A New Take on the Story of Noah

FILM MAKER PORTRAYS ORIGINAL VISION 

OF MOTION PICTURE VIA GRAPHIC NOVEL

Ever wonder the image of a film’s story that is in a Director’s head in the early days of production before a script’s been finalized and scenes have been shot?  While the movie NOAH opened this weekend in theaters across the country its Director, Darren Aronofsky, in partnership with IMAGE COMICS (the publishers of The Walking Dead) also released a graphic novel which portrays his original vision of his film based on the first draft of its screenplay.  

Aronofsky known for his artistic flair in movies like ”Black Swan” and “The Wrestler” works with artist Niko Henrichon (who has received acclaim for his work on creating the graphic novel  Pride of Baghdad) to take the biblical story of NOAH from the Book of Genesis and infuse them with elements of science fiction and fantasy.  This isn’t the story of an elderly, white-bearded, Santa Claus looking Noah marching the animals two and two onto his ark that you learned in Sunday school. 

The graphic novel is full of crisp artwork that helps amplify the grimy vibe of the story.  The character’s in the comic aren’t illustrated to portray Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Hermoine (ooops I meant Emma Watson) and the rest of the actors from the film but rather shows them as Aronofsky was looking to find people to cast for the movie.  This was nice because you weren’t reading the comic book thinking it was just a print version of the movie rather it presented itself as its own story.  Because it is based on a first draft script of the movie some elements of the graphic novel are the same as the film but some things are vastly different.  It is interesting to read this print version and then view the movie looking for the differences.  If you do that, send us an email ( thegeekdaddy [at] yahoo [dot] com ) or leave a post with your thoughts if you liked the first draft script or the final cut of the film better.

I appreciated the visual approach the book took with illustrating Noah’s grandfather, he looks like what I imagine a 900-year-old person would appear, and the fallen angels known as the Watchers are sketched out to fittingly play out their role in the story.  The drawings of the primary bad guy, Tubal-cain and his warriors do a nice job of conveying the debauchery and degeneracy that lead the “Creator” to cleanse the world for a fresh start.

This NOAH portrays its central character as more tormented and turmoiled  than people may be used to as he struggles with whether his family is meant to repopulate the human race or just serving as stewards assisting with allowing the animals to survive in a new world void of mankind.  This really adds as much of a dramatic and dark element to the story as his battles with the Tubal-cain do.  Some readers may find this compelling and intriguing but I’m sure others may find it somewhat despairing and troubling. 

I found NOAH to be an interesting read and give it a positive recommendation.  Just be prepared that this isn’t a “religious” story but rather a “story” taken from a religious source.  That may be a plus for some but I’m sure it will sour the graphic novel, and movie, for others.  If you take this work on its own for itself though, it is a nice piece of drama that I’d encourage you to check out for yourself.

For more information on this graphic novel, visit: http://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/noah-hc 

It was released on March 19, 2014 and is available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and local comic book retailers.

DISCLAIMER:  I received a complimentary digital pdf of NOAH from the publisher to review.  I was not mandated to write a positive review to receive the digital copy.  The views and opinions in this post are my own.