“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

It’s the theme to many a science fiction story, back to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and revisited nearly 85 years later in H.G. Wells’ novel and cautionary tale, The Island of Dr. Moreau, creating one of science fiction’s most loathsome of villains.  Now 125 years later after Wells’ book, writer Ted Adams, artist Gabriel Rodriguez, and colorist Nelson Daniel have revisited the novel and adapted it into a graphic novel as H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau, arriving this week from IDW Publishing in a hardcover edition.

To update Wells’ classic, Mary Shelly-inspired look at mankind’s attempt to play God, writer Ted Adams updated the main protagonist and science-educated Englishman Edward Prendick from male to the science-educated Englishwoman Ellie Prendick, with a little more attention to the creatures thanks to the artwork–grotesque and stylized–from artists Gabriel Rodriquez and the idea of human responsibility.  The result has the feel as much of Bluebeard and Rebecca with the aura of The Prisoner as much as the vibe in Wells’ original tale of an outcast mad scientist let loose on a tropical island. 

Chilling and cataclysmic in its depictions of horrors that exist to this day of  vivisections and animal testing, the first half of this hardcover volume is the complete story adaptation, and it is followed by a reproduction of all 50 pages of Rodriguez’s blue-pencil, pre-inked renderings, Artist’s Edition style for fans of original comic art, and a lengthy interview with Adams and Rodriguez.  

Here is a preview of H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau courtesy of IDW Publishing:

Recall just two years ago we discussed here at borg another adaptation of the story in also graphic novel form, from Insight Editions comics, available at Amazon here.  Order H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau from Elite Comics or your local comic shop this week, or pre-order it here at Amazon, scheduled to ship this week.

C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg