"Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt" Graphic Novel/Prose Novel Comparison

 

            The following is a comparison piece based on the graphic novel “The Amazing Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt” by Fred Schiller, Ken McDonald, James C. Owsley, Peter David, David Michelinie, Jim Shooter, and J.M. DeMatteis and the prose novel “Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt” by Neil Kleid.

            Well, if you’re here, I hope you stay with me here for the rest of this piece, but if not, that’s up to you, I can’t stop you, but if you decide to stay, you are THE BEST!

            If you’re a regular, you might notice that this is a comparison piece, something I have never done before, but will definitely do again. This is to compare a graphic novel to a prose novel. The graphic novel was published from 1986-1987, the prose novel was published in 2014. It should be noted that the graphic novel I am using for this piece is a Marvel Epic Collection. “Kraven’s Last Hunt” was a six-part crossover storyline, but this version actually contained fifteen issues, so several of them were storylines around “Kraven’s Last Hunt.”

            Regular readers may also have noticed I made separate reviews of this story as a graphic novel and a prose novel, so if you’ve read those reviews, I hope you’ll enjoy this, if not, I hope you’ll enjoy this and read those reviews. Again, if you do, you are THE BEST!

            Note that this is a follow-up piece and not a review of the graphic and prose novels, so I won’t discuss all the details, just some consistencies between the two and major differences between the two.

            I will say that the “Kraven’s Last Hunt” graphic novel storyline was very much faithfully adapted in the prose novel. All the key points were there, but unfortunately there were just not quite as many as I would hope when reading both a graphic or prose novel. The filling between these key points were addressed rather differently in the prose novel when compared to the graphic novel. The graphic novel, being a comic book, both with words and art, filled the between points with artwork, while the prose novel logically filled the between points with written narrative. These between points felt too drawn out and dull to me, I felt the story just wasn’t strong enough. Giving a review just wasn’t as substantial as some of my other reviews in both graphic and prose narration.

            We’ll start with a consistency I fully appreciated. The story of Ned Leeds’s death, revelation of being the Hobgoblin, and funeral were contained in the graphic novel and copied faithfully in the prose novel. This detail might not have come up otherwise, but I mention this because this was not actually portrayed in the “Kraven’s Last Hunt” storyline in the graphic novel, rather contained in a storyline before the titular storyline. Its inclusion in the prose novel was of particular importance as the specter of Ned Leeds/Hobgoblin appeared at several key points in the narrative and progressed the story as Peter Parker/Spider-Man’s motivation.

            The prose novel also depicted Kraven’s family history as Russian aristocracy and nobility and the downfall of the Kravinoff legacy, which was not explored in as much detail in the graphic novel.

            Now, there was a huge, huge-huge-huge difference in a major characterization between the graphic and prose adaptations: Peter Parker’s relationship with Mary Jane Watson. In the graphic novel, Peter and MJ had just gotten married. In the prose novelization, however, Peter and MJ were in a slightly rocky dating relationship where Peter had only just told MJ he is Spider-Man. Now I’m going to make a speculation to Neil Kleid’s intentions. I felt Kleid thought a dating relationship with a recent unmasking was built on just how much MJ really loved Peter. MJ was a party animal, masking her pain of her estranged relationship with her sister and her abusive father. She also didn’t stay in romantic relationships for any true length of time. The dating relationship actually worked in the prose novelization to give MJ major conflict and added drama to the character, testing if she wanted to stay in a relationship in New York City where her boyfriend could be dead, or reinventing herself in a new place and go back to her deflecting life. The writers were all able to work their love story in an effective way that helped progress the story. I felt Kleid didn’t mutilate the story in his prose adaptation and worked it in without damaging the narrative between Peter Parker, Kraven the Hunter and Vermin.

            Another difference that I fully understand and support by Kleid’s adaptation was Spider-Man’s costume. In the graphic novel at the time in 1986-1987 was in the period where Peter Parker wore the black costume. However, Kleid’s adaptation described Spider-Man’s costume as red and blue, like Peter’s original and most oft worn costume. I feel this difference was Kleid’s way of keeping those who didn’t read the graphic novel able to properly imagine Spider-Man’s “true” costume. For me, this was difficult as I read the graphic novel before the prose novel and imagining the red and blue costume in this narrative while actually having a visualization of the black costume was a little bit of a struggle and made me miss a few lines in the book while I told my brain “red and blue.” I feel Kleid actually made the right call in this instance.

            Okay, now we’re going to do something new. Like I said, I’ve never done something like this before, so here’s how we’ll end a comparison: which one did I like better? Now, this is going to be a little bit tricky in this instance because of the graphic format I reviewed and compare being an Epic Collection. We’ll look at the graphic novel in two ways now: the graphic novel as a whole Epic Collection and then at the titular graphic storyline compared to the prose novelization. AS A WHOLE, I enjoyed the graphic novel more than the prose novel, mostly due to the surrounding stories of Spider-Man meeting the Iron Man of (ironically) 2015 (which, as we now know is inaccurate, but in 1986, 2015 was a far enough away future that the writer imagined would be different than we know it as it is), Spider-Man teaming up with Wolverine, the unmasking of the Hobgoblin, and Peter and MJ’s wedding. BUT! As “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” I rather preferred the prose novelization. The essential near-perfect parallel of the story as Kleid adapted in his prose novel having all the same key points was the biggest reason I preferred the prose novel to the graphic novel. Yes, there were times Kleid did give too much description at the connecting details, but I felt it was better than the silence the writers of the graphic novel who instead relied on the artwork. Also, Kleid’s adaptation was a lot more psychological than in the graphic novel, travelling into Kraven’s mind and understanding his motivations that drove him through the story. So again, as an Epic Collection, I preferred the graphic novel, but Kleid’s prose adaptation pleased me more. Now, readers of my reviews (which you could be, too), you’ll have read my thoughts on both and exactly what I liked and disliked, and I know there may be some inconsistencies in this, but note there was a period of time between finishing the graphic novel and the prose novel and writing the reviews, so if I seemingly contradict myself in my three pieces pertaining “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” I ask for your forgiveness.

            Well, if you’re still here, you’re TOTALLY AWESOME! I’ve written plenty of other content on this blog, so feel free to read anything else. I also write short stories, poetry, editorials, and complaints, and I post rather frequently so expect plenty more posts of all kinds of things, and until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!