Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher: The Lesser Evil

Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher #2

by Andrzej Sapkowski (Creator), Jacek Rembiś (Adapter), Adam Gorham (Artist)

Komiksowa adaptacja opowiadania Andrzeja Sapkowskiego.
Czarodziej Stregobor tkwi zamknięty w swojej wieży w Blaviken. Jest przekonany, że grozi mu śmierć z ręki kobiety dotkniętej Przekleństwem Czarnego Słońca. Prosi Geralta, żeby wybrał mniejsze zło i ją zgładził. Ale gdy wiedźmin spotyka Renfri, ta mówi mu, że to mag jest prawdziwym potworem. I że Stregobor powinien zginąć za bestialskie zbrodnie, których dopuszczał się w imię swoich przyziemnych przesądów. Jego śmierć byłaby… mniejszym złem. Geralt nie chce wybierać między jednym złem a drugim. Tylko czy jego neutralność pozwoli uniknąć rozlewu krwi?

Scenariusz – na podstawie opowiadania Andrzeja Sapkowskiego – napisał Jacek Rembiś, a rysunki stworzył Adam Gorham.

Genres: Fantasy, Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Short Stories, Adventure, Fiction

56 pages, Hardcover

First published November 28, 2023

About the author

Andrzej Sapkowski, born June 21, 1948 in Łódź, is a Polish fantasy and science fiction writer. Sapkowski studied economics, and before turning to writing, he had worked as a senior sales representative for a foreign trade company. His first short story, The Witcher (Wiedźmin), was published in Fantastyka, Poland's leading fantasy literary magazine, in 1986 and was enormously successful both with readers and critics. Sapkowski has created a cycle of tales based on the world of The Witcher, comprising three collections of short stories and five novels. This cycle and his many other works have made him one of the best-known fantasy authors in Poland in the 1990s.

The main character of The Witcher (alternative translation: The Hexer) is Geralt, a mutant assassin who has been trained since childhood to hunt down and destroy monsters. Geralt exists in an ambiguous moral universe, yet manages to maintain his own coherent code of ethics. At the same time cynical and noble, Geralt has been compared to Raymond Chandler's signature character Philip Marlowe. The world in which these adventures take place is heavily influenced by Slavic mythology.

Sapkowski has won five Zajdel Awards, including three for short stories "Mniejsze zło" (Lesser Evil) (1990), "Miecz przeznaczenia" (Sword of Destiny) (1992) and "W leju po bombie" (In a Bomb Crater) (1993), and two for the novels "Krew elfów" (Blood of Elves) (1994) and "Narrenturm" (2002). He also won the Spanish Ignotus Award, best anthology, for The Last Wish in 2003, and for "Muzykanci" (The Musicians), best foreign short story, same year.

In 1997, Sapkowski won the prestigious Polityka's Passport award, which is awarded annually to artists who have strong prospects for international success.

In 2001, a Television Series based on the Witcher cycle was released in Poland and internationally, entitled Wiedźmin (The Hexer). A film by the same title was compiled from excerpts of the television series but both have been critical and box office failures.

Sapkowski's books have been translated into Czech, Russian, Lithuanian, German, Spanish, French, Ukrainian, and Portuguese. An English translation of The Last Wish short story collection was published by Gollancz in 2007.

The Polish game publisher, CD Projekt, created a role-playing PC game based on this universe, called The Witcher, which was released in October 2007. There is also a mobile version of the game which has been created by Breakpoint Games and is being published by Hands-On Mobile in Western Europe,Latin America and Asia Pacific.

The English translation of Sapkowski's novel Blood of Elves won the David Gemmell Legends Award in 2009.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great retelling of the tale of how Geralt came to be known as The Butcher of Blaviken.

[Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story we've seen quite a few times now - this adaptation doesn't do much that hasn't been done elsewhere.
The story is of course very tidy - philosophical and bloody in equal measure.
The art and colours here are nice, particularly the full page pieces, which are very cool. The combat also looks viseral and fast, capturing well the mutant speed at which Witchers can move.

Overall, pretty good. But as expected if you've read the short story already, then there won't be much here for you aside the visual style.

3.5 stars.

