Published On: 2001-05-29 by Del Rey Books
Artist: David Wenzel
Colorist: David Wenzel
Letterer: Bill Pearson
Catch-up on Last Issue
In 1989 The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien was adapted from the original by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by David T. Wenzel. The Hobbit was released in a three volume edition by Eclipse Comics. Since that original run been republished many times by Del Rey Books and is a treasure for your library.
In This Issue of The Hobbit
It’s a story told many times. A dragon stole the gold from a group of dwarves. A wily wizard assembles a group to steal it back. Along the way the group runs into a bunch of trouble and only with a little luck manages to make it to the gold and the dragon. All that plus our hero, Bilbo Baggins, finds one of the rings of power — Sauron’s master ring lost years ago when the great host of men and elves fought with the Lord of the Rings Sauron to free Middle Earth from his evil.
What Else Happens in this Comic?
You’ll find a few references to the b-story scattered throughout the illustrated Hobbit. Gandalf, the wizard, leaves the group for a second adventure off-panel. It turns out Gandalf’s plan for the dwarves was, larger than they knew. In on stroke of the sword, Gandalf removed both a dragon and a legion of goblins from the northern part of Middle Earth. A legion that could have joined Sauron in the War of the Ring (the magic ring Bilbo found).
The Comic's Themes
Greed is a big theme in the Hobbit. The dwarves start their quest to reclaim lost gold. There’s some loyalty to their mission, but it’s mostly about getting the riches back. Smaug destroyed the civilization around the Lonely Mountain out of greed. The Lord of Lake Town loses his life due to greed for the dwarves gold. Bilbo and Bard are tempted by the gold and jewels. True to their heroic nature, they are able to resist the dragon fever.
Collect the hobbit
Weta Workshop Lord of The Rings Mini Epic Vinyl Gandalf The Grey
How's The Hobbit's Writing?
The Dialogue
Fans of any version of the Hobbit have been fortunate in that each show runner has pulled heavily from the J.R.R. Tolkien source material. Del Rey’s illustrated Hobbit follows the pattern. Writer Chuck Dixon does a marvelous job of pulling the best quotes out of the Hobbit novel and including them in the comics. There were even a few scenes that I thought were created just for the New Line Cinemas movies. Clearly not, as they made it into the comics long before the movies were made.
Showing Versus Telling
There’s a lot of telling in the illustrated Hobbit. Originally divided into three long issues, there just aren’t enough pages to cover everything that needs to happen in the Hobbit in full details. In particular, I’m thinking about the Elves’ dungeons and the escape.
The Vibe
The illustrated Hobbit is the definitive version of a graphic novel. It looks and reads like a novel created through pictures and words. The creative team brings together the best elements of novels and comics to create a visually stunning, easy-but-heavy-reading comic book about the Hobbit.
Comic Art Review
David Wenzel’s art is a solid fit for the illustrated Hobbit. The comics have a painterly, water-color style that looks good twenty-years after it was first produced. The character designs remind me of Finnish Santa Claus or Renaissance Faire costumes. Between wizards, dwarves and Beorn, there are plenty of big beards to go around. Wenzel has a rounded edge to all his drawings, and it creates a consistency from monster to hero to dragon that unifies the entire graphic novel under one visual style. Any Hobbit comic is going to be measured against how Gollum and Smaug are drawn. David Wenzel’s Gollum is still mostly human in design except for the eyes. Smaug has an old-world design as a dragon. He’s mostly a serpent with a little hair. Gollum is a difficult character to get right, but Smaug is excellent.
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- The Hobbit Cover Wenzel 1
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- The Hobbit 2 Cover Wenzel
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- The Hobbit 3 Cover Wenzel
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- The Hobbit Cover Wrap Around
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- The Hobbit Cover Wenzel 1 Harpercollins
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- The Hobbit Cover 2012 New Edition
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- The Hobbit Cover Alt 1 Delrey
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- The Hobbit Cover Eric Herenguel.
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- The Hobbit Cover 2 Eric Herenguel.
On the Cover
It’s interesting to note that even later publications of the illustrated Hobbit had Wenzel covers on them. Over the years, Wenzel created two more realistic covers. They are an odd departure from the interiors, but fit better with the movie marketing of the period. New Line Cinema’s Hobbit movies were in production at the time.
In addition to David Wenzel’s comic covers, we have two comic covers by Eric Herenguel. I like that Eric kept the Wenzel character designs, but drew them in his style.
The Comic Panel by Panel
Most of the illustrated Hobbit are seven and eight panel layouts. There is a lot happening on every page. The panels are standard rectangles. Every once in a while the panel borders are colored (red, green, etc.). I could see a reason for it. You’ll see window style borders used in Rivendell. It was an excellent choice.
Periodically, Wenzel employs an open border to call attention to a panel. i.e., a boat in Mirkwood floating away or Smaug flying to Lake Town. Because of the consistent use of rectangles, those call-outs are very powerful at focusing your attention on one of seven panels. In a few cases, there are borderless panels that are wide, sweeping, and set the stage.
Bill Pearson hand-lettered the entire graphic novel. It must have been a herculean effort because there is a lot of text on every page. He uses a variety of balloon borders. Everything reads smoothly. The semi-transparent narration balloons fit everywhere they are used.
World Building
- Shire
- Rivendell
- Goblin caves
- Beorn’s home
- Mirkwood
- Elf dungeons
- Lake Town
- Lonely Mountain
Wear the hobbit
Live the hobbit
Who's In This Issue of The Hobbit
- Thorin Oakenshield
- Gandalf
- Smaug, the Dragon
- Fili
- Kili
- Balin
- Bombur
- King of the Eagles
- Beorn
- Goblin King
- Wargs
- Bard the Bowman
- Gollum
The Big Question for Next Issue
Can you read it without hearing the voices from the Rankin-Bass cartoon or the Peter Jackson movies?
Hear the hobbit
Curse the Baggins! It's gone! What has it got in its pocketses?
Who Will Like The Hobbit?
If you are a fan of the Hobbit from either Rankin-Bass or New Line Cinema, you will enjoy Del Rey’s illustrated The Hobbit. As an uber-geek of all things Hobbit, I enjoyed the fresh take on the character designs and how closely it stayed to the source material.
I Need More Content like The Hobbit
If you need more David Wenzel Tolkien artwork, start with Middle Earth: The World of Tolkien Illustrated by Lin Carter. You can also find many illustrations on David Wenzel’s website and Instagram account.
You can find more of Eric Herenguel’s artwork on his Instagram page. The French artist has created several works over the years including The Kong Crew.
More Reviews
The SilmarillionShould You Buy This Comic Book?
If you are a fan of The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings and you don't have the illustrated The Hobbit in your collection, you are missing a vital gem for your fandom. It's richly illustrated and stays very close to the source novel. In my collection, I now have one of the original Eclipse Comics graphic novels and the full collected edition by Del Rey from 2012.