P. Craig Russell's inventively sets Richard Wagner's Nibelung opera cycle in graphic novel form. The text is, with alterations, largely adapted from the libretto, and mimics the (obviously) operatic style. Russell's accompanying illustrations, while not as painterly as some of his other work, do justice to the material, and for those not interested in sitting through several hours of Wagner's music (or who do like the music but want a better sense of the staging of events), this is a solid way t...

While I write this review I am listening to the 4 cd's boxset of Die Walkure by Richard Wagner and conducted by Bernard Haitink. To be honest I first heard about this particular epos through the Wagner music, my Austrian Grandmother did enjoy Wagner, and later Wagner was the music of preference by a certain Inspector Morse and the soundtracks of those series did contain a good amount of Wagner. Next up was the Niblumgen a silent movie by Fritz Lang which I have on bluray and a natural curiosity

5-star+ art, 3-star story (but it's not their fault)This is a work of art, pure thoughtful eye-candy clear through. Buy it, look at it, reflect on it. Now- I'm probably not allowed to criticize the story itself, it being a classic and an artistic behemoth in its own right. They've kept to a poetic translation, so the words are mellifluous. It is, then, just nitpicky of me to suggest that the story itself is deeply messed up and does not really achieve modern expectations of narrative coherence.

This Eisner award winning graphic novel is an adaption of Wagner's classic opera. Artwork by one of the greats!A must if you are into Norse Mythology. OVERALL GRADE: B plus to A minus.

The art is gorgeous; but it's nearly impossible to like any of these characters (which is a fault of the source material, not a comment on either the artist or the translator/adapter).The art truly is beautiful, though, and the usage of the page layouts and the colors is amazing.

An amazing work of sequential art. The translation of the opera's libretto by Patrick Mason is superb. It does not attempt to modernize. It does not attempt to make the story more accessible to or more easily digested by modern audiences. It does not try to make its characters more understandable to modern readers. It doesn't need to do those things because the themes of this opera are all timeless ones. Namely: a cycle of violence and greed will perpetuate itself; industrialism and materialism

P. Craig Russell takes risks and you can tell when one of his books is a labor of love.He does both in this adaptation of an Opera... who knew you could sell Opera to comic book fans? Well, apparently P. Craig Russell did and he gives us fans a beautiful book with fantastic art.I don't think I've ever been dissapointed in one of the books he's adapted, and I'll continue to be a fan of his for as long as he keeps em coming or for as long as I'm still around. Whicever comes first, place your bets

If I had heard only that someone was adapting Wagner’s Ring Cycle for comics--no other details whatsoever--my first guess would have been P. Craig Russell. I mean, the very concept plays so strongly to his artistic strengths and interests … who else would even contemplate such a thing? (Although … I have a vague memory of some project from the 80's … Roy Thomas writing and Gil Kane on the art? They certainly never got as far with their adaptation as Russell did. Any comics fans with better memor...

Nothing compares to the original music and lyrics, but it is a nice adaptation, faithful to Wagner's story.

Beautifully drawn. P. Craig Russell has outdone himself with this gorgeous volume.Before reading this, all I knew of Siegfried was from the 1924 film, Die Nibelungen by Fritz Lang, which really only covers the second half of the story. Now I understand they both come from slightly different adaptations, so it was fascinating to see the differences between the two versions, specifically Siegfried's relationship with Brunhilde. I also appreciate finally knowing the origin of the ring, and the true...

A truly wonderful story, perhaps I should listen to the opera now.

This was an excellent adaptation of Wagner's Ring Cycle. The art and prose, though odd or even somewhat disjointed at times, has a very musical and lusty feel to it. Which of course suits the subject matter.For modern readers the story may seem somewhat odd, especially if you are expecting high fantasy, a fairy tale, or even a Shakespearean tragedy. It's none of the above... and yet all as well. Or at least parts anyway, just not the parts you would expect if you are not already familiar with Wa...

Brilliant retellingThis adaptation of Wagner’s Ring cycle is an excellent and worthy way of conveying the story to a different kind of reader. The drawings capture the nuances of the epic in a delicate way, and the exceptional programming of the Kindle version, taking the reader through the story frame by frame, enhances the reading pleasure immensely. I can only imagine that Wagner would have been proud to be associated with this version.The paragraph above is my quick response on Amazon, which...

For someone who has was never a fan of opera, other than an affection (and tried listening to the 1953 Bayreuth Live over several months) this was an incessible but obviously incomplete skeleton key to the story. I know Wagner largely from pop culture and Zizek's analysis. The story for me is perennial, about the cycles of violence, industrialization/materialism will destroy nature and love isn't an easy answer. Yet, it's still cringe-worthy I dislike most of the characters--it's very simple and...

A graphic novelization of Wagner's Ring Cycle; it's light and enjoyable despite the heady auspice of German Romantic Opera. And it's especially helpful if you're like me, who wandered through a music education knowing only the bare minimum about Wagner's onerous 15-hour magnum opus (there's a shield maiden?... and incest?... I think). I don't claim to be an expert on graphic novels, but I liked the artwork and the style. It felt like the writers paid attention to the (translated) libretto and mu...

Adaptation is quite an art. You must take something painstakingly created to fit precisely in one particular medium, and rework it to fit precisely into another medium that tells its story in a radically different way. And you should do it so that the work is still recognisably the same, and still conveys the same profound understanding as any work made for your medium.In this book, P. Craig Russell adapts Richard Wagner's epic opera cycle, The Ring of the Nibelung. It's a giant in Western cultu...

Amazing art! A fantastic adaptation. Graphic novel is a wonderful medium for a story like this one. I am going to recommend this to everyone.

I started reading comics around a year ago and I just come to love it. This adaptation of Wagner's opera is a great example to make some material more accessible. I liked the art work and listened to a couple of songs out of the opera while reading it...

So this is basically what all comics should be. You can look to any single piece of pencilwork, inking, colouring, lettering, prose, panel transition, any single piece of anything in this entire book and it is immaculate. Every scene transition, every bit of dialogue, every detail in every panel and every scene, is beautiful. It's an epic in all sense of the word and reading it feels like watching and listening to an opera. It's music made visual and a piece of cinema told through sequential art...

Amazing. Loved it, and will go back to it for sure.