Is the latest Universal Monsters series, Phantom of the Opera, worth picking up? Here’s our review!
There’s nothing as timeless as a good monster.
Often a reflection of our endless human faults, monsters are a channel to explore that, which we cannot otherwise satiate by society’s decree. I used to look away from even the most famous of monsters due to my inability to co-exist with my ugly sides.
Gaston Leroux’s masterpiece ‘Phantom of the Opera’ changed all of that. This relatively small book punished my prejudice that monsters are one-dimensional, irredeemable creatures, instead painting a sympathetic but scathing picture of the inherent flaws of humanity. It has since gained an almost legendary status in my sub-conscious, ranking right next to my other favourite book of all time Alice in Wonderland. But while ‘Alice in Wonderland’ can brag with at least one or two well-received adaptations, ‘Phantom of the Opera’ certainly does not have that luxury.
There has never been a faithful adaptation of ‘Phantom of the Opera’, in much similar way to its Monster Universe comrade, Frankenstein. Its most famous one, the musical ‘Phantom of the Opera’ dilutes the gothic elements of the novel, presenting a rather romanticised view of both Christine and Erik, flattening the edgier elements of their dynamic.
In the new Universal Monsters comic, ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ those edges are sharper than ever before. Tyler Boss (What’s The Further Place From Here) and Martin Simmonds (Universal Monsters: Dracula) took me on a true rollercoaster ride, in a way I had never before considered The Phantom could be. The first issue is a true gothic feast translating the mood even before the first speech bubble. In a way, I was hoping no speech bubble would be present at all, so I could experience these blurry, ghostly visuals on their own. I felt sucked in by the negative space around the page as if Erik himself was extending me a hand to join in the darkness of this unravelling mystery.
The story of the comics, unlike the book, takes a new approach to the central story. Murder is still present at the Palais Garnier, but it is now much closer to Christine Daae than before, the stakes are higher, the tension between the main leads – thicker. It left me wondering: ‘Where could this go?’, which I suppose is the best thing a first issue of a comic could do.
When I first read this issue I imagined I would bash it for its lack of faithfulness to the source. Since then, I have grown to appreciate this new approach. References, adaptations, inspirations, at the end of the day, they are all bricks out of which we build new houses. There is nothing truly original, as there is nothing truly faithful anymore, where the difference lies is not if Christine Daae will say the appropriate line out of the first 20 pages of the book in comics format, but rather if I can see Christine Daae, while seeing a level of respect for Gaston Leroux from Boss’ and Simmonds’ and I dare say, this might be the first adaptation, I feel the French author’s presence lurking in those same negative spaces I was invited to peek out of.
Universal Monsters: Phantom of the Opera #1 is out now from Skybound.
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