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Something Wicked This Way Comes: The Authorized Adaptation
Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show howls into Green Town, Illinois, at three in the morning a week before Halloween. Under its carnival tents is a mirror maze that steals wishes; a carousel that promises eternal life, in exchange for your soul; the Dust Witch, who unerringly foresees your death; and Mr. Dark, the Illustrated Man, who has lived for centuries off the misery of others. Only two boys, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, recognize the dark magic at work and have a plan to stop this ancient evil—that is, if it doesn't kill them first.
Something Wicked This Way Comes is Ray Bradbury's incomparable work of dark fantasy, and the gifted illustrator Ron Wimberly has stunningly captured its sinister magic in gorgeously realized black-and-white art. Complete with an original introduction by Bradbury, Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes: The Authorized Adaptation reintroduces this thrilling classic.
Something Wicked This Way Comes is Ray Bradbury's incomparable work of dark fantasy, and the gifted illustrator Ron Wimberly has stunningly captured its sinister magic in gorgeously realized black-and-white art. Complete with an original introduction by Bradbury, Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes: The Authorized Adaptation reintroduces this thrilling classic.
130 pages, Paperback
First published July 19, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
September 4, 2022
I have to say that I feel that I know this story better than I actually do. The reason for this is that I read the book some years ago and have seen the film several times as well. However when I read this authorised graphic novel version of it I felt like there were so many aspects I had either over looked or missed.
That said a graphic novel of less than 150 pages as compared to the original novel (and depending on the version you have considerably more pages) the question always arises what compromises were made to the story.
I have to say that the more I think about it the more I need to go back and read (first find) my edition and compare however the story has all the appeal and magic of Ray Bradburys original work which is hardly surprising as this was an authorised project with a new introduction written by the man himself.
That said a graphic novel of less than 150 pages as compared to the original novel (and depending on the version you have considerably more pages) the question always arises what compromises were made to the story.
I have to say that the more I think about it the more I need to go back and read (first find) my edition and compare however the story has all the appeal and magic of Ray Bradburys original work which is hardly surprising as this was an authorised project with a new introduction written by the man himself.
November 18, 2016
Does not measure up to the actual story. The mood of the book is lost in this format and I found it hard to stay awake finishing this. Read the book instead.
1.5 stars.
1.5 stars.
March 22, 2017
This is the graphic novel adaptation of the Ray Bradbury classic by the same name and has a foreword by Bradbury which blesses this adaptation and provides an insight into what made him write the book in the first place and its adaptations.
The book is well illustrated and portrays the flow of the storyboard in a fluid and intuitive manner. I am not completely sold on the art-style, but when the source material is so good, it takes a backseat and you lose yourself in the narrative. I guess a more colourful and vibrant look would have suited it better considering its based in the setting of a carnival, and the dark themes would have stood out more with the use of more blacks there.
Five stars for the story itself as it is something that resounds with me personally at the crossroads that I am in life. The motifs of aging and the desire to turn back time, the innocence and follies of youth, and all the regrets that come with it. The want to address the beliefs and fears is portrayed beautifully.
The book is well illustrated and portrays the flow of the storyboard in a fluid and intuitive manner. I am not completely sold on the art-style, but when the source material is so good, it takes a backseat and you lose yourself in the narrative. I guess a more colourful and vibrant look would have suited it better considering its based in the setting of a carnival, and the dark themes would have stood out more with the use of more blacks there.
Five stars for the story itself as it is something that resounds with me personally at the crossroads that I am in life. The motifs of aging and the desire to turn back time, the innocence and follies of youth, and all the regrets that come with it. The want to address the beliefs and fears is portrayed beautifully.
January 26, 2012
This authorized adaptation fixed everything that was wrong with the source novel. While I love Ray Bradbury, I found Something Wicked This Way Comes to be overwritten and unnecessarily dense, to the point of being hard to follow at points.
The graphic novel was none of those things, and the remaining story, distilled as it was, was breathtaking and terrifying. It was also beautifully illustrated in black-and-white, and I especially appreciated how the borders were white for the daytime scenes and black for the nighttime scenes.
The graphic novel was none of those things, and the remaining story, distilled as it was, was breathtaking and terrifying. It was also beautifully illustrated in black-and-white, and I especially appreciated how the borders were white for the daytime scenes and black for the nighttime scenes.
September 6, 2011
Ray Bradbury has written some of my favorite books and yet, for some odd reason, I've never read the novel this is adapted from. It's possible I would have enjoyed this graphic adaptation more if I had. I don't know. It was hugely disappointing. Does it count for anything that I liked the cover art?
Reading this felt like I was simply skimming the surface of something great. This book should have been longer to accommodate what I expect was the richness of the source material. I wanted more, so much more. I didn't understand some (most?) of the characters' motivations. The text layout felt awkward. It was a quick, but frustrating read.
Reading this felt like I was simply skimming the surface of something great. This book should have been longer to accommodate what I expect was the richness of the source material. I wanted more, so much more. I didn't understand some (most?) of the characters' motivations. The text layout felt awkward. It was a quick, but frustrating read.
February 24, 2013
[NOTE: I picked this up as an ARC at a conference.]
