War of the Worlds - Part One of the Scarlet Traces Trilogy

[espanolbot]

I'd like to start a more in-depth look at the Scarlet Traces series, but first really it'd be appropriate to cover Edginton and D'Israeli's War of the Worlds adaptation first. If only because Scarlet Traces One and Two are direct sequels.

Interestingly it's actually already avaliable to read for free online, so it you want to look click below to check it out.
http://www.darkhorse.com/Features/eComics/883/H-G-Wells-The-War-of-the-Worlds?part_num=1&page=5



DUN-DUN-DUN! DUN-DUN-DUN! DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUN! Yeah, the trade has a huge advert for Jeff Wayne's version of WotW at the back, what of it?

The rest that follows is pretty much a straight adaptation of the book, despite a few embellishments here or there that I can't really remember from the novel. If you're read volume two of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen you'd probably recognise the following scene.





After sending his wife away to stay with a cousin in Leatherhead, George decides to return home to try and cover the Martian's activities for their newspaper. Only to run into a Tripod. He's pulled into a ditch by an artilleryman, the last survivor of the assault on the initial landing, and the two head off across country to try and warn people of the danger.




The rest of the book is itself definitely worth a read even if you don't fancy catching the sequels, with a lot of side details being given that do pay off in the later installments. For example, the rant about building a better, more equal society hidden from the Martians that the Artilleryman later has, both reflects HG Wells' own socialist beliefs, in addition to adding a hint of irony considering the more hardline the British government adopts following the Invasion.

Check it out if you want, the link is at the start of the article.

Comments

[arilou_skiff]

Hmmm, I've always assumed the War of the Worlds took place in about the same time as it was written (eg. 1898) and not the high-victorian era.

[filthysize]

It does. Are you referring to the clothes seen here?

[arilou_skiff]

Clothes, uniforms, cannons, yes.

[superfangirl1]

wow, the art really amazing in my opinion.

[glprime]

No offense to dear Richard Burton, but I just like it better hearing Mr. Welles narrate Mr. Wells opening.

[mrosa]

Fuck, it looked like I was reading a remake of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen II!

[espanolbot]

More they both take scenes from the same public domain book.

[damar148]

One of the things I liked about the book, and rather sadly left out of all the following adaptions and remakes, that the British firepower was actually rather effective against the Tripods. Only when they deployed chemical weaponry with the black smoke did they gain the advantage.

[grazzt]

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen included that as well, with Griffin's treachery being what reduced their effectiveness.

[espanolbot]

The black gas is actually in this adaptation. :) And the weaponry is a lot more effective here than, say, the 1950s and Tom Cruise versions of the story.