Monday 12 May 2008

Comic Bulgakov


Early in the life of this blog I looked at the numerous covers for the numerous editions of Mikhail Bulgakov's wonderful and bizarre The Master and Margarita, as well as his other books.

I've just discovered that this book has inspired a number of comics artists to attempt their own adaptations. This makes sense, given the vivid and sometimes hallucinatory effect of Bulgakov's prose.

Here is the cover to the newest version, by Andzej Klimowski and Danusia Schejbal.


I've not read this, so I can't comment on its fidelity, nor can I find any examples of the interior art online. I'll be interested to have a look once it appears in the shops.

Another version, three-quarters of which is available online, has been done by Russian cartoonist Rodion Tanaev. First printed in 1997, and now quite rare, you can find it here (the final quarter is due to come online soon).

Here's the cover, and some of the interior pages. Click for more detail.





Finally, there's Askold Akishine and Misha Zaslavsky, also Russian, whose adaptation has been published in French. Again, I haven't seen this one, but one review describes this version as lacking Bulgakov's narrative skills.

The only interior art I could find find online from this edition is a single panel.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello!My name is Julia. I am looking for Rodion Tanaev'comic. It is very urgent.Can you help me please. Where can I find pages from this comic?I need from 79 (if we consider that the front page where title is, is 1)
Thanks in advance.
Julia
juliashib@mail.ru

JRSM said...

Hi, Julia: Sorry, I can't find page 79 onwards either--the publishers SAY it will be online soon, but it hasn't shown up yet. Sorry!

Anonymous said...

Much more information on comic strips based on Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita can be found on http://www.masterandmargarita.eu/en/05media/strips.html