[Ver · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must admit I liked the first part better. This one focused on emphasizing the moral dilemma of choosing the lesser evil as it is still evil so maybe not doing anything is a better option. Getting involved or doing nothing - it is a dilemma appearing in several cases in the Witcher books.
This story, however, concentrates more on talking and action at the end is quick, leaving you wanting more.

[Filip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adapting the short stories into comic book forms isn't a bad idea as they represent the best of the Witcher series, but some of them just aren't great to be adapted. This one is a good, faithful adaptation, but some parts just don't land, feeling rushed - especially the Renfri scenes and the ending.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice adaptation of the story. Great artwork too.

[mati · Rating 3 out of 5]

no jestem zawiedziony. mega pośpieszona akcja i taka w ogóle meh. bardzo się cieszyłem na ten komiks bo mniejsze zło to moje ulubione opowiadanie od sapkowskiego, a tu wyszedł taki średniak

[Ala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bardzo lubię to opowiadanie

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite stories from the books, so I was eager to read this comic adaptation. Overall this comic felt too short for a story like this. The most important scenes were chopped up and thrown in, leaving me feeling very underwhelmed. So much was cut out that it fell short in showing the whole point of this story altogether, The Moral Dilemma and the Consequence of Inaction. That being said, I did ultimately enjoy it and this was a great visual adaptation to the story.

[Z książką po mojemu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lubię te komiksowe wydania opowiadań z książek o Wiedźminie, bo pozwalają mi lepiej ułożyć sobie tę historię w głowie. Bo dla mnie styl Sapkowskiego jest bardzo toporny i czasami gubiłem się w fabule, a komiks jest dużo bardziej przystępny.

[Shoggothey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tak samo jak w "Ziarnie prawdy" - nie ma co oceniać fabuły, bo jest całościowo wzorowane na oryginalnym opowiadaniu. Tutaj również zwrócić uwagę można na świetne ilustracje, które idealnie pasują do mrocznego i brudnego świata Wiedźmina.

Polecam, jak wszystko, co wiedźminskie!

[Kristen Ransom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated adaptation of the short story.

[Aluniuha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kolejny ślicznie narysowany komiks. Klimat genialny.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A difficult choice for Geralt. Interesting debate.

[Aurelie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Witcher volume/story! I always wondered why we never delved deeper into Renfri's story in the show and this comic really takes its time with her character. If you're craving more Witcher, this is one of the good ones.

[Czterysta Czterdzieścicztery · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bardzo poprawna adaptacja opowiadania "Mniejsze Zło". Wszystkie najważniejsze elementy zostały uwzględnione przez scenarzystę Jacka Rembisia, w tym obecnie już nieśmiertelny cytat Geralta o mniejszym źle i wyborze. Nie sposób nie porównać tej adaptacji z wcześniejszą o 30 lat adaptacją komiksową "Mniejszego Zła" spod pióra Macieja Parowskiego i niestety wypada to na niekorzyść nowej adaptacji. Rembiś dokonał właśnie poprawnej adaptacji, a Parowski wyszedł poza sam tekst opowiadania, wiedział co i gdzie dodać, jak połączyć opowiadania w większy ciąg fabularny.
Od strony graficznej, rysunki Adama Gorhama i kolory Patricio Delpeche wypadają niestety przeciętnie. A już w ogóle nie wytrzymują porównania z rysunkami Bogusława Polcha i kolorami jego żony, Danuty sprzed tych 30 lat.
Nie przekonują mnie postaci Gorhama, jego Geralt jest najmniej interesującym wcieleniem Białego Wilka w adaptacjach komiksowych opowiadań. Stregobor sprawia wrażenie kogoś kto z wyglądu pasuje bardziej do komiksu dla dzieci, a Renfri na wielu kadrach wygląda jakby jeszcze była nastolatką, a nie dorosłą kobietą. Wygląd Pozostałych postaci całkowicie do zapomnienia, poza półelfem który ma tak wielkie uszy, że chyba jest potomkiem elfa pustynnego, który potrzebował dużej powierzchni uszu do wypromieniowania ciepła (kto nie wie o czym mówię, niech sprawdzi jak wygląda fenek).
Kadrowanie też jest niecodzienne, na jednej z plansz mamy 4 kadry pokazujące kufel zamiast rozmawiających, a finałowa walka sprawia wrażenie upchniętej na jak najmniejszej ilości stron, w szczególności to jak pokazano walkę z 5 pierwszymi oponentami.
Żałuję, że nie zatrudniono do zrobienia komiksowych adaptacji opowiadań bardziej uznanych rysowników i nie wybrano formatu albumowego (A4).

