On January 5th Tokyopop will publish a full-color, 128-page graphic novel adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s 2003 thriller Shutter Island ($21.99).  Stylish French artist Christian de Metter (Emma, Le Cure), who is known for his evocative painterly art, adapted the novel for the French publisher Casterman.  In mid-February Paramount is releasing Martin Scorsese’s film version of Shutter Island, which stars Leonardo di Caprio as an FBI agent investigating the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane on an island off the coast of Massachusetts.   A hurricane and a mass escape turn the manhunt into a primal struggle as the FBI agents, isolated and deprived of communication devices, have to deal with a totally chaotic situation.

Shutter Island is the first graphic novel adaptation of a book by Lehane, who has established himself in the front ranks of modern American noir novelists with books such as Gone, Baby Gone, and Mystic River, both of which have been made into excellent films.  Certainly with Scorsese at the helm, retailers can be sure of a much better outcome than they experienced with the missed opportunity of Dominic Sena’s poorly-directed adaptation of Greg Rucka’s graphic novel thriller Whiteout. 

Shutter Island, which Lehane described as a cross between the gothic thrillers of the Bronte sisters and the classic science fiction film Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, is perhaps the tautest and most compelling “page-turner” that the author has ever created.  If Scorsese can maintain the intensity of the novel, Shutter Island has a chance to be a Q1 hit in the theaters just like Fox's Taken was in 2009.  Even though comic shops and bookstores will only have about five-to-six weeks between the time that the Shutter Island graphic novel is released and the film will likely debut, they will have a high quality, full-color adaptation.