The Legend of Zelda is a video game series
that stated in 1986. Nintendo endorsed, manga adaptations of the series have
been available since 1997. I will be focusing on the “A Link to the Past” comic
adaptation of the third game of the series also named “A Link to the Past”.
“A Link to the Past”, the manga adaptation,
was created by Shotaro Ishinomori for Nintendo Power magazine. The series ran
from January 1992 to December 1992. Later it was released in graphic novel
format. The storyline was changed to make it interesting to people who had
already finished the game.
In
the novel the evil wizard, Agahnim, has captured princess Zelda and has
awakened Ganon. Link must rescue Zelda and restore peace to Hyrule. He finds
the master sword and meets a master archer named Roam.
A Link to the Past is set in Hyrule.The
author uses themes or heroism, friendship, and good versus evil. Link begins as
an average villager. On his quest he becomes a hero. The author shows this when
Link is in the Dark World. In the Dark World negative emotions can turn you
into a beast. Link remains positive to stay in his true human form. He meets
Roam who he becomes friends with. Link also defeats the evil in Hyrule and
restores peace.
Shotaro Ishinomori uses the visual elements
of the story to display emotion and to set the mood for the story. When Link
goes to the Dark World Ishinomori shows an image of a grim looking moon above a
pile of rocks being blown around. The style of Ishinomori’s art is similar to
most Japanese manga. In some Japanese graphic novels the characters are
children. In A Link to the Past the heroes are portrayed as children (Link,
Zelda, and Roam). Agahnim and Ganon, the enemies, are adults. Not all the
adults are evil. Link’s uncle and the old man are both adults.
If you are a fan of The Legend of Zelda
series and graphic novels I highly recommend reading manga from The Legend of Zelda series. The art is
interesting and the storylines are slightly different.
Philip Van Raalte
This looks really awesome, the Zelda games were the very first ones I played on the N64. I never would have thought somebody would make a graphic novel of this story. Great short summary of the novel as well as the author's style.
ReplyDelete