Noah by Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel, and Niko Henrichon, 256 pages
The graphic novel Noah was developed in parallel with Darren Aronofsky's film, apparently beginning with an early draft of the screenplay and originally published serially in French, with the complete English version published as the movie reached theaters. As such, neither the film nor the graphic novel is really an adaptation of the other, rather, they are related but divergent visions.
Unfortunately, the graphic novel is inferior in almost every respect. While there is no doubting Niko Henrichon's talent as an artist, in this case his human characters are often difficult to tell apart, while he is also unable to match the epic visuals of the film. Worse, the graphic novel does not equal the film's visual creativity - the animal Noah rescues near the beginning is an unremarkable tapir rather than a strange lizard dog, the Watchers are magniloquent four-armed giants rather than taciturn misshapen rock monsters. When combined with bluntly "relevant" environmental themes, the result is that the graphic novel lacks the apocalyptic weirdness that was the film's greatest virtue.
