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are involved that it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate one from the other. At least when you read the books, their names are spelled out so you don’t have to wonder who is saying what all the time.
One of the magical things about reading the fantasy genre is that you can use your imagination to picture the characters, scenes, and locations in your head as you read. Translating the novel to visual media such as TV, movies, and comics takes the fun out of letting your imagination run wild. Instead of your idea of what something or someone looks like, you are given an artist’s impression of it, making it nigh impossible to form your own images (just like how it is almost impossible to picture Legolas as anyone but Orlando Bloom after you’ve watched the Lord Of The Rings movies).
While the Game Of Thrones comic book is not bad (the fights and battles are especially fun to read), and tries hard to stay true to its original material, the visuals just take away too much of the magic of imagining your own fantasy world. Also, when I read the books, I certainly didn’t imagine Cersei to look like a Disney princess!
I recently met Will Simpson, veteran comic artist and storyboard artist for the Game Of Thrones TV series in Kuala Lumpur, and asked him about the comic. This was what he had to say: “It seems to be very manga style in its approach. For me, it’s almost too clean. The world is definitely European, so in a weird way, it feels like it should have a grittier style, like in the Conan The Barbarian stuff.
“If you look at the Conan work of John Buscema and Barry Smith, there’s a beautiful strength and realism to their worlds – and this version doesn’t quite get it.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.