs.. the new artist almost makes it work. Some of his own design decisions may not be entirely appropriate either but overall, simply the quality of his art pulls through and if the entire thing had been done in that style i'm sure it would have been perfectly adequate.
If you've read Colour of Magic/Light Fantastic before then you'll get nothing of any interest here but if someone unfamiliar with Pratchett were to read this they may never read him again.. and that is quite unforgiveable.
Don't read it, don't sell it on, don't donate it to a library. I would suggest burning every copy but.. you know, apocalypse and all that.. so lets all recycle these into the appropriate bin and if we manage to rid the world of every copy maybe the Gods, or at least the Small Gods will give humanity a reprieve.
ah.. dang it, there goes my New Years resolution not to be mean.. oh well :)
February 10, 2009
3.5 stars
January 17, 2015
I think this graphic novel is really for fans of the discworld universe, if you haven't read the colour of magic and the light fantastic then you will struggle with this. It is pretty tough to follow the story at times.
The drawing are fantastic, the outfits some of the big busty ladies wear are awe-inspiring, my wife says they are not very practical, but how would she know? She has never ridden on a dragon before!
The drawing are fantastic, the outfits some of the big busty ladies wear are awe-inspiring, my wife says they are not very practical, but how would she know? She has never ridden on a dragon before!
September 6, 2019
Has some inconsistent art, some good some less so, but on the whole this is a pretty passable adaptation.
February 6, 2023
There is something about Terry Pratchett's work that lends itself so well to being made into a graphic novel format, and having loved the colour of magic for many years this absolutely delivered a new experience for me. Whilst it was a lot of fun to read in this way, I would caution away those who haven't read the books, as I found the light fantastic a tad more difficult to follow at times given how much actual text it is missing. Read the books, then read the graphic novels, they're both great!
August 21, 2009
I was disappointed by this book. I'm a fan of Terry Pratchett and his Discworld series, and The Color of Magic is one of my favourites, so I guess I approached this book with high expectations. I just can't help compare it with the original, and I felt that in graphic novel form it lost most of its spark. Somehow it was much less funny and much more confusing. The relationship between words and images was at times too simplistic and descriptive, and the story seemed to jump all over the place.
I've never read The Light Fantastic so I was able to enjoy it a bit more, but even so, I'm guessing the original is much better.
Also, I was rather let down by the artwork. Some of it is quite good but most of it is predictable and not very interesting. What's more, a lot of the chapter covers were pixellated.
All in all, a disappointing read, and I would recommend that people interested in Discworld read the original books instead.
I've never read The Light Fantastic so I was able to enjoy it a bit more, but even so, I'm guessing the original is much better.
Also, I was rather let down by the artwork. Some of it is quite good but most of it is predictable and not very interesting. What's more, a lot of the chapter covers were pixellated.
All in all, a disappointing read, and I would recommend that people interested in Discworld read the original books instead.
September 28, 2014
The artists here have quite the challenge - how do you adapt Pratchett's first two magnificent Discworld books in a way that does justice to them? So much of Pratchett's genius is in the narration and dialogue, and much of that doesn't work in a graphic novel. Still, this does a good job of telling the story, and the art works well - Rincewind, Twoflower, and Cohen all fit their descriptions well, and some of the moments (like the Troll mountain and Wyrmberg and even A'Tuin) all look very good. It's definitely a British art style, which may turn off some readers, but then it's a very British book, so they're already in the wrong place).
Even though it does a good job telling the stories, I recommend you read the original novels first. Not because you need to to understand these; it's just best to get the originals first, undiluted. These make for a good reminder if you need a refresher, but read the novels first.
Even though it does a good job telling the stories, I recommend you read the original novels first. Not because you need to to understand these; it's just best to get the originals first, undiluted. These make for a good reminder if you need a refresher, but read the novels first.