As far as I know, I haven't read the novel this was based on, and I haven't watched the movie based on the book, so I can't say how it compares to either one of those versions. I can say that I really didn't like this graphic novel.
It's possible that I would have liked either the book or the movie just fine - I thought the story itself was the best part of the graphic novel. There was something slightly creepy and strange about the characters and situation that reminded me of some of Neil Gaiman's writings. Unfortunately, I found myself wishing all too often that I was reading one of Gaiman's Sandman graphic novels instead of this.
Although I did think the story was interesting, it had its problems. Quite a few things were mentioned and then dropped, something that I don't think would have been as much of an issue if this graphic novel had been a bit longer. For instance, the boys' teacher, Miss Foley, makes several appearances. She almost gets trapped in the house of mirrors, and her nephew turns out to actually be a member of the carnival, made younger through the power of the merry-go-round. I don't believe any explanation was ever given for why Miss Foley, in particular, was targeted. At any rate, she shows up again later and then disappears. Nothing is ever said about her again. The same sort of thing happens with the lightning rod salesman.
Another one of this graphic novel's strong points was its characters. Again, some of the little details about them made me think of Neil Gaiman's Sandman graphic novels, in which even minor characters tended to have interesting layers to them. Jim's mother only makes a brief appearance, but during that time we learn that, of her three children, Jim is the only one still alive, and we learn that Jim's father is gone. I imagine Jim's surliness and desire to be older is probably due, at least in part, to a feeling of being smothered by his mother.
Even Will's father is interesting. He's basically a decent man, but he, like Jim, has a weakness that the carnival can exploit. Whereas Jim wants to be older, Will's dad longs to be younger. He must have had Will when he was in his late thirties or early forties, and he regrets not being able to play with his son the way some other dads can.
Although many of the characters have a spark of something interesting, it's a fairly small spark. Like I said, this graphic novel seemed to be a tad too short. The story felt rushed, and so did the characters, but everything was intriguing enough that I might have to see about reading the book sometime. Happily, we have Something Wicked This Way Comes at the library I work at, so I could easily check it out sometime and read it, no ILL necessary.
So, the story and characters were ok. I wasn't a huge fan of the way characters spoke, which did not seem at all like the way real people might speak and made it a little hard to feel for the characters as though they were people. Where this adaptation really fell flat, though, was in its artwork, not a good thing for any graphic novel.
I wasn't a huge fan of the artwork style. I gave it a pass, though, because its slight strangeness fit with the slight strangeness of the story. I tend to prefer artwork that is prettier and presents characters in a more consistent way. I can't say that Wimberly's artwork is very pretty (which might not have worked well for this story anyway). I also can't say that the characters were very consistently drawn. That, in particular, was a bit of a problem, since Jim and Will kept saying how they recognized adults who'd been made younger by the merry-go-round because of how their eyes looked - if it hadn't been for them saying that these children were the adults, I wouldn't have been able to tell who they were based on their looks. Also, people didn't necessarily look the same from one panel to the next. I might've been more willing to forgive this if there hadn't been so many other things about this graphic novel that I didn't like.
What other things didn't I like? I could make a whole list. The flow from one panel to the next wasn't always very good - it wasn't always clear to me what path my eyes should be following, and, in a few instances, I read some word bubbles in the wrong order because of the way they were situated. Then there were my issues with how the text and artwork worked together...or didn't work together. In a good graphic novel, the text and the artwork are parts of a whole. I had a feeling that this graphic novel was too wedded to the original text - I'd be willing to bet that all or most of this graphic novel's blocks of narrative text were taken straight from Bradbury's novel. A little of that is ok, but it felt like whoever was primarily responsible for adapting this work into graphic novel form (Bradbury? Wimberly?) was either too fond of the original text or didn't trust the artwork enough. It's also possible that all that narrative text was meant to act as a crutch, to fill in for what the graphic novel wasn't long enough to get across.
While I was reading, though, "lack of trust in the artwork" and/or "over-fondness for the original text" seemed like stronger possibilities. When Will and Jim watch the merry-go-round in action for the first time, the panels show Mr. Cooger on a merry-go-round horse, getting younger, while the text describes Will and Jim's reactions and what they are seeing. I know that Mr. Cooger got younger because the text says he went from an adult to seventeen, sixteen, and finally to twelve years old. Without the narrative text, I probably would have assumed that the merry-go-round had turned Mr. Cooger into an entirely different person who happened to be a dwarf, because he sure didn't look like a 12-year-old to me. Of course, since the artwork was so inconsistent, this wasn't true all the time - sometimes he looked like a small adult, and sometimes he actually looked somewhat like a child.
Later, when Jim and Will bring a police officer to the carnival in an attempt to help Mr. Cooger, who had been greatly aged by the merry-go-round, the narrative text describes several of the carnival's workers. I at first thought that the blocks of text had been placed near the people they were describing, but I couldn't even find any of those people in the artwork.
