Death on the Nile : Hercule Poirot Mystery

Agatha Christie Graphic Novels #2

by François Rivière, Solidor (Illustrator), Mark Johnson (Editor, Translator)

Graphic Adaptation of DEATH ON THE NILE.

Egypt. Awesome land of the Pharaohs. The perfect place for a honeymoon -- unless you are being stalked by your husband's ex-girlfriend! Hercule Poirot is determined not to let jealous young newlyweds ruin his holiday. Until the jealousies boil over into threats. And accidents. And murder!

Genres: Mystery, Graphic Novels, Comics, Agatha Christie, Crime, Fiction, Bande Dessinée

48 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1997

About the author

Romancier et journaliste, il s’est fait une spécialité des adaptations en bande dessinée d'Agatha Christie chez Emmanuel Proust Editions. Chez le même éditeur, il a également publié Un Drame en Livonie, et les deux tomes de Voyage sous les eaux, d’après Jules Verne.

Reviews

[İlkim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nil'de Ölüm'ü tam hatırlayamıyordum ama katil baya aklımda kalmış. Malikanedeki Esrar ya da Köşkteki Esrar ise hiçbir şey çağrıştırmadı, sanki daha önce okumamışım gibi hissettim yine. Ama bu öyküler çizgi roman değil kitap olarak okunmalı çünkü karmaşık çizimler, karmaşık olan konuyu hepten içinden çıkılmaz hale getiriyor.

[Indrani Sen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read a graphic novel as part of my reading challenge. Among the titles available in my library, I could like only this one.

It was a fast and easy read. I liked the illustrations quite a lot. But still I kept on thinking, how much better it would have been to read the original novel by Christie. I had trouble keeping track of the characters. The story seemed to move too fast and a little disjointed at times.

Don't think I would be reading any more Christie in this format.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful. Loved the illustrations.

[Trudie · Rating 1 out of 5]

My absolute favourite Agatha Christie novel and film has been done extremely dirty with this half hearted attempt at a graphic novel retelling.
The character drawings are terrible and the story barely makes sense even for a reader that knows it well.
Not every famous story also needs a graphic novel version ….

[Hitesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its always a pleasure reading Christie. This illustrated edition , could've been made much better, but is poorly done. Unclear text spoiled all the fun.

I really wish some good illustrator, takes this up and remakes this lovely mystery.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Très grande fan du roman d'Agatha Christie, je ne suis pas très convaincue par cette adaptation en BD.
L'histoire est trop condensée à mon goût avec de tels sauts dans l'intrigue que ça la rendrait presque difficile à suivre. Je comprends bien que c'est une contrainte liée au format de l'album mais ça n'en reste pas moins gênant.

Les dessins m'ont plutôt plu à une exception près, le personnage de Jackie est rendu sous les traits d'une femme qui fait largement plus de 20 ans que son âge dans Mort sur le Nil. Je ne sais pas si c'est volontaire ou non mais en tout cas, ça m'a dérangée à chaque page.
Au contraire, j'ai beaucoup aimé la représentation du personnage de Poirot.

[Neville Ridley-smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like this had potential but just doesn't pull it off. Nothing wrong with the art. It's just that there's not enough space to tell the story. Really, instead of 44 Tintin/Asterix size pages, it should probably have been about 100 or more. Everything moves too quickly - the setting is never used to much effect, there are very quick changes between the characters - in short, there's no breathing room!

[Mélyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one a bit better than the graphic version of “Murder on the Orient Express”, as a cruise along the Nile offers more interesting views to draw than a group of people stuck on a train. And since it’s been ages since I read the novel it’s based on, most plot twists were new and surprising to me.

[Vandana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice read. I think it was a bit confusing as a graphic novel, considering the number of characters and the length of the graphic novel, but it was an interesting story. Classic Agatha Christie

[Javier Lanz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dibujo elegante y ambientación cuidadosa, pero, a mi juicio, es complicado seguir la trama original porque ésta se desarrolla de forma excesivamente abrupta. Los personajes -en particular, los secundarios, que suelen ser cruciales para la solidez de es tipo de narraciones- no llegan a estar completamente perfilados y es difícil advertir sus motivaciones (reales o posibles). En todo caso, gracias al autor por su obra.

[Clare Snow]

I got bored, than DNF

[Luthgardis R · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustration is good. However it’s kinda confusing and the story moves too fast.

[Luiz Santiago · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[James Crawford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Agatha Christie has sold over one billion books in English and a further one billion in over 100 countries, making her the best-selling novelist in history. This review does not reflect my opinion of the novel Death on the Nile.

However, I found the graphic novel adaptation by François Riviere to be really quite poor. I think that the most important thing for any graphic novel, is to be comprehensive and easy to follow / understand. I found this book to be very confusing. This is for 4 for main reasons:

1. We have a 389 page novel (paperback) reduced to 44 pages.
2. The speech bubbles have fancy "tails", which make it difficult to follow who is talking.
3. Some illustrations are drawn as if from a distance, where you cannot see the people. If you cannot see the people, how can you tell who is speaking.
4. The novel has many characters, some have barely been mentioned previously. When they crop up again, it is difficult to remember who that person was. Again, this is likely due to elements of the story edited or removed completely to fit in 44 pages.