January 3, 2015
First of all - I'm a huge Pratchett's fan! That said, I love that graphic novel. I know lots of people think that the the action is kind of random and skips a lot from one scene to a complete different one, and there were some comments about the art... But as far as I'm concerned this is one great book! I totally admire the art and the representation and I was having so much fun comparing the art with what I imagined when reading the actual books. I even took my time with it and read only a few pages every night, just so I can saver it for longer. So if you are the kind of person that think that the hard work of authors and artist (of all sorts) should be appreciated more - then you will totally love it :))
June 2, 2018
If you've read the books this is a nice companion, if you haven't this is probably hot garbage.
So much of the humour is lost in comic book form, but it was nice seeing a lot of the cool things in the book brought to life. The art was nice too. Definitely not a good intro to Terry Pratchett or the Discworld but I read The Colour of Magic and the Light Fantastic seven or eight years ago so this was a nice refresher.
So much of the humour is lost in comic book form, but it was nice seeing a lot of the cool things in the book brought to life. The art was nice too. Definitely not a good intro to Terry Pratchett or the Discworld but I read The Colour of Magic and the Light Fantastic seven or eight years ago so this was a nice refresher.
October 28, 2016
I have never read any of Terry Pratchett's work before, but have always wanted to get into it. These graphic novels feel like a good way to get into and I really enjoyed them. I love how funny Pratchett is and I love death!
- 272 pages read
- 3/7 books read
-2/3 books featuring magic
=272 house points
#HHCup #SHHCup
- 272 pages read
- 3/7 books read
-2/3 books featuring magic
=272 house points
#HHCup #SHHCup
August 9, 2025
The Discworld Graphic Novels
Diskdünya serisinin ilk iki kitabı Büyünün Rengi ve Fantastik Işık’ı kapsayan bu grafik roman, benim için hem çok etkileyici hem de büyük keyif aldığım bir okuma deneyimi oldu. Kitaplarını okurken zihnimde canlandırdığım karakterlerin, yüz ifadelerinin, büyülü varlıkların ve olay örgüsünün çarpıcı bir şekilde görselleştirilmiş olması, hikâyeyi kitaplardan bile daha çok sevmeme sebep oldu.
Yıldızlararası boşlukta süzülen devasa kaplumbağa Büyük Atuin; üzerinde duran dört filin taşıdığı, mavi bir kubbeyle taçlandırılmış ve kenarlarından şelaleler dökülen disk şeklindeki dünyayı sırtında taşır.
Hiçbir büyü bilmeyen —zihnine kazınmış tek bir büyü dışında— ve Görünmez Üniversite’den kovulan büyücü Rincewind, bir gün Diskdünya’nın ilk turisti İkiçiçek ile tanışır. Uzaklardaki Agatean İmparatorluğu’ndan gelen İkiçiçek; kendisini sürekli takip eden yürüyen sandığı, herkese dağıttığı altınları ve saf, iyi niyetli tavırlarıyla dikkat çeker. Ankh-Morpork şehrinin Patrik’inin de devreye girmesiyle Rincewind, İkiçiçek’in koruyuculuğuna atanır. İkilinin yolu; şehir yangınları, tanrıların zar oyunları, zihinde canlandırılan ejderhaların gerçeğe dönüşmesi, boyutlar arası geçitler, uzay boşluğuna giden gemiler ve türlü büyülü varlıklarla dolu bir maceraya çıkar.
Hızı hiç düşmeyen bu yolculukta, kızıl bir yıldızın Diskdünya’ya yaklaşması Görünmez Üniversite’nin büyücülerini alarma geçirir. Efsanevi büyü kitabı Octavo’da yer alan sekiz büyünün birlikte okunması dünyayı kurtarabilecektir. Ancak sekizinci büyü Rincewind’in zihninde saklıdır. Druidler, troller ve yoldaşlarının da katıldığı bu macerada, Rincewind ve İkiçiçek büyük tehlike karşısında nasıl bir yol izleyecektir?
