Panels from the graphic novel The Prague Coup. (Titan Comics)
One of the projects getting a boost at San Diego Comic Con International this past week was The Prague Coup, based on Graham Greene’s writing of the classic film The Third Man.
London-based Titan Comics will release the graphic novel, written by screenwriter Jean-Luc Fromental, with Miles Hyman co-writing and illustrating on December 12. The Prague Coup was first published last year in French by Éditions Dupuis S.A.
The 112-page graphic novel is based on the real life 1948 Czechoslovak coup d’état, which has also been called the ‘Prague Coup,” in which the country’s Communist Party, backed by the Soviet Union, overthrew the Czechoslovakian government. The event contributed to the adoption of the Marshall Plan and NATO after World War II.
The graphic novel follows Greene as he works on his new project: The screenplay for the Carol Reed film The Third Man starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles. The book asks, “ has Greene found himself in a world as dangerous as the one he’s built for Harry Lime?”
While Greene was a member of the Communist Party in Britain in 1922, there’s no indication that he was directly involved in the world changing events.
Fromental has admittedly taken some liberty with the facts surrounding Greene’s Prague and Vienna visits at the start of 1948.
“I allowed my imagination to work on some of the gaps in Greene’s itinerary that existed. It led me to reflect on Greene’s trip to Central Europe and the story line that could be developed,” Fromental told radio.cz.
Titan Comics also has graphic novels in the works based on The Beatles animated film Yellow Submarine and the Patrick McGoohan television series The Prisoner.
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