By Jordan Mechner, A.B. Sina, LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland First Second, Sept. 2, 208 pp., $16.95

Well, I just enjoyed the hell out of this one.

For those unfamiliar with the pop culture phenomenon that is Prince of Persia, let me enlighten you: It was one of the earliest PC games where art was at least as important as function, incorporating rotoscoping and beautiful artwork into its animation. On top of that, the storyline was unique, and much more complex than the sort of shoot-or-be-shot that both preceded and succeeded it in the market. (Doom was the downfall of the series.) Recently, the game saw a resurgence in popularity, and games in the series are being released once again, enjoying enough a fan base to have a movie coming out in 2010.

So how does it translate into a graphic novel? Most console and PC games have found little success on the page — graphic novel readers tend to be somewhat pickier than video gamers — but the assortment of storylines through the PoP series have lent themselves well to explorations of history, philosophy, metaphysics and the West’s obsession with the “exotic.” (The 2003 release, Sands of Time, even accurately incorporates the physics of time travel into a game platform.)

Game creator Jordan Mechner describes the process of creating the book in his afterword, where he approached reclusive author A.B. Sina with these concepts, and basically offered him carte blanche for the plot. Sina took the assortment of themes presented to him and created a tale that incorporates romance, adventure and politics, spanning four centuries of Iranian history and culture. Everything from Sufi mysticism to Mongol hordes finds its way into the pages, with two stories in different times drawing together as their connection becomes apparent on every level.

On top of that, husband-and-wife artist team Pham and Puvilland have drawn heavily from the French bandes dessinés to create a visual feel very different from some of the tripe gracing the graphic novel shelves in Borders. The lines and colors pop from the page, perfectly arranged; several pages have no dialogue because they don’t even need any. Maybe it just seems particularly dazzling because I have such low expectations for game-based graphic novels, but the artwork in this one sparkles like a gem. Doom sure as hell couldn’t come anywhere close to this.

The book is a bit opaque the first time you read it, so it bears reading again (when it will make much more sense). But if you’re a discerning graphic novel reader who wants a much richer experience than what one usually expects from the medium, pick up Prince of Persia — you’re in for a treat.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 11:35 am and is filed under Arts, Book, Comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.