A good number of Prometheus-winning works have been adapted into graphic novels, from Ayn Rand’s Anthem and L. Neil Smith’s The Probability Broach to the TV series The Prisoner.
One I discovered recently is Brave New World: A Graphic Novel – which is timely to mention here because Aldous Huxley’s novel is one of this year’s Best Classic Fiction finalists for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame award.
Fred Fordham adapted and illustrated Huxley’s dystopian cautionary tale into a 240-page graphic novel, published in 2022 by Harper.
The Guardian described the graphic novel as “brilliant” in its review.
”This rip-roaring graphic retelling of the Aldous Huxley classic brings to mind Fritz Lang, Spielberg and vintage comics. . . . This is a book that will keep your bedside light burning long into the night,” according to the British newspaper.
Originally published in 1932, Brave New World has been hailed as one of the most prophetic dystopian works of the 20th century.
Here’s how the publisher describes Huxley’s classic work and the graphic novel:
“In Aldous Huxley’s darkly satiric yet chillingly prescient imagining of a “utopian” future, humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order—all at the cost of their freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also their souls. Originally published in 1932, Brave New World has enthralled and terrified millions of readers for decades and now it has been reborn for a new age.
“In Brave New World: A Graphic Novel, Fred Fordham’s aesthetically reimagined adaptation brings Huxley’s powerful work to life. Fordham has captured the surreal imagery and otherworldly backdrop of the story through brilliantly rendered illustrations. His singular artistic vision and impeccable attention to detail depicts the work as never before, introducing it to a new generation of readers in a fresh and compelling way.
“Huxley’s enduring classic is a reflection and a warning of the age in which it was written yet remains frighteningly relevant today.”
THE PROMETHEUS BLOG REVIEW OF THE NOVEL
The recent Prometheus Blog review highlights the prescient novel’s surprisingly clear and central anti-authoritarian and libertarian themes:
“His novel explicitly dramatizes not only the dismal consequences for freedom of State-enforced and regimented conformity but also the philosophical, cultural and psychological tensions between collectivism and individualism.”
“The cost of such collectivism, Huxley feared, would be a stasis and stagnation brought about by the near-eradication of individualism, individuality, rationality, history and our rich heritage of art, literature, culture, science and independent thought….”
“Huxley’s vision ends up being even more disturbing and persuasive because it is portrayed as perversely seductive to many – strongly implying that a “soft tyranny” ultimately may last longer than the “hard tyranny” imagined by some other dystopian classics.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Fordham is an artist and author of multiple acclaimed graphic novels, including Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, hailed by USA Today as “gorgeously rendered.” A London resident, Fordham has designed comics and produced illustrations for a variety of publications, including The Phoenix, Delcourt and Aces Weekly. For more information, visit fredfordham.com
Besides Brave New World, ranked number 5 on Modern Library’s list of the 100 Best Novels in English of the 20th century, Huxley (1894–1963) wrote the novels Island, Eyeless in Gaza, and The Genius and the Goddess and such critically acclaimed nonfiction works as The Perennial Philosophy, The Doors of Perception and Brave New World Revisited.
THE PROMETHEUS HALL OF FAME FINALISTS
The Prometheus Hall of Fame category for Best Classic Fiction, launched in 1983, is presented annually with the Best Novel category.
This year’s Hall of Fame finalists are The Star Dwellers, a 1961 novel by James Blish; Brave New World, a 1932 novel by Aldous Huxley; That Hideous Strength, a 1945 novel by C.S. Lewis; Salt, a 2000 novel by Adam Roberts; and Singularity Sky, a 2003 novel by Charles Stross.
Libertarian Futurist Society members are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with all finalists in each annual category before ranking them on the final ballot.
That said, it’s not necessary to reread a classic work if you’re already familiar with it – unless you wish to, of course. As an alternative for those Prometheus voters who have read Huxley’s original novel, though, checking out the graphic novel might be an enjoyable and much quicker way to refresh your memory about why Brave New World has become a classic.
ABOUT THE LFS AND THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, join the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer international association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.
* Prometheus winners: For a full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards – visit the enhanced Prometheus Awards page on the LFS website. This page includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of the 106 works that have won a Prometheus since 1979 fits the awards’ distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.
* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Read “The Libertarian History of Science Fiction,” an essay in the international magazine Quillette that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.
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