A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

by Seymour Chwast, Mark Twain

Seymour Chwast, an icon of the graphic design world, has delighted audiences with his adaptations of The Divine Comedy, The Canterbury Tales, and The Odyssey, but it is in Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court that he has found his match. Inspired by Twain’s comic irreverence for the Knights of the Round Table, Chwast’s illustrations showcase his humor at its finest. He brings us a brilliant imagining of the beloved hero, Hank Morgan, as well as the full cast of Camelot characters, from Merlin to Lancelot to the king himself. With a bold and colorful design and no shortage of witty surprises, this is Mark Twain as you’ve never seen him before.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fiction, Classics, Humor, Comics

144 pages, Hardcover

First published February 18, 2014

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I believe this was Chwast's fourth graphic novel adaptation of a literary work. I haven't read the original - and if this book is anything to go off of, I probably wouldn't enjoy it. Pretty basic time-travel premise with a lot of zany stuff going on but it's told one thing after another with no real point to it all.

Chwast's artwork is a tad too simple and rough. Especially the lettering which was hard to read at times and had at least one typo that I noticed. It looks like the preliminary work other cartoonists would create, just rough layouts. I know that's Chwast's style - but here it falls flat on most pages.

[Zoe Rhodes · Rating 1 out of 5]

GRAPHIC NOVEL

In this graphic novel adaptation of a Mark Twain classic, we follow Hank Morgan on his wild adventure through time from the late 1800s to the court of King Arthur. Condemned to death in Arthur's castle, Hank avoids this fate by predicting an eclipse (that he remembered learning about) and claiming this as magic. As he acquaints himself with Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and learns about medieval life, he is horrified at the way the nobility and clergy take advantage of the lower classes. Using his new status as "magician," he uses his knowledge of science and history to undermine the class system and introduce 19th-century technology.

Reading this adaptation made me want to read the original Mark Twain novel. I did not enjoy this book. The drawings were very basic and two-dimensional and the text was difficult to read in several places. The most interesting and positive aspect for me was the varying page layouts and designs.

[Lo · Rating 1 out of 5]

In this tale, a Connecticut Yankee travels back in time to Arthurian Camelot, accomplishing ridiculous remarkable feats like bringing 20th century technology (and “civilization”) to the masses. I had to stop reading 70 pages in because continuing had become too painful. Stupid or manipulative characters, crude artwork, and a font difficult to read did nothing for me. I did, however, find it interesting to learn about the lack of social justice and just how impractical full armor was in medieval times.

[Tedward · Rating 2 out of 5]

A curious thing. The art style is very cartoonish and almost childish, but this really isn't a story for children. It's a faithful adaptation of the book, but I am puzzled by the choice of illustration here.

[Abby Monhollen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The font was a little hard to read which bothered me a bit. The sense of humor was mildly enjoyable, but I'm not a big fan of Mark Twain. I tried to get through it, but it was painfully slow and confusing. Feel bad about giving up :(

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to confess, I've never read the novel so I don't know if this was a faithful interpretation. But I didn't much care for the staccato storytelling. "I did this." "I said that." "Went went there." No flow.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

All this really did was make we want to read the original. I never knew what the book was about and it sounds interesting. I like Chwast’s style but is adaptations aren’t really wowing me.

[Lisa4piano Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seemed to have “Yankee” narcissism as well.

[Stefan Grieve · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art is crude and simple and is unclear, along with the story that seems simple but I found somewhat hard to follow. There is a plot, but it gets into a lot of exposition and history as if the genre has jarringly changed. It looks like a book for young children, but the contents can include more serious and distressing elements like a battlefield strewn by corpses of the dead, suicide, and multiple hangings, alongside a sometimes dense amount of history and ideas.

I don't know how it fares as an adaptation, as I have not read the original.

Still, there is some charm with its art syle, however overly green, and there is some interesting insights into history and somewhat intriguing how this type of time travel story continues until the end, although quite anticlimatic.

[Cee]

I don't want to score this low because Connecticut Yankee is one of my favorite books, but the font for this graphic novel was basically illegible and I wasn't into the art style.

[Juli Wisniewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

While it's no substitution for reading the novel, it's a delightful companion that highlights the main points of the story in graphic novel form.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Faithful enough version of a classic but not as inventive imho as Chwast's version of the Odyssey.