Review: ‘Prince of Persia: The Graphic Novel’
Prince of Persia: The Graphic Novel
By Jordan Mechner, A.B. Sina, LeUyen Pham, and Alex Puvilland
First Second, September 2008, $18.95
The first [[[Prince of Persia]]] game was a 2-D platformer almost twenty years ago, and the next big thing with the name Prince of Persia on it will be a major Jerry Bruckheimer-produced movie next summer. In between have been a number of games, with a number of different protagonists and plotlines. (And I’ve played exactly none of them, as far as I can remember – just to make that clear.) This year, in between the games and the movie, First Second is publishing a graphic novel loosely based on the series – or at least the title. It’ll be in stores in September.
This graphic novel is credited as “created” by Mechner (seemingly because he invented the original game, and maybe still owns a piece of it), written by Sina, and with art by Pham and Puvilland. And, as far as I can tell, the story here has nothing specific to do with any of the previous incarnations of Prince of Persia. (If I’m wrong, please correct me in comments.)
In this graphic novel, you actually get two stories for the price of one – they’re told intermingled, though, which can make it difficult to remember which story a particular panel belongs to, or which characters belong to which stories. (Evil, nasty overlords being depressingly common in stories like this, for example.) I did read Prince of Persia in bound galley form, though – without color – so it’s quite possible that the palette of the two stories are different enough to make that distinction clear in the final book.
In one story, during the 9th century in a place called Marv, prince Layth is about to drown Guiv, who was raised as his brother but is actually one of two survivors of the previous ruling family. (Layth’s father killed all of the others when he took power fifteen or twenty years before.) After Guilan – Layth’s wife and Guiv’s sister – begs with Layth to save Guiv’s live, Guiv heads out into the desert mountains, where he meets a giant talking peacock, Turul. Turul leads him to a ruined citadel on top of a mountain.
In Marv in the 13th century, Shirin is the young and willful daughter of one of the overlords of the city, being taught to dance by the dashing Arsalan. But she hates her parents and the decadence of the court, so she cuts her hair, disguises herself as a boy, and runs away. She’s saved from a well by a man who claims to be Layth – though he looks much more like Guiv – and taken to that same citadel, which is exactly as ruined four hundred years later. (Her mysterious savior eventually turns out to be a different lost prince, named Ferdos.)
By the way, despite those dates, this is an Arabian Nights-style, pre-Islam vaguely Middle Eastern desert land.
The two stories continue in parallel, as Layth turns out to be a bad leader, easily led by evil counselors. And the Marvan government in the 13th century is equally bad, to the point that I lost track of which timeline which atrocity was supposedly taking place in. Eventually, after everything that could go to hell has, all of the surviving good people in both time periods return to the ruined citadel for something like a happy ending.
Without the color, it’s difficult to really judge Prince of Persia: the two stories are well-told, and comment on each other, but they do seem to bleed into each other, and I can’t say how much of that was deliberate on the part of the creators and how much was my own confusion. And it’s quite possible that a detailed knowledge of the games would make this story much more deep and meaningful. But, for me and for now, it was pleasant but unspectacular.
(The publisher would also like me to point out to you, the buying public, that they have created a trailer for this book.)
Andrew Wheeler has been a publishing professional for nearly twenty years, with a long stint as a Senior Editor at the Science Fiction Book Club and a current position at John Wiley & Sons. He’s been reading comics for longer than he cares to mention, and maintains a personal, mostly book-oriented blog at antickmusings.blogspot.com.
Andrew Wheeler has been a publishing professional for nearly twenty years, with a long stint as a Senior Editor at the Science Fiction Book Club and a current position at John Wiley & Sons. He’s been reading comics for longer than he cares to mention, and maintains a personal, mostly book-oriented blog at antickmusings.blogspot.com.
Publishers who would like their books to be reviewed at ComicMix should contact ComicMix through the usual channels or email Andrew Wheeler directly at acwheele (at) optonline (dot) net.