Terry Pratchett’in mizahi ve yaratıcı diyalogları, kahkaha attıran metaforları ve temposu hiç düşmeyen hikâyesiyle kitaplarını zaten büyük bir keyifle okumuştum. Ancak bu grafik roman; etkileyici görselleri, güçlü atmosferi ve kaliteli baskısıyla aldığım keyfi katladı. Türkçe çevirisi olmasa da, fantastik kurgu ve grafik roman meraklılarına kesinlikle tavsiye ederim.
Diskdünya serisinin ilk iki kitabı Büyünün Rengi ve Fantastik Işık’ı kapsayan bu grafik roman, benim için hem çok etkileyici hem de büyük keyif aldığım bir okuma deneyimi oldu. Kitaplarını okurken zihnimde canlandırdığım karakterlerin, yüz ifadelerinin, büyülü varlıkların ve olay örgüsünün çarpıcı bir şekilde görselleştirilmiş olması, hikâyeyi kitaplardan bile daha çok sevmeme sebep oldu.
Yıldızlararası boşlukta süzülen devasa kaplumbağa Büyük Atuin; üzerinde duran dört filin taşıdığı, mavi bir kubbeyle taçlandırılmış ve kenarlarından şelaleler dökülen disk şeklindeki dünyayı sırtında taşır.
Hiçbir büyü bilmeyen —zihnine kazınmış tek bir büyü dışında— ve Görünmez Üniversite’den kovulan büyücü Rincewind, bir gün Diskdünya’nın ilk turisti İkiçiçek ile tanışır. Uzaklardaki Agatean İmparatorluğu’ndan gelen İkiçiçek; kendisini sürekli takip eden yürüyen sandığı, herkese dağıttığı altınları ve saf, iyi niyetli tavırlarıyla dikkat çeker. Ankh-Morpork şehrinin Patrik’inin de devreye girmesiyle Rincewind, İkiçiçek’in koruyuculuğuna atanır. İkilinin yolu; şehir yangınları, tanrıların zar oyunları, zihinde canlandırılan ejderhaların gerçeğe dönüşmesi, boyutlar arası geçitler, uzay boşluğuna giden gemiler ve türlü büyülü varlıklarla dolu bir maceraya çıkar.
Hızı hiç düşmeyen bu yolculukta, kızıl bir yıldızın Diskdünya’ya yaklaşması Görünmez Üniversite’nin büyücülerini alarma geçirir. Efsanevi büyü kitabı Octavo’da yer alan sekiz büyünün birlikte okunması dünyayı kurtarabilecektir. Ancak sekizinci büyü Rincewind’in zihninde saklıdır. Druidler, troller ve yoldaşlarının da katıldığı bu macerada, Rincewind ve İkiçiçek büyük tehlike karşısında nasıl bir yol izleyecektir?
Terry Pratchett’in mizahi ve yaratıcı diyalogları, kahkaha attıran metaforları ve temposu hiç düşmeyen hikâyesiyle kitaplarını zaten büyük bir keyifle okumuştum. Ancak bu grafik roman; etkileyici görselleri, güçlü atmosferi ve kaliteli baskısıyla aldığım keyfi katladı. Türkçe çevirisi olmasa da, fantastik kurgu ve grafik roman meraklılarına kesinlikle tavsiye ederim.
