The Luck in the Head

Rating:
Summary: Haunting and Surreal
Review: As in all the work of M John Harrison, there is more going on in THE LUCK IN THE HEAD than meets the eye. Part of his metafictional world of Viriconium (a city that changes its name as well as its character in connected stories in his VIRICONIUM fantasies), this tale is brilliantly and darkly brought to visual life by the incredible draughtsmanship of Ian Miller. It is the story of a failed assassination attempt on the life of Mammy Vooley, the bizarre goddess-ruler-thing of Uroconium (as the city is called this time). Too bizarre for some, this will be relished by lovers of Lautreamont, delvers in the arcane, and fans of Harrison's often-oblique but always haunting fictions.

Rating:
Summary: Luck in the Head
Review: However successful this short story is in its text form, Luck in the Head becomes a visual masterpiece with some of Ian Miller's most outrageous illustrations and interpretations of the city's horror and vacancy as well as Chrome's loneliness and confusion. Ian Miller bombards his audience with crude depictions as well as intricate ones, all depending on the atmosphere he is trying to set. Very Successful Graphic Novel.

Rating:
Summary: Ill-judged adaptation
Review: This graphic novel is an adaptation of the immeasurably-more-subtle story of the same name to be found in Harrison's collection "Viriconium Nights". The artist has focussed on the violence of the story, leaving out the extraordinarily subtle relationship between character, philosophy and landscape which is Harrison's trademark. Forget this, and take the real trip: get "Viriconium Nights" and "In Viriconium" (called "The Floating Gods" in the US, but the British edition is better) instead.

Rating:
Summary: Ill-judged adaptation
Review: This graphic novel is an adaptation of the immeasurably-more-subtle story of the same name to be found in Harrison's collection "Viriconium Nights". The artist has focussed on the violence of the story, leaving out the extraordinarily subtle relationship between character, philosophy and landscape which is Harrison's trademark. Forget this, and take the real trip: get "Viriconium Nights" and "In Viriconium" (called "The Floating Gods" in the US, but the British edition is better) instead.