Comic Info
Comic Name: A Game of Thrones
Publisher: Dynamite
Writer: Daniel Abraham
Artist: Tommy Patterson
# of Issues: 6
Release Date: 2012
A Game of Thrones #1
Reprints A Game of Thrones #1-6 (September 2011-February 2012). When the King’s Hand dies under mysterious circumstances, Eddard Stark is tapped by King Robert to become the new King’s Hand. The House of Stark tries to adjust to the change, tragedy strikes with Ned’s son Bran suffering an accident which also appears suspicious. As more intrigue occurs, it all seems to center around King Robert’s wife Cersei, her brother Jaime, and their brother Tyrion. The House of Stark is split up all over the kingdom with Catelyn watching Bran at Winterfell, Stark headed to King’s Landing with some of his children, and his bastard son Jon Snow taking up with the Night’s Watch, and overseas, a new threat is arising in the threat of the exiled former ruler’s children Viserys and Daenerys.
Written by Abraham Daniels and illustrated by Tommy Patterson, A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel—Volume 1 is a comic adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s novel. The collection adapts part of the first novel in the series. It is published by Dynamite and collected by Bantam Books which also publishes the novels. The collection also includes a “Making Of” section that includes preliminary sketches and illustrations and a guide to coloring and lettering.
The comic book comes on the heels of the HBO series of the same name (also dropping the title of A Song of Fire and Ice), but I don’t know that I love A Game of Thrones comic…but as a fan of the TV series I found it kind of helpful. I had skipped the original George R. R. Martin novels and jumped into the television series with little knowledge of the story, the characters, and what the series was even about. It was kind of confusing since there were so many characters and a lot of backstory. It took a long time to iron out relationships to truly understand what was going on in the first series and it is only ten episodes long!
A Game of Thrones #5
The comic really helped clarify some stuff for me. I was able to clear up the previous King’s Hand relationship to the other characters, what Catelyn’s relationship was to Baelish, and a better understanding of how Viserys and Daenerys became exiles. It was all said in the first season of Game of Thrones, but it is illustrated here and that really clears things up. I kind of want to go back and rewatch Game of Thrones—Season 1 just to see what I missed the first time.
The art is ok, but it is odd because I feel that the artists tried to base the characters more on book descriptions. I find myself putting the TV version of the characters on the images, but either the TV show was casted great by the novel’s descriptions are very distinctive because they look a lot alike. I do think it is better to have more division from the TV show’s characters because in books like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other adaptations, the artists attempts to make the characters look like the actors is distracting.
A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel—Volume 1 contains about half of the first story of A Game of Thrones as told in the first season. This collection is mostly set-up for the more dramatic second half events, and it is good enough that it is worth continuing to check it out. A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel—Volume 1 is followed by A Game of Thrones the Graphic Novel—Volume 2 which collects the next six issues of the adaptation.
Related Links:
A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel—Volume 2
Game of Thrones—Season 1 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Game of Thrones—Season 2 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Game of Thrones—Season 3 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Game of Thrones—Season 4 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Game of Thrones—Season 5 Review and Complete Episode Guide
