WINNIE-THE-POOH

Just in time for the silly old bear’s 100th anniversary, a new adaptation translates the first of the Winnie-the-Pooh titles into splendid comic book form.

Each of the original chapters appears in a slightly condensed fashion (description cedes the floor to dialogue), bringing to colorful life everything from “In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump” to “In Which Christopher Robin Gives Pooh a Party, and We Say Good-Bye.” Purists may decry this necessary abridgement, but Chandler and Sutphin’s care and appreciation are palpable on each page. Following close behind Travis Dandro’s own graphic novel adaptation of Winnie-the-Pooh (2024), this one features gentle, muted art and serves as an interesting conduit between E.H. Shepard’s art for Milne’s books and the original animated Disney production. Chandler and Sutphin play deftly with the fourth wall, as when they occasionally end a sequence that sees Pooh talking himself with a smile to the reader. The creators delicately walk the line between the charismatic and precious, often highlighting the charm of Milne’s text (“I have been Foolish and Deluded”). Put another way, and to riff on Dorothy Parker, Tonstant Weader will NOT fwow up.

Both a loving tribute to its source material and an ideal gateway drug to longer Milne texts.