August 2, 2020
I read the first two Discworld novels quite recently, so I remember them well and I think that the graphical novels are pretty accurate and detailed.. Only a few details have been omitted but that's not a big deal. 😉
The art was awesome and the story has always been one of my favourites, even though most people tend to find it the most lacking in the Discworld stories. For me the combination of Rincewind, Twoflower and Luggage is ingenious! 😆
Most liked characters: Rincewind, Twoflower, Luggage, Cohan
Most disliked characters: -
The art was awesome and the story has always been one of my favourites, even though most people tend to find it the most lacking in the Discworld stories. For me the combination of Rincewind, Twoflower and Luggage is ingenious! 😆
Most liked characters: Rincewind, Twoflower, Luggage, Cohan
Most disliked characters: -
January 7, 2021
Under the "we didn't have much time for respect or caring much" category appears this rather embarrassing thing that has happened. Perhaps Mr. Pratchett is happy with this, and if he is, I salute him and his genius. I suspect, though, he is not pleased with this adaptation. I acknowledge some limitations and elisions must be made for a 4-volume comic adaptation of a mildly lengthy novel: I wasn't hoping for a word-for-word adaptation. And while I haven't read the original novels for about a year, I am fairly certain this takes a few rather important things away, notably the entire Trymon plot of The Light Fantastic. That is a rather large aspect of the novel to eliminate.
I suppose we should be lenient with the limitations of the format, but the general tenor of the work is not one of respect for the source material, as I mentioned earlier. From giving Twoflower four actual eyes (we are still making that mistake, 10+ years later?) to the Octavo and Death scenes, as unimpressive as it sounds in a review, the "feel" is just wrong throughout - even acknowledging these two books have a different feel from most of the rest of the Discworld series (at least what I've read so far). It's like a "Greatest Hits" collection of a favorite band done by some organization that has not heard of the band before, or is only doing radio edits of songs based on money-determining popularity, not a detailed, in-depth love of the band's output as you have. That sort of feel.
This could have been a lot better. I don't even know who the target audience might be these days, now that the much-more enjoyable movie adaptation with David Jason and Sean Austin (the final scene of that adaptation puts the final scene of this graphic novel adaptation to deep, deep shame). If you aren't a die-hard "everything Discworld ever" person, stick to just the book and the movie.
I suppose we should be lenient with the limitations of the format, but the general tenor of the work is not one of respect for the source material, as I mentioned earlier. From giving Twoflower four actual eyes (we are still making that mistake, 10+ years later?) to the Octavo and Death scenes, as unimpressive as it sounds in a review, the "feel" is just wrong throughout - even acknowledging these two books have a different feel from most of the rest of the Discworld series (at least what I've read so far). It's like a "Greatest Hits" collection of a favorite band done by some organization that has not heard of the band before, or is only doing radio edits of songs based on money-determining popularity, not a detailed, in-depth love of the band's output as you have. That sort of feel.
This could have been a lot better. I don't even know who the target audience might be these days, now that the much-more enjoyable movie adaptation with David Jason and Sean Austin (the final scene of that adaptation puts the final scene of this graphic novel adaptation to deep, deep shame). If you aren't a die-hard "everything Discworld ever" person, stick to just the book and the movie.
June 10, 2018
This is definitely the Literary Case of the book(s) being better than the “movie”.
As a devoted Pratchett fan, I’m really glad to have this graphic novel in my collection. I love seeing different artistic interpretations of characters and a setting that I already have my own visual imaginations of.
It’s quite impossible to judge the adaptations on their own merit, having read (and loved!), the source novels first. I found the “translations” to be spotty in some places; I can’t say for certain that this wasn’t simply because I was aware of the elements that didn’t make it in. I did find myself wondering, though, if I would have fully understood the story arc based on the graphic novels alone. I’m not sure I would recommend it as a starting point for the Discworld, except perhaps for those who aren’t too keen on reading to begin with.
Ultimately, too, I think Pratchett is bloody brilliant with his words, and in graphic format so many of those have to be left out*. I read his books as much for the turn of phrase and succinct humour as I do for the actual stories themselves, so when those things are less prevalent, I feel disappointed. That’s not really the fault of Mr Rockwell, though. It’d be tough as poo to choose what stays and what goes.
I thought this was great fun, all in all. But I’d recommend it for those who are already fans, and may enjoy a more visual format of these two novels. And I’ll admit that I’d reread the novels over their graphic counterparts in the future.
*including the bulk of the footnotes, alas.