Not only did the text sometimes describe things that weren't shown in the artwork (and that probably should have been), sometimes the text and the artwork were completely at odds with each other. The best example I can think of is when Will's dad's hand gets crushed. At first, the hand that gets grabbed and crushed is his right hand. Then, in the next panel, you can see that the hand that is actually being crushed is his left. The text specifically says that it was his left hand that was crushed, and in some panels it is indeed his left arm that he grips in pain. Then, in one panel, he's griping his right arm. Later, Will's father's right hand is shown to be bandaged. So, tell me, which hand was it that he really hurt? Either way, the pain and damage can't have been that bad, because he had no trouble holding a harmonica with his bandaged hand. I've never dealt with graphic novel ARCs before, so I don't know if it's possible that these artwork mistakes might be fixed before the book is released. These kinds of errors certainly aren't as easy to fix as typos in the text.
Overall, I thought this graphic novel could have been much better. Even when it was at its best, all it accomplished was to make me wish I were reading something else, either the original book, which I suspect was quite a bit better, or any graphic novel that it reminded me of.
(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
As far as I know, I haven't read the novel this was based on, and I haven't watched the movie based on the book, so I can't say how it compares to either one of those versions. I can say that I really didn't like this graphic novel.
It's possible that I would have liked either the book or the movie just fine - I thought the story itself was the best part of the graphic novel. There was something slightly creepy and strange about the characters and situation that reminded me of some of Neil Gaiman's writings. Unfortunately, I found myself wishing all too often that I was reading one of Gaiman's Sandman graphic novels instead of this.
Although I did think the story was interesting, it had its problems. Quite a few things were mentioned and then dropped, something that I don't think would have been as much of an issue if this graphic novel had been a bit longer. For instance, the boys' teacher, Miss Foley, makes several appearances. She almost gets trapped in the house of mirrors, and her nephew turns out to actually be a member of the carnival, made younger through the power of the merry-go-round. I don't believe any explanation was ever given for why Miss Foley, in particular, was targeted. At any rate, she shows up again later and then disappears. Nothing is ever said about her again. The same sort of thing happens with the lightning rod salesman.
Another one of this graphic novel's strong points was its characters. Again, some of the little details about them made me think of Neil Gaiman's Sandman graphic novels, in which even minor characters tended to have interesting layers to them. Jim's mother only makes a brief appearance, but during that time we learn that, of her three children, Jim is the only one still alive, and we learn that Jim's father is gone. I imagine Jim's surliness and desire to be older is probably due, at least in part, to a feeling of being smothered by his mother.
Even Will's father is interesting. He's basically a decent man, but he, like Jim, has a weakness that the carnival can exploit. Whereas Jim wants to be older, Will's dad longs to be younger. He must have had Will when he was in his late thirties or early forties, and he regrets not being able to play with his son the way some other dads can.
Although many of the characters have a spark of something interesting, it's a fairly small spark. Like I said, this graphic novel seemed to be a tad too short. The story felt rushed, and so did the characters, but everything was intriguing enough that I might have to see about reading the book sometime. Happily, we have Something Wicked This Way Comes at the library I work at, so I could easily check it out sometime and read it, no ILL necessary.
So, the story and characters were ok. I wasn't a huge fan of the way characters spoke, which did not seem at all like the way real people might speak and made it a little hard to feel for the characters as though they were people. Where this adaptation really fell flat, though, was in its artwork, not a good thing for any graphic novel.
I wasn't a huge fan of the artwork style. I gave it a pass, though, because its slight strangeness fit with the slight strangeness of the story. I tend to prefer artwork that is prettier and presents characters in a more consistent way. I can't say that Wimberly's artwork is very pretty (which might not have worked well for this story anyway). I also can't say that the characters were very consistently drawn. That, in particular, was a bit of a problem, since Jim and Will kept saying how they recognized adults who'd been made younger by the merry-go-round because of how their eyes looked - if it hadn't been for them saying that these children were the adults, I wouldn't have been able to tell who they were based on their looks. Also, people didn't necessarily look the same from one panel to the next. I might've been more willing to forgive this if there hadn't been so many other things about this graphic novel that I didn't like.
What other things didn't I like? I could make a whole list. The flow from one panel to the next wasn't always very good - it wasn't always clear to me what path my eyes should be following, and, in a few instances, I read some word bubbles in the wrong order because of the way they were situated. Then there were my issues with how the text and artwork worked together...or didn't work together. In a good graphic novel, the text and the artwork are parts of a whole. I had a feeling that this graphic novel was too wedded to the original text - I'd be willing to bet that all or most of this graphic novel's blocks of narrative text were taken straight from Bradbury's novel. A little of that is ok, but it felt like whoever was primarily responsible for adapting this work into graphic novel form (Bradbury? Wimberly?) was either too fond of the original text or didn't trust the artwork enough. It's also possible that all that narrative text was meant to act as a crutch, to fill in for what the graphic novel wasn't long enough to get across.
While I was reading, though, "lack of trust in the artwork" and/or "over-fondness for the original text" seemed like stronger possibilities. When Will and Jim watch the merry-go-round in action for the first time, the panels show Mr. Cooger on a merry-go-round horse, getting younger, while the text describes Will and Jim's reactions and what they are seeing. I know that Mr. Cooger got younger because the text says he went from an adult to seventeen, sixteen, and finally to twelve years old. Without the narrative text, I probably would have assumed that the merry-go-round had turned Mr. Cooger into an entirely different person who happened to be a dwarf, because he sure didn't look like a 12-year-old to me. Of course, since the artwork was so inconsistent, this wasn't true all the time - sometimes he looked like a small adult, and sometimes he actually looked somewhat like a child.
