Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Zenescope’s longest running comic book series, is everything a good adaptation should be. The stories keep the source’s core elements in mind and weave a modern retelling both faithful and original. Also, it does not shy away from necessary changes to the story. That is the key to adapting stories that is lost to people. You are going to need to make some changes to a product to make it work for the new medium. That means get rid of plotlines, combine characters, emphasize certain parts more, and other things considered vile to most people. Zenescope is well aware of this concept and exercises it with great deftness.
After tremendous success adapting Alice in Wonderland, Peter and Wendy, and Dante’s Inferno to a modern audience, Zenescope Entertainment sets their sights on Washington Irving’s beloved classic: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Although it might be considered a stretch by some, this project does seem to work, at least on paper. According to David Wickline:
“If you think about it, Sleepy Hollow is the starting point for a lot of the horror out there today. It was the first story to use the basic premise that we see in slasher films and the blueprint to many of the unstoppable anti-heroes we have today.”
Like most stories and tales Zenescope chooses to adapt, Sleepy Hollow does lend itself to horror rather easily. It takes place in a secluded woods at night. It has an unseen monster terrorizing a lone victim. And said victim dying at the end. If you repeat that 5-9 more times, you have every slasher movie in the last 30 years.
But to give credit where its due, this variant does sound intriguing:
“Zenescope Entertainment’s Sleepy Hollow takes place on campus of the fictional Tarrytown University in upstate New York. The story of the headless horseman has become something of myth and legend but it’s a legend that is about to become all too real when a college prank goes deadly wrong. Those responsible will learn the truth behind the legend as the Headless Horseman returns to exact a disturbing revenge that none will ever forget.”
Sleepy Hollow #1 will be released in October.
About Joseph Furguson
This child of the 80s does not look upon it as some gold age where everything is better. He is well aware that the filter of time causes the best stuff to rise to the top. Every era has terrible and awesome things, but most are downright mediocre. He loves to highlight the forgotten good and the deserving bad items of all generations.
