The iconic classic The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, later treated as a prequel to The Lord of the Rings, has had such an indelible impact on modern society and the telling of fantasy stories that it will never be forgotten. However, lost among the myriad media adaptations of Bilbo Baggins’ heroic story is a little known comic book series published by Eclipse and released in 1989 titled The Hobbit: An Illustrated Edition of the Fantasy Classic that explores Bilbo’s world in gorgeous, painstaking detail, and is a must-have for any devoted Tolkien fan.
The Hobbit, first published in 1937, follows the hobbit Bilbo Baggins from the Shire as he adventures with a group of dwarves, stepping out of the everyday complacency of his life that he had grown accustomed to. The story is the first introduction that readers have to iconic characters such as Gandalf the Wizard and Gollum, who would become cultural icons following the The Lord of the Rings books and Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptations. The Hobbit has always been ripe for a comic book adaptation because of Tolkien’s stunning writing that explores the world of Middle-earth in (at times excruciating) detail, and the art in the comic books bring the story to life in a way that even the movies never could.
The Hobbit: An Illustrated Edition of the Fantasy Classic – adapted and abridged by Chuck Dixon (Nightwing, Birds of Prey) with art by David Wenzel (Savage Sword of Conan, The Wizard’s Tale) – was first released as three separate comics throughout 1989, before being collected in a trade paperback and republished in 1990. While the illustrated edition is lesser known now, it is still considered to be one of the most successful comic book adaptations of a piece of classic literature in history, and it certainly still holds up in modern times. The graphic novel was so popular that an updated version was released in 2005 with extra images, and it was then re-released in 2012 before the premiere of the first The Hobbit film, and yet many people who did not grow up in the ’80s are still unaware of the comic’s existence.
Wenzel spent his entire senior year of college exclusively drawing Tolkien characters and it was this passion and dedication that eventually led him to being hired to illustrate The Hobbit, and each page of his evocative colorful art is painstakingly drawn and painted by hand. Just as a piece of art alone the illustrated story is worth investing in, and it is incredibly interesting to see a visual depiction of Tolkien’s characters that were created before any of the The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit films came out and solidified the public’s perception on how Middle-earth and its inhabitants should or could look. The nostalgia that reading The Hobbit: An Illustrated Edition of the Fantasy Classic will give older readers is unbeatable, and the way that Dixon abridged Tolkien’s writing makes the story work perfectly as a graphic novel (better, in fact, than it did on screen.)
The beautiful illustrated adaptation of The Hobbit begs a major question for Tolkien lovers: why has there never been a Lord of the Rings graphic novel? The trilogy would work incredibly well in comic form, but there has never been any publicly announced attempts at adapting the beloved books. If The Hobbit: An Illustrated Edition of the Fantasy Classic has been able to stand the test of time, then an adaptation of the The Lord of the Rings would surely be successful. Either way, fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings or those looking to take their first plunge into Tolkien’s world should check out the classic 1989 graphic novel The Hobbit: An Illustrated Edition of the Fantasy Classic for an adaptation that offers a unique and utterly absorbing account of Bilbo’s adventure in Middle-earth.