Later, when Jim and Will bring a police officer to the carnival in an attempt to help Mr. Cooger, who had been greatly aged by the merry-go-round, the narrative text describes several of the carnival's workers. I at first thought that the blocks of text had been placed near the people they were describing, but I couldn't even find any of those people in the artwork.
Not only did the text sometimes describe things that weren't shown in the artwork (and that probably should have been), sometimes the text and the artwork were completely at odds with each other. The best example I can think of is when Will's dad's hand gets crushed. At first, the hand that gets grabbed and crushed is his right hand. Then, in the next panel, you can see that the hand that is actually being crushed is his left. The text specifically says that it was his left hand that was crushed, and in some panels it is indeed his left arm that he grips in pain. Then, in one panel, he's griping his right arm. Later, Will's father's right hand is shown to be bandaged. So, tell me, which hand was it that he really hurt? Either way, the pain and damage can't have been that bad, because he had no trouble holding a harmonica with his bandaged hand. I've never dealt with graphic novel ARCs before, so I don't know if it's possible that these artwork mistakes might be fixed before the book is released. These kinds of errors certainly aren't as easy to fix as typos in the text.
Overall, I thought this graphic novel could have been much better. Even when it was at its best, all it accomplished was to make me wish I were reading something else, either the original book, which I suspect was quite a bit better, or any graphic novel that it reminded me of.
(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
November 7, 2015
I read this graphic-novel in tandem with the original novel just to see how such a psycho/philosophical work would translate visually.
It doesn't.
So much of Something Wicked hinges on what goes on inside characters' heads: desires, regrets and pain are integral to the plot. But none of those (except for maybe Jim's wish) come across in the art.
Some terrors simply don't translate visually; CGI versions of huge "monster" spiders instead make the audience laugh.
At times, though, the art in the graphic novel "works," especially when entire scenes seem drawn from a single splotch of black ink. And every word chosen for inclusion draws the reader's attention, such as the sideshow signs hanging "like sad albatrosses," which -- as revealed later -- is a particularly appropriate image.
But he adaptation also almost completely excises Bradbury's brilliant, e.e. cummings-esque adjectives that sparkle on every page of the original: the "dragon-glide" of the train, the "lovely gliding, ride-around summer," the "full-wept calliope."
The graphic novel also has several continuity errors, such as the direction the carousel horses are facing from one frame to another (which might or might not be intentional), and the "it" the barber is talking about leaving on, and Jim's sudden presence among the wax dummies.
Large pieces of the story are left out, while some entire pages are allotted for what in the novel are trivial scenes.
Anyone reading the graphic novel without reading the novel itself is missing most of the story.
It doesn't.
So much of Something Wicked hinges on what goes on inside characters' heads: desires, regrets and pain are integral to the plot. But none of those (except for maybe Jim's wish) come across in the art.
Some terrors simply don't translate visually; CGI versions of huge "monster" spiders instead make the audience laugh.
At times, though, the art in the graphic novel "works," especially when entire scenes seem drawn from a single splotch of black ink. And every word chosen for inclusion draws the reader's attention, such as the sideshow signs hanging "like sad albatrosses," which -- as revealed later -- is a particularly appropriate image.
But he adaptation also almost completely excises Bradbury's brilliant, e.e. cummings-esque adjectives that sparkle on every page of the original: the "dragon-glide" of the train, the "lovely gliding, ride-around summer," the "full-wept calliope."
The graphic novel also has several continuity errors, such as the direction the carousel horses are facing from one frame to another (which might or might not be intentional), and the "it" the barber is talking about leaving on, and Jim's sudden presence among the wax dummies.
Large pieces of the story are left out, while some entire pages are allotted for what in the novel are trivial scenes.
Anyone reading the graphic novel without reading the novel itself is missing most of the story.
August 30, 2011
I would count Bradbury's Martian Chronicles, Something Wicked This Way Comes and Dandelion Wine as some of my all-time favorite books. I'm also quite familiar with Wimberly's artwork, so I had pretty high expectations for this. While both the plot and Wimberly's art are great, I was really annoyed with how text-heavy it is. There are many pages----especially in the beginning----where the word balloons crowd out the pictures. I understand the desire to get Bradbury's words in there because his works are filled with really nice prose, but a graphic novel is not the place for it. At least not this much of it all at once. When you get to this point it ceases being a graphic novel and pushes more into the illustrated novel format. Add to it a really sub-par printing job (shame on FSG for letting this out the door), getting through this was a chore for me.
Despite these shortcomings, there are some really strong moments; when the story enters straight action Wimberly really takes control and shows he really can tell a story visually. The climactic ending is done particularly well and is largely the reason I gave this 3 stars instead of 2. I may be wrong but my gut feel is that Bradbury or someone working for him really exerted too much control over the end product. A shame, because this could have been something really special.
