A board game I don’t really care for that turned into one of my favorite movies is now a comic book that doesn’t really have anything to do with the movie. Only a little. What’s a Clue fan to do?
Clue 1
Written by Paul Allor
Art by Nelson Daniel
Yeah, the 1985 movie Clue has been one of my favorites for most of my life. I would check out the movie listings in the back of the TV Guide to see if it was showing on HBO – I would only watch the version with all three endings, though, because it’s a waste otherwise.
Despite some rumblings of a new movie adaptation that wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as the Tim Curry vehicle, the new comic from IDW is the first new media version of the Hasbro property in a while. Thankfully, the first issue of the new comic provided the beginning of a new mystery set in the Clue-niverse, with alternate versions of characters I’m familiar with along with ones I’m not.
The start of the story is the same. We have a butler, we have guests coming to a popular New England mansion during a storm. And, of course, we have a few murders.
The issue sets up the mystery by introducing the characters – members of high society in the world along with police investigating the murder of Mr. Boddy and then a second, unexpected murder that throws our omniscient narrator – the butler – off a little bit.
The story, written by Paul Allor, plays with the conventional storytelling narrative by breaking the fourth wall so the butler, Upton, can keep the reader abreast of what’s happening. The narrative tool worked really well here.
While the characters in the new comic share nothing with the movie characters that hooked me 30 years ago, the modern versions are compelling enough in the first issue to have me engaged in where the story is going, and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.
The comic DOES pay a little bit of homage to the movie, as the comic promotes a special bonus page with clues to the mystery at the end of the book. But here’s the trick – Upton informs us that there are three separate clues, each packed with different editions of the book. The idea is a throwback to the movie’s original theatrical release, where the movie’s three separate endings were sent to different theaters. Do I have to hunt down other versions of the book? I might…