As a devoted Pratchett fan, I’m really glad to have this graphic novel in my collection. I love seeing different artistic interpretations of characters and a setting that I already have my own visual imaginations of.
It’s quite impossible to judge the adaptations on their own merit, having read (and loved!), the source novels first. I found the “translations” to be spotty in some places; I can’t say for certain that this wasn’t simply because I was aware of the elements that didn’t make it in. I did find myself wondering, though, if I would have fully understood the story arc based on the graphic novels alone. I’m not sure I would recommend it as a starting point for the Discworld, except perhaps for those who aren’t too keen on reading to begin with.
Ultimately, too, I think Pratchett is bloody brilliant with his words, and in graphic format so many of those have to be left out*. I read his books as much for the turn of phrase and succinct humour as I do for the actual stories themselves, so when those things are less prevalent, I feel disappointed. That’s not really the fault of Mr Rockwell, though. It’d be tough as poo to choose what stays and what goes.
I thought this was great fun, all in all. But I’d recommend it for those who are already fans, and may enjoy a more visual format of these two novels. And I’ll admit that I’d reread the novels over their graphic counterparts in the future.
*including the bulk of the footnotes, alas.
July 7, 2017
I dearly love Terry Pratchett's work. He's one of the authors I turn to again and again for a welcome rereading. This graphic novel was not up to snuff (or _Snuff_ either, for that matter). The production values left something to be desired. Occasionally the text would be cut off at the edge of the page, and occasionally the images were slightly blurred. Beyond that, the panels were generally small and difficult to navigate - it wasn't always clear which panel came next in the sequence on the page. As another reviewer has already said, the transitions from setting to setting were tricky. If I hadn't read the book several times already, I'd have been lost a few times. There were also a lot of scenes with scantily clad ladies - and I suppose Pratchett had them as well in the original, but I didn't have to *look* at them in every panel. That said, there were some worthwhile scenes of setting.
December 1, 2017
it's just... ok.
The colors in the art are nice, but storywise this is like the severely abridged version with all the Best Bits MISSING. And lack of explanation on where and why for many scene transitions. And much of the humor severely undercut by aforementioned Best Bits exclusion
Couple things that did stand out for me:
~ Rincewind's robes having the old sweater texture for collar/rolled up sleeves & his un-wizard looking hat
~ Death's scythe looked neat
~ that one page full of "polaroids" from Twoflower's tour of the city
~ The Patrician isn't drawn how the 1st book originally described him, but has more of that "thin dude all in black" as later books have established him
~ minor continuity of Rincewind still wearing the dragon boots in next chapter....
The colors in the art are nice, but storywise this is like the severely abridged version with all the Best Bits MISSING. And lack of explanation on where and why for many scene transitions. And much of the humor severely undercut by aforementioned Best Bits exclusion
Couple things that did stand out for me:
~ Rincewind's robes having the old sweater texture for collar/rolled up sleeves & his un-wizard looking hat
~ Death's scythe looked neat
~ that one page full of "polaroids" from Twoflower's tour of the city
~ The Patrician isn't drawn how the 1st book originally described him, but has more of that "thin dude all in black" as later books have established him
~ minor continuity of Rincewind still wearing the dragon boots in next chapter....
November 28, 2018
I don't do well with series. I peter out pretty quickly and it takes a lot for me to finish the first one and start the second, much less the 7th or whatnot. I was glad to see two graphic novel adaptations of the first two Discworld novels.
That being said, I felt like I was missing out. I know it's an adaptation but it seemed clunky. I felt like I didn't quite get what was going on and was often confused.
Pratchett's trademark wit and humor was scattered throughout but it wasn't enough to sustain the graphic novels. The story itself was good but I will likely stop here. Glad to know these adaptations exist though.
That being said, I felt like I was missing out. I know it's an adaptation but it seemed clunky. I felt like I didn't quite get what was going on and was often confused.
