The Witcher (Prószyński i S-ka)

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The Witcher
Geralt of Rivia. Comic cover. Polch. 1993.jpg
Cover of Geralt, second book of the series. Published in Komiks 9/93 (27), 1993
Created by Maciej Parowski
Bogusław Polch
Andrzej Sapkowski
Publication information
Publisher Prószyński i S-ka
Original language Polish
GenreFantasy
Publication date 1993–1995
Number of issues6

The Witcher (Polish : Wiedźmin) is a six-issue comic book series, written by Maciej Parowski and illustrated by Bogusław Polch, mostly adapting Andrzej Sapkowski's early stories about The Witcher . It was released in Poland from 1993 to 1995 in the Komiks  [ pl ] magazine published by Prószyński i S-ka  [ pl ] . The comics were the first attempt to portray The Witcher universe outside the novels. [1] [2] [3] While initially the series received mixed reviews, it has become more popular later, and is accepted as an important milestone in the development of The Witcher's franchise, as well as setting the visual style of the universe.

Publishing history

From 1993 to 1995, Andrzej Sapkowski's stories about The Witcher were adapted into six comic books by Maciej Parowski and Sapkowski (story) and Bogusław Polch (art). [4] The series was released in the Komiks  [ pl ] magazine published by Prószyński i S-ka  [ pl ]. [1]

The six books are:

The series was later released in two collected volumes, with each volume collecting three stories, in 2001. [1] An English translation of series is planned to be released as The Witcher: Classic Collection by Dark Horse Comics on 18 March 2025. [6]

Reception

At first, the comics gained only a lackluster following and mixed reviews; it would not be until the television and video game version of the 2000s that The Witcher franchise became more widely recognized. [1] [2] [3] Some blamed it for the demise of the Komiks magazine, which ceased publication in 1995, after publishing the last book of The Witcher series. [1] Many readers were disappointed with the art, saying that the world and characters drawn by Polch were "not as they imagined it". [1] Technical issue with print quality and divergences from the original plot of the short stories were also criticized. [3] Some compared the series, usually unfavorably, with the previous, well-received original series from Polch and Parowski, Funky Koval . [1]

However, in time, the series gained a "second life", and become more positively reviewed as a pioneering endeavour—being the first visual representation of The Witcher universe—which, "while flawed, had many successful episodes and ideas". [1] [3] Later critics noted that much of the earlier criticism of Polch's art style was unfair, as Sapkowski's description of characters, including of Geralt of Rivia himself, were generally vague, and Polch had the difficult task to use what sparse descriptions there were and then meet the visions of the world as vividly imagined by the book readers. [1] Polch's visual portrayal of Geralt, while initially controversial, became the basis for latter representation of him and the world of The Witcher in other media. [1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pisula, Radosław; Słoński, Łukasz (16 March 2016). "Geralt w niewoli kadru. Strategie adaptacyjne i recepcja polskich komiksów o wiedźminie". Wiedźmin – polski fenomen popkultury (in Polish). Stowarzyszenie Badaczy Popkultury i Edukacji Popkulturowej Trickster. pp. 128–140. ISBN   978-83-64863-05-9.
  2. 1 2 Gawroński, Sławomir; Bajorek, Kinga (3 October 2020). "A Real Witcher—Slavic or Universal; from a Book, a Game or a TV Series? In the Circle of Multimedia Adaptations of a Fantasy Series of Novels "The Witcher" by A. Sapkowski". Arts. 9 (4): 102. doi: 10.3390/arts9040102 . ISSN   2076-0752.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Witecki, Arkadiusz (2008). "Fantastyka naukowa jako pole przenikania się kultur polskiej i rosyjskiej (na przykładzie twórczości Andrzeja Sapkowskiego i Siergieja Łukianienki)". Acta Polono-Ruthenica (in Polish) (XIII): 217–231. ISSN   1427-549X.
  4. ↑ "Wiedźmin: droga z Rivii do Hollywood". culture.pl. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Soszyński, Igor. "Komiks". Komiks w Polsce. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  6. ↑ "The Witcher: Classic Collection TPB". DarkHorse.com.
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