These are generally good, clear, direct adaptations of four well-known M.R. James stories, but while the art is always good, the act of adaptation doesn't really do anything to elevate any of the already very strong tales.

Disappointing. The transition to graphic novel has disrupted the narrative flow so much , or has been done so poorly that the structure and pace needed to give these stories the qualities James is famous for have been destroyed. As a result the 'horror' is completely lost and what is left is a collection of nicely illustrated but pedestrian stories of misadventure.

The first two stories were meh, the third story was my favorite my far, and the last story was really great as well.

I read this months ago and never added it here, so now I'm a bit hazy on the details... I do remember that the primary thing I enjoyed was the art though – each story had a different illustrator, and every illustrator's style was distinctively unlike the others', which was interesting to pay attention to. Especially since I recognised one artist's style because I know Kit Buss from her Critical Role fanart, so her illustration of "Lost Hearts" felt like a fun cameo.

Poor adaptation. In the introduction by Ramsey Campbell, he highlights that one of MR James’ strongest suits is his language, “he is still the undisputed master of the phrase or sentence that shows just enough to suggest far worse.” What Moore and Reppion have done is to strip the story of those wonderful phrases, choosing instead to show the most horrific moments, rather than imply them. It appears to be totally against the spirit of James’ storytelling, and it robs all of the stories of any po...

Out of all the four stories one of them was scary. Which is a little disappointing. I found this volume in the adult section of my local library and I expected to be terrified after finishing. To be completely honest the 2 stories were good and 2 were really boring. The art was fantastic. There were four artists that designed the illustrations for each of the four stories. Each art piece was unique and different. The art is the reason this volume is getting 3 instead of 2 stars.

Not having read James in over a decade, unable to locate any of his works currently, I can only say I really enjoyed this work for what it was, and cannot really say how it works as an adaptation. Nevertheless, Leah Moore and husband John Reppion have, with the help of four artists, created the perfect little just-in-time-for-Halloween graphic novel read. With four different artists, the art remains consistent in both style and quality, while the dialogue, either lifted word for word or tweaked,...

The husband and wife team of John Reppion and Leah Moore (Alan Moore’s daughter) collaborate with four artists to adapt four of MR James’ spooky stories into comics: Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book, Lost Hearts, The Mezzotint, and The Ash-Tree. And unfortunately it’s not very good. The stories are full of demons, witches, haunted pictures and sorcerers, which sounds like juicy and exciting stuff, but, presented in MR James’ Edwardian storytelling style, becomes oddly dull and stodgy. I thought a comi...

I realise now I read a lot over the weekend and failed to update my progress - I hope I have time to catch them all.This is another of the Self Made Here series of graphical re-telling of classic stories this time from M R James. I will admit that I am a fan of the "Christmas Ghost story" although in the introduction to this first volume the guest author (one Ramsey Campbell no less) goes to great lengths to say that the stories of Mr James are more than that. My apologies.Anyway the book contai...

I used to love ghost stories. I think I still would, but getting older, being amused, let alone scared, by them is certainly harder. And what this adapted collection of short stories by M.R. James fails to do is to be scary. Now, I haven't read M.R. James original stories so I don't know whether the problem lies there or in the adaptation, but I'm just letting you know that I'm judging this based on the graphic collection alone.The illustration of one of the stories, The Mezzotint, gave this bo...

There are 4 short stories in this volume. It's not bad, I simply didn't feel much. The Ash-Tree was the best one - the last one. I didn't care for the art either. The 3rd story was also good - the Mizzotint. There was creepy and it's good to read around the October. It seemed Hollow some how. I felt there is potential here and something was a little off. I am glad I read it as it was not a waste of time.You might really enjoy this. They are stories set in the 1700 and 1800s. They are macabre nat...

I really wanted to love this, but it's just missing something. The stories being translated into comic form just seems to be...incomplete. I think if each was drawn out a bit more it may have seemed more together, but the stories just seemed to jump all around leaving me confused and constantly trying to catch up.The artwork it very nice. I enjoy the use of the dark colors. The added touch of making some of the characters 'creepy cute' was a bonus for me.Sadly I just couldn't finish this graphic...

Excellent and very faithful adaptation of M. R. James's first four stories. A different artist for each story keeps things fresh and the artwork is superb. Top quality. Please tell me volume 2 is in the works!

Reading these late at night at the family cabin maybe wasn't the smartest idea...great stories though.

Saw this sitting on the display shelf at the library on Saturday an snagged it.It's an adaptation of 4 of M. R. James stories: Canon Albaric's Scrap Book, The Lost Hearts, Mezzotint, and The Ash Tree.I wasn't sure how thse were going to take to being adapted to a graphic novel. After all, James relied on words to spin tales where the chill lingers well after you've read them.Mostly, the adaptations work well. Canon Albaric's Scrap Book is suitably scary. The Lost Hearts and Mezzotint don't work

Chilling and effective adaptations of classic M.R. James stories. "Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book" (my first M.R.J. story, and one still very close to my heart) is given a feverish, hyper-colored, and yet supremely eerie - the illustration found in the titular book is particularly effective - interpretation by Aneke; "Lost Hearts" has a somewhat manga-inspired style from Kit Buss that works surprisingly well, especially given the story's subject matter; "The Mezzotint", while one of my least favorit...

In spite of the great illustrations, this comic seems to have lost something in the interpretation. I have to agree that, although I have not read the original M.R. James stories,, this didn't convert well to graphic form. The stories seemed rather hard to follow and/ or understand (with the exception of "Lost Hearts). It has, however, made me interested in reading the original stories -- so at least there's that. 2*

I love MR James's ghost stories, and I think this is a great translation of his works into comic form. I think they lose a little just because a lot of his genius is in the detailed description of scenes, but this makes them accessible (and still extremely terrifying). (12+)*Please note: this review is meant as a recommendation only. Please do not use it in any marketing material, online or in print, without asking permission from me first. Thank you!*

Excellent adaptation of classic ghost stories. Some of the art was exceptional, especially in the last two stories.

Excellent adaptation that captures both the quaintness and sinister atmosphere of MR James.The art is of four different styles in varying degrees of clarity and abstraction as depends on the needs of the story: Canon Alberic's Scrapbook is concrete and somewhat realist, Lost Hearts has a youthful stylisation while still being explicit in its horror, The Mezzotint is suitably obscure with chiaroscuro and the harsh lines of The Ash-tree are fittingly austere and unforgiving.Although good value for...