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A while ago we alerted you to Faith Erin Hicks’ experimental HUNGER GAMES comics adaptation (PUBLISH THIS, SOMEONE, PLEASE!!!!!!), but she just completed a new one about Hunger Games for Tor.com. And this time it’s very, very personal…and sobering.

Warning: spoilers for the book and movie.

1 COMMENT

  1. I don’t get it. Maybe it’s because I’m also the son of a Vietnam War vet (who also had one Hell of an alcohol problem), but I don’t see anything sobering.

    But I also don’t get the appeal to the Hunger Games. It just seems like a poor Battle Royale knock-off to me.

    I dunno, this whole thing is lost on me.

  2. Although…Faith Erin Hicks is a phenomenal talent and I’m looking forward to getting my copy of Friends With Boys soon.

  3. I really like that piece as well as Hicks’ adaptation test pages. Her stark artwork touches some of the same notes as Harvey Kurtzman’s war comics.

  4. @Chris – Have you read the book or are you just going on impressions from the pop culture?

    I read it maybe a year back, and it wasn’t quite strong enough for me to read its sequels, but I found a lot to like in it. If I’d read it as a teenager I’d probably have loved it, and if nothing else it’s a memorable way for teens to explore a bleak future vision without going to quite the exploitational depths that Battle Royale does. It also focuses more on media culture than Battle Royale. And world-building. And, yes, its romantic sub-plot.

    The two versions of Battle Royale I know are the movie – kinda meh – and the manga, which I loved. The manga had much more depth than I expected, even as it delivered on the exploitation front. I definitely liked it more than The Hunger Games, but The Hunger Games was different enough to easily justify itself.

  5. Dave,

    I’ve read the English translation of the Battle Royale novel and only skimmed through the Hunger Games novel…and even that was not even thorough by skimming standards. I probably missed a lot. Your comment has encouraged me. I’ll pick it up next time I’m in the bookstore and give it a proper read.

  6. @Chris – that’s disgustingly reasonable.

    And I still need to read the Battle Royale novel. When I’ve talked about the franchise with people who know it in multiple formats, it seems there’s a consensus that the book is the best iteration.

    Hope you find stuff to like in The Hunger Games.