Despite these shortcomings, there are some really strong moments; when the story enters straight action Wimberly really takes control and shows he really can tell a story visually. The climactic ending is done particularly well and is largely the reason I gave this 3 stars instead of 2. I may be wrong but my gut feel is that Bradbury or someone working for him really exerted too much control over the end product. A shame, because this could have been something really special.
September 21, 2019
Almost as good as the book.
This was one of the first Bradbury stories that I ever read. So when I found out its a comic, I was pretty excited! And its a pretty good read. The devil comes to town with a carnival, Jim NIghtshade and Will Halloway are the only ones onto his schemes. Its quick, it only took 2 hours to get through. I would recommend reading it in one sitting if you can, there's not as many places to pause as there is in the book. Something I noticed is there was a lot of the foreshadowing taken out, they would just show things instead of leading up to it. Its not a problem, Ray himself helped with the adaptation, but if this is the first time encountering the story I would recommend the book. Another thing that I would have liked to see was color. Either over the conversations so you can tell who is speaking a little bit better or just in the setting. Its fall/ halloween time so I imagine a lot of orange for this story. Theres also this part with a barbers pole that would have been cool to see but, the book is still the best place for Rays imagery. If you know the story its a great way to see the characters come to life, if you've never read it, the book might give you more of a thrill... Either way its better than the movie.
This was one of the first Bradbury stories that I ever read. So when I found out its a comic, I was pretty excited! And its a pretty good read. The devil comes to town with a carnival, Jim NIghtshade and Will Halloway are the only ones onto his schemes. Its quick, it only took 2 hours to get through. I would recommend reading it in one sitting if you can, there's not as many places to pause as there is in the book. Something I noticed is there was a lot of the foreshadowing taken out, they would just show things instead of leading up to it. Its not a problem, Ray himself helped with the adaptation, but if this is the first time encountering the story I would recommend the book. Another thing that I would have liked to see was color. Either over the conversations so you can tell who is speaking a little bit better or just in the setting. Its fall/ halloween time so I imagine a lot of orange for this story. Theres also this part with a barbers pole that would have been cool to see but, the book is still the best place for Rays imagery. If you know the story its a great way to see the characters come to life, if you've never read it, the book might give you more of a thrill... Either way its better than the movie.
February 24, 2025
This adaptation just didn't work for me.
Having read the original book and seen the Disney movie as a kid, this comic was already at a disadvantage when I picked it up. So I cut it some slack. But it was still a letdown.
The story doesn't flow well in this adaptation. Necessary transitions between scenes are missing, especially toward the end. Things just happen suddenly. Yet, at other times the events are drawn out. Feels like the author did not map out how the story would unfold over the pages. For example, the carousel that makes people older or younger was not depicted in an interesting way, requiring the two boys to explain it instead. Meanwhile the boys just wandering the town's streets and climbing trees both get plenty of panels.
The art style is unique, but it felt like the image of a lithe character running headlong was repeated a lot. It was dynamic, but not much variety.
I did enjoy the attention given to the Dust Witch and the hot air balloon used to roam the town at night. Those were in the original book, but the witch was scaled back and the balloon absent from the movie.
Apart from that though, the graphic novel's carnival was largely missing the macabre menace that it had in the movie and original book.
This adaptation does delve into the boys' friendship and their personalities pretty well, including Will's fear that Jim is going to abandon him. But other themes from the source material are largely lacking here.
Having read the original book and seen the Disney movie as a kid, this comic was already at a disadvantage when I picked it up. So I cut it some slack. But it was still a letdown.
The story doesn't flow well in this adaptation. Necessary transitions between scenes are missing, especially toward the end. Things just happen suddenly. Yet, at other times the events are drawn out. Feels like the author did not map out how the story would unfold over the pages. For example, the carousel that makes people older or younger was not depicted in an interesting way, requiring the two boys to explain it instead. Meanwhile the boys just wandering the town's streets and climbing trees both get plenty of panels.
The art style is unique, but it felt like the image of a lithe character running headlong was repeated a lot. It was dynamic, but not much variety.
I did enjoy the attention given to the Dust Witch and the hot air balloon used to roam the town at night. Those were in the original book, but the witch was scaled back and the balloon absent from the movie.
Apart from that though, the graphic novel's carnival was largely missing the macabre menace that it had in the movie and original book.
This adaptation does delve into the boys' friendship and their personalities pretty well, including Will's fear that Jim is going to abandon him. But other themes from the source material are largely lacking here.
February 27, 2024
Graphic novel raised to 4.5 stars.
Creepy and eerie black & white drawings paired with the words of the genius, Ray Bradbury!
Creepy and eerie black & white drawings paired with the words of the genius, Ray Bradbury!
November 17, 2012
I had one of those horrible graphic novel experiences with this book. See, I love graphic novels and I definitely love that so many classics are being done in graphic form. I think that it adds value to the graphic genre, not to sound snobby, and adds excitement to the classics. There is nothing wrong with making old favorites into something new.
I have never read a whole Ray Bradbury novel. I read bits and pieces in junior high and I always meant to read more eventually but it hasn't happened yet.
Now I cannot wait to read this in novel form.