Scenariusz: **
Rysunki: **

[Riley Bauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this was a really good adaptation. There was some cut content, but I think the parts that they cut were appropriate (in particular one line that Geralt says, which if you’re read the short story, it’s understandable why they cut it!). It didn’t really add anything new, but since this is an adaptation, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s a good refresher if you’ve read the story, and I think it’s a good introductory version for people who may not like reading the short stories (for any reason). The art was also super good - I hope more short story comic adaptations are on the way!

[Jess's Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Really liked the artwork overall, particularly for Geralt and Stregobor.

However, I didn’t like Renfri’s character design. It didn’t line up with how I imagined her and I really didn’t like any of her clothes. If the cover of this novel is meant to be Renfri, then it needs to be redesigned because she does not look like this in the novel.

What could also make this novel better is making it clearer the order of dialogue bubbles. I sometimes got a bit confused in the order and had to reread the dialogue a couple of times to make sure I got it right.

Overall it’s worth a read as an introduction, for those new to The Witcher series.

[Mee Too · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story was mediocre whaat i feel the meaning behind story was, an excellent conversation piece.
It basically about someone being able to choose a side they saw as just to stand by. Inevitably at the cost of everything. You see this often in humanity. People are just unable to find a rational and logical way of being so they stand on ignorance based on the past and the status quo’s of society.

3.5✨

[Bruno Franco Netto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great adaptation of a Witcher short story. It had been a while since I was in the world of the Witcher and this story brought me back right in. The Witcher is dark fantasy at its best and this graphic novel doesn't disappoint, with a riveting tale and great art. I only give it three stars because it is brief, only a snippet of this captivating and brutal world.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't remember the Netflix version of this all that well. But if the previous story I read is Beauty and the Beast, this is Snow White, and both stories have involved r*pe, followed by disproportionate consequences. It feels icky that this ends with the victim being gotten rid of when deemed dangerous by Geralt.

[Zachary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short but sweet story, fantastic coloring that harkens back to old-school fantasy illustrations, and great character design that gave each characters a unique look - this was a perfect comic. Though I don't quite understand why the Witcher made the decisions he did...

[Sotofunkdamental · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sólida y muy recomendable adaptación del relato de Andrzej Sapkowski. Lo único que se le puede reprochar es que el dibujo se siente algo abocetado, y los colores en los flashbacks se muestran algo apagados.

[annionym]

The comic is a retelling of the short story The Lesser Evil from the first short story collection The Last Wish. The artwork is good & the story is still as great as the original short story.

[Stig Doggerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fajny styl, klimatem będący ukłonem do fanów książek, jednocześnie podtrzymujący pewne konwencje osadzone w grach wiedźmińskich. Przyjemne i szybkie w czytaniu, brakowało mi tylko jakiegoś finiszu, efekciarskich rysunków walki :)

[Neil White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better as a short story

Love Sapkowski's short story, but this one didn't translate to a comic well. Part of that is the nature of this story with its extended dialogues. I struggled with the artist's interpretation of Renfri.

[Dewi]

"Evil is evil, Stregobor. Lesser, greater, middling. The degree is arbitrary, the definitions blurred. Might sound like one. But, I'm not a pious hermit. My life hasn't been one of pure virtue. But if I'm to choose betwen one evil and another ... I'd rather not choose at all."

[Michelle Morrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever wondered why Geralt was called the Butcher of Blavikan, here is the graphic adaptation of the short story.

[Kasia Bochniak · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5⭐️

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good story (as it was a really old Sapkowski one) but very average art. Renfri particularly looked horrible.

[Nother_Castle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good adaptation of one of the best Witcher short stories