2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Library Book, April 18 2010
By DC_Fan_52 "-Weasel!" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Jungle Book (Hardcover)
I did not know what to expect from IDW's Graphic Classics line. Other reviews on Amazon for other titles in the line have their reviews merged with copies for the ordinary books. I assure you, this is a review of IDW's comic book version of the Jungle Book, with the boy wearing a loincloth on the cover, standing next to a brown bear, a black panther, and a tiger in the background.
I can only judge this book by its own merits, since I am unfamiliar with Kipling's original version, and am certainly not going to judge it by Disney's version of the Jungle Book.
Holding it in my hands I am reminded of a child's library book, it's big and thin, and filled with pictures. This art inside by Teiko is great, wolves, bears, and tigers look like real animals, and the human faces are unique and expressive, everything you could ask for from an artist. The writing itself is hard to judge, the animals have a pattern to the way they speak, which sounds stilted and a bit awkward, but I get the feeling it's supposed to sound that way. The story also moves quickly, so it makes me wonder, how much of it was abridged, only someone who has read the real Jungle Book by Kipling could tell you for sure.
The story is only forty pages long. The book also contains some extras, such as a short Bio on Rudyard Kipling, a look at his works, details about the world at the time of Jungle Book's printing, and short excerpts from the original novel.
There is some blood, but no real gore. And there's also naked baby Mowgli, full frontal for three panels so keep that in mind if you're buying this for young children.
It's a nice HARD Hardcover, with good paper quality inside, and nice size print. Maybe I'll get a more of these, and start myself a library.