What a cool story! I was trying to describe it to my fiance the other day and all I could really come up with without giving up plot points was, "It's kind of like Stephen King. It's really cool and weird and a little wordy but it's wordy like Poe." That's exactly how it felt to me. The graphic form really works for this book too. It feels like it was made to be graphic. (Which, I kind of suppose it was because it was originally a screenplay.)
This is the story of Will and Jim, two best friends to live next door to each other. With Halloween just a week away, it is odd for a carnival to come to town but it does. Boys will be boys and the two friends sneak out to see the carnival being set up. Just this small act is enough to set into motion a battle between the boys and the carnival, good and evil, hurry and doing things in their own time.
This was a great story, very exciting and amusing, and the illustrations really helped to carry the book forward. Well done.
I have never read a whole Ray Bradbury novel. I read bits and pieces in junior high and I always meant to read more eventually but it hasn't happened yet.
Now I cannot wait to read this in novel form.
What a cool story! I was trying to describe it to my fiance the other day and all I could really come up with without giving up plot points was, "It's kind of like Stephen King. It's really cool and weird and a little wordy but it's wordy like Poe." That's exactly how it felt to me. The graphic form really works for this book too. It feels like it was made to be graphic. (Which, I kind of suppose it was because it was originally a screenplay.)
This is the story of Will and Jim, two best friends to live next door to each other. With Halloween just a week away, it is odd for a carnival to come to town but it does. Boys will be boys and the two friends sneak out to see the carnival being set up. Just this small act is enough to set into motion a battle between the boys and the carnival, good and evil, hurry and doing things in their own time.
This was a great story, very exciting and amusing, and the illustrations really helped to carry the book forward. Well done.
May 8, 2012
"'Because you need fuel, gas, something to run a carnival on, don't you? Maybe the carnival survives, living off the poison of the sins we do each other, and the ferment of our most terrible regrets.'"
Set in Green Town, Illinois, at the onset of fall, two almost-fourteen year-old boys meet a strange lightning-rod salesman passing through their town. The foreboding of the salesman, who tells them that a storm is coming, couples with townspeople who also sense something different in the air. Soon afterwards, the boys learn that a traveling carnival is set to begin the following day. The carnival, led by the mysterious Mr. Dark, beckons to all with its strange and sinister appeal, and the boys soon discover that behind the smoke and mirrors, lies a very real nightmare.
Adapted from Bradbury's short story/novel, this graphic adaptation covers the plot well enough, and the depictions of characters (particularly Mr. Dark and his body illustrations) are excellent. Still, there was something missing here, and it may just be because I've always loved the novel, and nothing could suitably stand in for it except the original. Another element that bothered me was the use of black and white. Wimberly does a great job with shading, but I think I wanted to see the carnival is outlandish and ghoulish colors, along with the colors of autumn in the town. Overall, a good adaptation, but don't let it substitute for the master text.
Set in Green Town, Illinois, at the onset of fall, two almost-fourteen year-old boys meet a strange lightning-rod salesman passing through their town. The foreboding of the salesman, who tells them that a storm is coming, couples with townspeople who also sense something different in the air. Soon afterwards, the boys learn that a traveling carnival is set to begin the following day. The carnival, led by the mysterious Mr. Dark, beckons to all with its strange and sinister appeal, and the boys soon discover that behind the smoke and mirrors, lies a very real nightmare.
Adapted from Bradbury's short story/novel, this graphic adaptation covers the plot well enough, and the depictions of characters (particularly Mr. Dark and his body illustrations) are excellent. Still, there was something missing here, and it may just be because I've always loved the novel, and nothing could suitably stand in for it except the original. Another element that bothered me was the use of black and white. Wimberly does a great job with shading, but I think I wanted to see the carnival is outlandish and ghoulish colors, along with the colors of autumn in the town. Overall, a good adaptation, but don't let it substitute for the master text.
June 27, 2015
Midsummer wasn't really the best time to start reading a book which is clearly set in October and has an emotional quality that is pretty dependent on the season, but I needed work on reading my graphic novel collection so I read it anyways. In comparison to the novel, I felt like the adaptation was missing something. The brevity that is required of graphic novels (and this was a particularly short volume) doesn't really do enough to capture Bradbury's eloquence, so I felt like I couldn't really get into the characters and that the strangeness of the circus was barely developed. The scenarios that were needed to bring the story to it's climax were so shortened by the adaptor that unless the reader has already gotten the whole story from the novel it's not really possible to understand the importance of the Dust Witch, the House of Mirrors, or the dynamic between the Jim and Willy. The one aspect of the story which they thankfully retained in most of its entirety was the role that the Will's father played; the boys are protagonists of the story, but it is their continual reliance on adults (who still understand childhood) that helps them defeat the danger of the circus for the time being. I think I'm going to have to go and read the actual novel again, so that the best parts of the story are refreshed in my memory.
November 28, 2014
As much as I love Bradbury’s work overall, Something Wicked This Way Comes was always very so-so to me. While I like the premise of the story, the writing was a bit too flowery and dense, and it sort of made the book difficult to wade through. That being said, this adaptation into graphic novel form is very true and faithful to the book all the while giving the themes and characters the right touch.
