Kidnapped

by John O'Rourke, Robert Louis Stevenson, William B. Jones Jr. (Contributor)

When young David Balfour is orphaned, he discovers some surprising truths about his family. His meeting with his uncle Ebenezer turns out to have disastrous consequences leading to kidnap and imprisonment on board a ship bound for the Carolinas. The voyage is full of incident and, after violent conflict and a shipwreck, David finds himself in a daredevil chase across the Scottish Highlands in the company of the irrepressible warrior Alan Breck Stewart.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fiction, Comics

48 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1948

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Kidnapped” is a story where the main character is the recently orphaned David Balfour. Upon the death of his father, David is surprised to learn that he is in fact a member of a wealthy family. When he travels to meet his relatives, he discovers that his uncle is not highly regarded by the people of the area and his uncle seems determined to kill him.
When that fails, the uncle does the next best thing and arranges for David to be kidnapped and placed on a ship from which there is no escape. He has many adventures on the ship, including befriending another man where the crew is plotting to kill him. It is two against the rest until the ship runs aground and David makes it to an island. After many adventures, David manages to obtain the assistance of people that can help him and avoids getting involved in conflicts between the different Scottish clans.
This comic is an excellent primer on what is a complex story. It not only involves the basic act of being taken against his will, but perseverance in the face of adversity until David achieves his rightful property. There is also the complex issues of Scottish clan rivalry, friendships of convenience and necessity and other social issues of the British Empire at the time of publication. Class consciousness is also a fundamental component of the plot. The comic is recommended as a study aid in classes on English literature.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eighth Printing = HRN 150 = 15c
+Robert Louis Stevenson Biography
+Pioneers of Science-> The Wright Brothers
+Dog Heroes-> "Toots, The Collie"
+Great Lives-> Joan of Arc

Story: **
Avoid John O'Rourke's adaptation if you're new to the story. It was infuriatingly difficult to understand what was going on and why it was happening. The plot was run rough-shod focusing on action that had no depth to support it.

Stevenson made many choices that didn't make sense. Why would a father send his son to his evil brother that he never even told the boy existed in order to gain an important matter such as inheritance? That was the first of a few situations that I consider bad writing.

Art: **
Robert Webb's work is pretty bad- don't be fooled by the cover. I guess it can be called passable because I could tell what was looking at but to my high standards it's a huge eyesore. He has little command of how light works and the shadowing is very often wrong. The faces are little above amateur rendering and very inconsistent. His skill is confined to the backgrounds which I will gladly give him credit for their quality.

[dejah_thoris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know if it's my bad memories from picking this out of a Scholastic book list at far too young an age to enjoy it, but this graphic novel version seems much more exciting than I remember the original being. But then again, that might be because most of my memories are of struggling through the complicated English of the era and all the nautical terminology. Regardless, this was a more ripping yarn for being condensed and (mostly) translated into modern English. (As noted in the ebook edition, the illustrator makes frequent use of small side-panels for short definitions in order to incorporate the language of the original into the graphic novel without overdoing it.)

[Osama Siddique · Rating 2 out of 5]

'Kidnapped' was one of the most readable and exciting adventure novels growing up. The scene where Uncle Ebenezer dupes David into going up a tower with unfinished stairs on a stormy night was a great thrill, as were the subsequent adventures on the seas and in the Highlands. David Balfour and Alan Breck Stewart are well constructed characters and their camaraderie is quite uplifting. This is a mediocre adaptation even though it uses some original Lowland Scots dialect from the novel. And in terms of illustrations it is actually below par, especially compared to some of the other graphic novels in the series.