Pratchett's trademark wit and humor was scattered throughout but it wasn't enough to sustain the graphic novels. The story itself was good but I will likely stop here. Glad to know these adaptations exist though.
May 13, 2016
This was a fun adaption from the books. The humour was there and the characters were pretty close to how I imagined them. The style of drawing was typical fantasy and didn't work for me; I expected bold, primary colours and clear cut lines from my experience of the books. More cartoon like to portray the comedy of the stories.
September 28, 2015
I really enjoyed reading about Rincewind again. It was great to reconnect with the beginning of the Discworld series, these were my first encounter with Terry Pratchett and I fell in love. These graphic adaptations were very well done. The art was great and the stories were well told.
January 18, 2013
I think that one of my bigger problems was the art work. It's terrible. Somehow I also think that the books will be better, so I will take that route instead.
January 18, 2014
See my review at www.newsoutherngentleman.wordpress.com or stop by my author page for the link. Thanks for visiting! :-)
April 6, 2018
2.5 Rounding down because I felt like the medium didn't add anything to the story
February 22, 2022
I was lucky enough to come across the hardcover volume of both the first two Discworld books. I had already read The Light Fantastic, but now I got to read The Colour of Magic as well.
These are great companion books to the actual novels, they are fun, well adapted and the artwork is very nice indeed. I do feel like The Light Fantastic is slightly the better of the two; in The Colour Of Magic I think the adaptor (Scott Rockwell) had not quite got into his stride and tended to repeat the same information every chapter. There is a little repetition in TLF, but less so.
The artwork is the same, in both, and generally I quite like it. Luckily there are not too many women in TCOM. This is lucky because as I have previously observed, Steven Ross, the illustrator, seems entirely incapable of drawing a female human as anything but a Playboy illustration. Luckily in the first novel he only has Liessa, dragonlady, to work with and though the chain mail bikini is enough to make strong woman blanch at the notion of chain links rubbing WD40 into their nipples and genitals, it is still not too far from the parody in the actual novel.
The illustrations in Close To The Edge are ones I find particularly good.
One thing I noticed about this hardcover; the QUALITY of the print is actually inferior to the print quality in my stand alone TPB. Go figure, I was surprised.
These are great companion books to the actual novels, they are fun, well adapted and the artwork is very nice indeed. I do feel like The Light Fantastic is slightly the better of the two; in The Colour Of Magic I think the adaptor (Scott Rockwell) had not quite got into his stride and tended to repeat the same information every chapter. There is a little repetition in TLF, but less so.
The artwork is the same, in both, and generally I quite like it. Luckily there are not too many women in TCOM. This is lucky because as I have previously observed, Steven Ross, the illustrator, seems entirely incapable of drawing a female human as anything but a Playboy illustration. Luckily in the first novel he only has Liessa, dragonlady, to work with and though the chain mail bikini is enough to make strong woman blanch at the notion of chain links rubbing WD40 into their nipples and genitals, it is still not too far from the parody in the actual novel.
The illustrations in Close To The Edge are ones I find particularly good.
One thing I noticed about this hardcover; the QUALITY of the print is actually inferior to the print quality in my stand alone TPB. Go figure, I was surprised.
October 31, 2021
I was excited for this, having loved the books it's adapting, but this Sword & Sorcery art style doesn't do Discworld any justice. Paul Kidby is far better. To be perfectly fair, The Colour of Magic & The Light Fantastic are largely parodies of that genre, but I feel that the style is just not whimsical enough. All the colors are washed out and I dislike every character's design. The fact that Rincewind's hat does not say "Wizzard" on it is a crime against the Disc itself
May 5, 2021
I loved The Color of Magic. I loved The Light Fantastic. Loved.
I liked this graphic novel of the two books. Liked.
Sometimes it is better to imagine it in your head.
I liked this graphic novel of the two books. Liked.
Sometimes it is better to imagine it in your head.
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