Author Cormac McCarthy may have passed away in 2023, but his work certainly lives on. And now that work is being adapted to the comic book medium for the first time, as Abrams Books publishes a graphic novel adaptation of 2006's The Road.
With Cormac McCarthy's The Road: A Graphic Novel Adaptation in bookstores and comic shops now, IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of this haunting adaptation, Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:
Cormac McCarthy's The Road: A Graphic Novel Adaptation is adapted and illustrated by French cartoonist Manu Larcenet. Larcenet wrote to McCarthy before his death to seek permission for the adaptation, which McCarthy granted. The following is an excerpt from Larcenet's letter:
I loved The Road for the atmosphere it creates. Most likely because I enjoy drawing the snow, the chilling winds, the dark clouds, the sizzling rain, tangles and snags, rust, and the damp and the humidity. I draw violence and kindness, wild animals, dirty skin, pits, and stagnant water. I enjoy the contrast between the characters and their environment, and as conceited as it may sound, I feel like I’m up to the task.
If I am so bold as to ask you to draw your Road, it is not to rewrite anything, or change the feel of the story. I have no other ambitions but to draw your words. The magical part of being an illustrator is to find a silent line to draw with every word. These lines could support yours without distorting them. At least, that’s the goal if this project should come to fruition.
I’m coming off years of writing that wore me down, and I want nothing more than to draw! For almost six months now, I’ve been reading your book again and again, almost living in it. I’m starting to see how I could tackle the challenge of following the guidelines you set without feeling trapped by them. On top of that, I’ve been racking my brain to avoid any reference to the movie adaptation.
I usually write my own comics, one of which (Blast) shares common themes with your book. But I didn’t write The Road; I really wish I had! I sincerely thank you for allowing me to put my pencil down where your pen went.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road: A Graphic Novel Adaptation is available in bookstores and comic shops now. You can order a copy on Amazon.
The Road was previously adapted into a 2009 film starring Viggo Mortensen as The Man and Kodi Smit-McPhee as The Boy. IGN gave the film a 7 out of 10, saying, "Overall, the performances are first-rate in their very quiet, restrained manner, but the too-solem, graveyard mood created by director John Hillcoat – which is utterly appropriate given the source material – simply fails to engage the audience in any emotionally meaningful way. What was fully communicated in McCarthy's sparse, yet poetic prose only appears here visually, never connecting on the deeper level so masterfully documented in the novel. Mortensen and Smit-McPhee do the best with what they're given, and Hillcoat presents the material as well as one imagines he possibly could, but The Road may just be a good example of a novel that loses too much in the adaptation. Certainly, the book is better, and for those who are curious, we would suggest heading to Barnes and Noble before taking a trip to the local theater. It's worth seeing, but only as a supplement to the material; not in place of it."
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
