Brian Haberlin’s Lighthouse is now out in collected trade paperback and Kindle ebook. It’s a fine science-fiction graphic novel when you put all the issues together. The adaptation of Jules Verne’s The Lighthouse At The End of the World (1905) is fairly loose, and transfers the setting into the far-future and remote space. But the story grips right to the end.
A couple of the initial reviews of the first issue, by fly-by comics critics who have not returned to review the full run, were a bit sniffy and grudging. But I found Lighthouse great fun when read together as one completed graphic novel. It’s a little talky near the beginning, and you have to suspend disbelief. But it’s a good story, well told.
The art is made with the aid of Poser, which I suspect may have put a dampener on some reviews of #1.
In contrast, the one amateur reviewer who made it as far as issue #4 noted, in a long and positive review…
The interiors here are mindbogglingly gorgeous. I love seeing how detailed and extraordinary computer artwork can be nowadays. The linework is exquisite, and the varying weights and techniques being used to create this level & quality of detailed work are astonishingly brilliant. The use of backgrounds [and their creation of a] sense of scale and overall sense of size and scope is phenomenal.
That said, be warned that you might be put off by the trade paperback’s half-hearted front-cover. It seems as though the publisher for some reason wanted potential buyers to think it’s set at sea and underwater. On the website the additional background graphic also implies it’s a historical adaptation of Verne. It isn’t either.
There’s currently one short review of the October 2021 trade paperback, from poet Bernie Gourley, and he was pleased with the quality of the story…
I found the story compelling. The source premise of being far from help and at a severe disadvantage is thrilling.
I looked long and hard for proper reviews that stepped beyond a glance at #1. There are none from publications, though the couple of amateur reviewers (see above) are positive. It’s a bit sad that a comic of this scope and quality (not to mention technical innovation) can be all-but ignored by the comics establishment. But that is what seems to have happened here.
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