The story is difficult to enjoy for these reasons. I thought that the illustrations by Solidor were OK, but some characters lacked expression in some situations.

To summarise, I think the book barely scrapes two stars. I would not recommend this book to anyone, whether a fan of Agatha Christie, murder mysteries or graphic novels in general. I suggest you pick something else.

[Laura Elisabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

This particular Agatha Christie is not particularly well suited to the graphic novel format. The many characters are not clearly delineated through the drawings, making it hard to follow motivations and actions, and the plot seems ludicrous when cramped into fewer pages. Not all stories can be told in all formats, and this Christie is best experienced in novel form.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt that the story was cramped and shoved into a few pages of coloured boxes. It was difficult to get into the story and get a sense of the characters and their motives. I'm not a huge fan of the way the dialogue boxes were positioned and done either. I think next time, I'll just read the original Agatha Christie novel rather than the graphic novel adaptation.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mi edición es la española, impresa por El Patito Editorial. A pesar de haberme leído ya la novela encuentro que está adaptación a novela gráfica es un poco caótica, difícil de leer incluso si sabes lo que va a pasar. Faltan marcas temporales, no hay presentación de personajes y todo sucede demasiado rápido, han adaptado una novela de casi 300 páginas en menos de 50.
Le doy dos estrellas por el esfuerzo de traer las novelas gráficas de Agatha Christie a España, pero prefiero leer la novela.
Quizá pruebe a leerme alguna de las novelas gráficas que sacaron en inglés, a ver si las adaptaron mejor.

[Beth Halstead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agatha Christie is hard to beat! This book was a gift for Christmas. Christie is a master mystery writer and always keeps you guessing. Her book, Murder on the Orient Express, was the book that made me fall in love with Mystery and True Crime.
...
In this book, Detective Hercule Poirot investigates the murder of a young heiress aboard a luxury ship traveling along the Nile. And as always with Detective Poirot, everything is not as it seems.
...
Recommended for: people new to mystery, people that like to read the book before they see the movie (coming out September 2021), people looking for a fun, light read.

[Charlie Martell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Floja y decepcionante adaptación al cómic de la espectacular novela de Agatha Christie.
Los bocadillos son confusos y no se aprecia bien qué personaje dice qué; el parecido físico entre sí de algunos personajes aumenta esa sensación de confusión junto a ciertas viñetas verticales que no permiten ver bien el conjunto de la escena. Tampoco está claro el nombre de los personajes, el quién es quién. Las expresiones faciales son casi inexistentes y las elipsis durante el relato demasiado presentes.
Si ha resultado confuso para alguien que se conoce la historia al dedillo, no me quiero ni imaginar para quienes la abordan por primera vez.

[Dine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich habe mich bzw. ich tue mich immer sehe schwer bei so Kriminalgeschichten mit den ganzen Namen, auch wenn das ein 'Comic' war, aber wenn über Personen geredet wird habe ich nicht immer gleich ein Bild im Kopf, was es doch - vor allem bei Agatha Christie - schwer macht der Handlung zu folgen. Aber die Auflösung war sehr gut, und obwohl die Geschichte glaube ich gut 80 Jahre alt ist, töten Menschen immer noch aus den gleichen Motiven.

[Aylin Kuhls · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eigentlich eine typische, unterhaltsame und spannende Agatha Christie Storie, aber für die Umsetzung als Graphic Novel vielleicht doch etwas zu verschachtelt. Viele Erzählmomente sind etwas zu kurz gekommen, weswegen einige Handlungen zu schnell passierten und das Ende viel zu abrupt kam. Es lohnt sich sicher, bei diesem Klassiker zum Original zu greifen.

[VT · Rating 2 out of 5]

Knowing the novel, this comic book edition just didn't do it. The story felt too short, and the illustrations didn't add to the story. At times I wasn't sure which character is speaking. In addition, Poirot was not convincing with the small mustache. I felt there should be more to the story while reading it. I missed the narrative of the novel.

[Magali Najarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5
Great illustrations and good adaptation. Since it's so short it will never be comparable to the full-length novel. It was fun though to see the characters drawn and the whole 30s feel of the book

[StrictlySequential · Rating 4 out of 5]

2007 = £9.99

Story = ****
It's a bit confusing but that's the nature of the complicated mystery and only having 45 pages to tell it.

Art = ****
The women are so CUTE with those freckles!

[Katherine Castañon Rivas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Personalmente, siento que el cómic perdió algo de la intriga, o es que para mi la resolución fue demasiado clara para mí desde casi un inicio. Además, se quedaron varias leyendas en aire y saltos de eje que, personalmente, me dificultaron un poco la lectura.

[Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
🌕🌕🌕🌗

It was a pretty close adaptation to the book. The crime was quite complicated and it was enjoyable to read. The artwork was ok. However, overall, I felt the adaptation was a bit dry.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son read it for seventh-grade English, so naturally I did, too!

[LH Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was slightly annoyed that I knew what was going to happen because of First Class Murder by Robin Stevens. Apart from that it was pretty good and the illustrations were decent too.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit slow getting started and it felt like there were a lot of characters to get to know. I stuck with it and was not disappointed! Agatha Christie never disappoints me.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

still not sure what "making whoopie" refers to