For years a version of Fritz Lang’s proto-noir film, M,was thought to be lost. But this wasn’t some pristine print of the 1931 film. It was the 1990 comic book adaptation by artist Jon J. Muth, first published by Eclipse. Four issues were published that year, but Eclipse went of business before a collected edition could appear. In March, Abrams is bringing back the book with all four issues remastered from the original film used to print the books and contained in one hardcover with a new afterword by Muth and an introduction by film critic Adam Kempenaar.
By 1990, Muth was already known as a comics innovator for being among the first cartoonists to use illustrative contemporary painted artwork for comics storytelling. Adapting a classic of German expressionism—in which Peter Lorre plays a child murdered so despised he is even pursued by criminals—was a daring move that turned into a great accomplishment. "He did something a little more esoteric," said Charles Kochman, the Abrams editor responsible for bringing the work back into print. "Jon took the story of the Fritz Lang film and pushed it to a whole new level."
In the book, Muth adds his own elements to the story to create not a movie on paper but a graphic novel that stands on its own. Muth used his own photography of friends and family as well as his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, to recreate the film’s story. He then used different illustrating techniques such as drawing in silverpoint and graphite to give the art a distinctive look.
At the time Muth was best known for illustrating the series Moonshadow for Epic comics, a creator-owned Marvel imprint, as well as the Marvel miniseries Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown. It was actually Steve Niles—then an editor for Eclipse and now known as the writer of 30 Days of Night—who came to Muth with the idea of adapting M. The artist agreed. "I was putting my foot down that this was going to be exactly the way I personally wanted it in a real auteur sense," said Muth. He has always been impressed with what Lang accomplished in the film. "[His] extraordinary visual sense sold the idea of the story," he said. "The story itself has a very simple through line but very strong emotional resonance throughout."
One of the people who remembered Muth's M fondly was Kochman. He had been trying to reprint the book for years, first when he was an editor at DC Comics and then when he arrived at Abrams. When he and Abrams CEO Michael Jacobs were brainstorming how to further develop Abrams’s graphic novel line, Kochman mentioned Muth and M specifically. By that time, Muth had left comics behind and established a successful career as a children’s book illustrator with such titles as The Three Questions and Zen Shorts. He was happy to learn that Kochman was talking about bringing back M.
“I think people who bought the [original] book had trouble finding the issues,” said Muth. “I’m pleased that it’s showing up as a complete work in itself.” Muth; his agent, Alan Spiegel; and Abrams designer E.Y. Lee also participated in remastering the book, whose four issues were published by four different printers. "The production people did a truly wonderful job of restoration," said Muth. "They were working from film in dubious condition, so in some ways it was like restoring a movie."
Kochman knew that this book would appeal to those who weren’t just graphic novel fans. Another way the book reaches out to the film world is the choice for the writer of the book’s introduction. Muth suggested Kempenaar, the film critic for the podcast Filmspotting,
Kempenaar was surprised to get the call. "I confessed that I had never actually read a graphic novel," he said. "But they said that was fine because they were looking for a fresh perspective."
In the book’s afterword Muth writes how the comics medium lent itself to a recreation of M. “There’s a tradition in comics of exploring angst or rage or confusion, a fascination with the injustice or absurdity of reality,” he writes. “It’s a medium built for the outsider to express himself.”
The result is something that finds its own voice. "There's a contemporary feel to [the graphic novel]," said Kempenaar. "Jon is very faithful to Lang, but there are wonderful moments where he goes on his own and explores."