Because this story has such a symbolic level of meaning, it really works well in graphic novel form. In the world, there are good and dark forces, and the evil forces can come in many shapes. When Cooger and Dark’s Show comes into town, a sinister atmosphere beckons the citizens to come and see the attractions.…Ron Wimberly perfectly captures and illustrates the essence of the plot here, both with the interactions between Will and Jim, and their encounters with Mr. Dark. The carnivalesque, dark atmosphere and fantasy are illustrated in true form.
Graphic novels aren’t really my niche, but this was a very enjoyable book. I think Bradbury fans should give this one a go and check it out. There is also an introduction in this edition by Bradbury.
Because this story has such a symbolic level of meaning, it really works well in graphic novel form. In the world, there are good and dark forces, and the evil forces can come in many shapes. When Cooger and Dark’s Show comes into town, a sinister atmosphere beckons the citizens to come and see the attractions.…Ron Wimberly perfectly captures and illustrates the essence of the plot here, both with the interactions between Will and Jim, and their encounters with Mr. Dark. The carnivalesque, dark atmosphere and fantasy are illustrated in true form.
Graphic novels aren’t really my niche, but this was a very enjoyable book. I think Bradbury fans should give this one a go and check it out. There is also an introduction in this edition by Bradbury.
October 16, 2022
Reading the novel for the first time just prior to reading this graphic novel adaptation may have been an error on my part. This version was lackluster for me for a variety of different reasons. Important plot points were overlooked, there were unnecessary additions that I felt did nothing for the story, and the art, while interestingly surreal, was never quite as horrific as the visions I'd conjured in my own head while reading the original work. Still worth reading but not at all on par with the source.
October 5, 2023
I gave up, I just don't like nor care for the content, and the writing style couldn't hold my attention. As mysterious as it is, I just don't care enough to understand or wait to see what happens. I tried to "read" this in so many ways: audiobook, e-book, graphic novel, audiobook with different narrators. It's clearly not for me.
August 6, 2024
1.5 picked this up from my local library randomly
the art was ok but black and white really ? No color ?
Hate is a strong word but I really didn’t like the read. The first 3 pages of this I wanted to drop this book but I faced it head on and finished. The story , I didn’t really care for it and just couldn’t properly keep up with the narrative lines. So I did more skimming than I did reading.
I didn’t start engaging or started get intrigued from the story intill page 85 or part III of the book.
This just wasn’t for me …
the art was ok but black and white really ? No color ?
Hate is a strong word but I really didn’t like the read. The first 3 pages of this I wanted to drop this book but I faced it head on and finished. The story , I didn’t really care for it and just couldn’t properly keep up with the narrative lines. So I did more skimming than I did reading.
I didn’t start engaging or started get intrigued from the story intill page 85 or part III of the book.
This just wasn’t for me …
August 5, 2025
I have loved this book for years and my husband, bless his heart, bought this version by accident while trying to find me a nice, hardcover edition. I never knew a graphic novel version existed and it is SO GOOD! The illustrations are amazing and it is now a prized part of my Ray Bradbury collection. My kids are very into spooky stories as well so this makes it easier for them to appreciate a fantastic book.
January 5, 2024
I’m not sure this book got translated into graphic novel as well as it could have. I felt like I was missing something in a few places and was constantly confused as to how we got to a certain place.
I do believe I would enjoy this story more in the actual novel form.
I do believe I would enjoy this story more in the actual novel form.
October 31, 2024
Stylish, atmospheric art, with strong use of black, white, and great tones, though far too often too darkly printed. Occasionally fails at the elements of storytelling in both a technical sense and in imparting the specifics of Bradbury's novel.
October 16, 2023
pretty good adaptation.
down side is that it reminded me
that Ray Bradbury is a bit long winded
I kind of want to reread the book, but
I remember it being a bit of a slog.
down side is that it reminded me
that Ray Bradbury is a bit long winded
I kind of want to reread the book, but
I remember it being a bit of a slog.
April 28, 2024
An interesting version of a Bradbury classic. Easily read in one day. Even after all these years, Bradbury's tales of the unusual are still great to read.
July 16, 2024
What the fuck happened in this book? I could not tell you.
October 11, 2024
I like the art style and the character's design. They nailed it👌👌👌
November 7, 2024
A Classic Reinvented!!
June 25, 2025
2.5 stars
May 16, 2023
Read in a sitting cause i had to
Fire
Fire
November 1, 2019
In the fictional graphic novel, Something Wicked this Way Comes, Ray
Bradbury describes two neighbors named Will Holloway and Jim Nightshade. It
opens with a man walking up to the boys, that are sitting in front of their
houses. He asks for there names and they describe that will was born one
minute before midnight on October thirtieth and Nightshade was born one
minute after midnight on October thirty first, Halloween.
The boys find a paper blowing in the wind. As they finally
catch it, they find that it is about a carnival that is coming to town
tomorrow. That night they hear church music and think it is carnival, so
they go out to see what it is. They find people setting up the carnival in
the woods, yet it is spookily quiet. As they make it to the carnival, they
find that it is a plain old carnival. The sun rose and the boys find Miss
Foley, she is a teacher of the boys. And the Will and Jim find a carousel
that seems to be broken down, but it looks perfectly fine. A man named Mr.
