By Samuel Taylor Coleridge & Hunt Emerson (Knockabout)
ISBN 0-86166-065-X
Hunt Emerson’s tactic of using Literature’s (please note the Big ‘L’) most despised form – the comic strip – to popularise some of literature’s greatest works once again scores a palpable hit in his manic and surreal adaptation of the 18th century poem penned by that imaginative old lotus-eater and opium addict Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Like Gilbert Shelton recounts in his informative introduction, I too had to study the poem in school, and although some of the thing seemed pretty cool a lot of it slid past the nascent proto-punk rocker that was I, but the verve and glee, the mind-bending terror, and of course, the side-splitting visual gags that Emerson customises the text with make his adaptation an absolute joy to read and reread.
Now in its fifth edition this joyous delight which informs without undermining the text is an absolute necessity for fans and desperate English teachers alike. I hope that there are some brave and wise enough to use it.
© 1989, 2007 Knockabout Comics. All Rights Reserved.
There is a version of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” that includes the etext, audio narration and even illustrations – which might make it helpful for those that are interested in the story but would like to also listen to it and watch (in a sense):
http://www.adamsmithacademy.org/etext/TheRimeoftheAncientMariner.html