Dark tells them to get out because it is out of order. They watch as
another man named Mr. Cogger gets on the carousel and it starts to move
faster and faster. As it moves the man gets younger and younger, until he
is 12 years old. In whatever universe this is in, there is a type of magic
that can be transformed through a carousel. In some parts of the book, you
get to look at what the character is thinking at the time, such as when Jim
and Will are at Miss Foleys house and they see Mr. Cogger there. Mr. Cogger
was acting like he was Miss Foleys nephew. Mr. Cogger saw the boys when he
was on the carousel and that’s why he is trying to stop the boys before
they can tell anyone about what they saw. After a big turn of events
happens, Will and Jim face more challenges then you can imagine. I liked
this book other than, the fact that it left me hung out to dry many times,
not knowing what was going on.
Overall the book is about two friends trying to escape
black magic before it can kill them. I would not recommend this book. It
left me confused many times on who characters where and how they were
introduced. This book is very jumpy and made me go back to the beginning,
multiple times to try and figure out who this person is and how they came
into the story or I would mix up characters. I think that this book could
be good for a certain person, it’s just not me. I was more confused in the
beginning of the book. Toward the end it started to pick and make more
sense to me. The boys and Wills dad planned on how to stop the Carnival and
its dark magic. This explained more to me on what was going on in the story.
Bradbury describes two neighbors named Will Holloway and Jim Nightshade. It
opens with a man walking up to the boys, that are sitting in front of their
houses. He asks for there names and they describe that will was born one
minute before midnight on October thirtieth and Nightshade was born one
minute after midnight on October thirty first, Halloween.
The boys find a paper blowing in the wind. As they finally
catch it, they find that it is about a carnival that is coming to town
tomorrow. That night they hear church music and think it is carnival, so
they go out to see what it is. They find people setting up the carnival in
the woods, yet it is spookily quiet. As they make it to the carnival, they
find that it is a plain old carnival. The sun rose and the boys find Miss
Foley, she is a teacher of the boys. And the Will and Jim find a carousel
that seems to be broken down, but it looks perfectly fine. A man named Mr.
Dark tells them to get out because it is out of order. They watch as
another man named Mr. Cogger gets on the carousel and it starts to move
faster and faster. As it moves the man gets younger and younger, until he
is 12 years old. In whatever universe this is in, there is a type of magic
that can be transformed through a carousel. In some parts of the book, you
get to look at what the character is thinking at the time, such as when Jim
and Will are at Miss Foleys house and they see Mr. Cogger there. Mr. Cogger
was acting like he was Miss Foleys nephew. Mr. Cogger saw the boys when he
was on the carousel and that’s why he is trying to stop the boys before
they can tell anyone about what they saw. After a big turn of events
happens, Will and Jim face more challenges then you can imagine. I liked
this book other than, the fact that it left me hung out to dry many times,
not knowing what was going on.
Overall the book is about two friends trying to escape
black magic before it can kill them. I would not recommend this book. It
left me confused many times on who characters where and how they were
introduced. This book is very jumpy and made me go back to the beginning,
multiple times to try and figure out who this person is and how they came
into the story or I would mix up characters. I think that this book could
be good for a certain person, it’s just not me. I was more confused in the
beginning of the book. Toward the end it started to pick and make more
sense to me. The boys and Wills dad planned on how to stop the Carnival and
its dark magic. This explained more to me on what was going on in the story.
May 13, 2016
'Because you need fuel, gas, something to run a carnival on, don't you? Maybe the carnival survives, living off the poison of the sins we do each other, and the ferment of our most terrible regrets.'
This graphic novel is an interpretation of Bradbury’s story of a sinister night circus that changes the lives of two best friends, Will and Jim. I am a fan of Ray Bradbury’s writing so this was really entertaining to read.
Rendered in a more visual format, this story comes alive with Wimberly’s illustrations. However, given the need for brevity, I felt that some important plot points were missing or there were apparent gaps. It felt like I was only able to explore the surface of a rich story. It’s also text heavy but I don’t blame Wimberly since Bradbury’s words are amazing.
Nonetheless, the artwork is well done and striking. Wimberly managed to capture the eerie atmosphere that is essential to the story. And this succeeded in encouraging me to read the source material.
He gathered the boy somewhat closer and thought, Evil has only the power that we give it. I give you nothing. I take back. Starve. Starve. Starve.
This graphic novel is an interpretation of Bradbury’s story of a sinister night circus that changes the lives of two best friends, Will and Jim. I am a fan of Ray Bradbury’s writing so this was really entertaining to read.
Rendered in a more visual format, this story comes alive with Wimberly’s illustrations. However, given the need for brevity, I felt that some important plot points were missing or there were apparent gaps. It felt like I was only able to explore the surface of a rich story. It’s also text heavy but I don’t blame Wimberly since Bradbury’s words are amazing.
Nonetheless, the artwork is well done and striking. Wimberly managed to capture the eerie atmosphere that is essential to the story. And this succeeded in encouraging me to read the source material.
He gathered the boy somewhat closer and thought, Evil has only the power that we give it. I give you nothing. I take back. Starve. Starve. Starve.
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