The Man Who Fell To Earth Falls To Comics!

A trippy science fiction classic gets an all-new graphic novel adaptation from Titan Comics. If you’ve never seen Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth starring David Bowie, it can be a little hard to find. But just like in the days before all this alien technology came to fruition, we’re getting it in comics form. It even appears to be using Bowie’s likeness.

Based on a novel by Walter Tevis, the film follows Bowie’s Thomas Jerome Newton, a human-seeming alien (most of the time) sent by his dying planet to bring back water from Earth. In his quest he brings technological innovation, but human society changes him. Perhaps not for the better. The more I think about it, the more I think this 1976 masterpiece has to say about today. The time is right!

It’s also time for a bit of a Tevis renaissance. [amazon text=The eclectic novelist&asin=1474623107] also contributed two other major pieces to our cultural conversation: The Hustler and a little thing on Netflix called The Queen’s Gambit. (If you haven’t seen that, no, Anya Taylor-Joy is not an alien.) Though there are differences between The Man Who Fell to Earth the novel and the film, both are absolutely worth your time. And I look forward to adding the graphic novel to my shelf.

From Titan:

Titan Comics is thrilled to announce an all-new, fully-authorized graphic novel adaptation of the cult 1976 movie The Man Who Fell To Earthfrom STUDIOCANAL starring David Bowie! Penned by Dan Watters (Cowboy Bebop) with art by Dev Pramanik (Dune: House Atreides), the hotly anticipated graphic novel is due to hit stores in Fall 2022!

Based on the classic science fiction novel by Walter Tevis (The Queen’s Gambit, The Hustler), The Man Who Fell to Earth is the 1976 science fiction movie by STUDIOCANAL, directed by Nicolas Roeg and written by Paul Mayersberg. It stars David Bowie, Candy Clark, Buck Henry, and Rip Torn.

The story follows an extra-terrestrial called Thomas Jerome Newton (played in the movie by David Bowie) who lands on Earth in search of water to save his dying home planet. Using his advanced scientific knowledge, Thomas becomes incredibly rich thanks to dozens of inventions his company releases. He uses his wealth to search for a way to transport water back to his home planet, but as his wealth and his fame grows, Thomas becomes a target of interest to the U.S. Government who begin to investigate him.

Now Titan Comics will bring a brand-new visual interpretation to the graphic novel medium, adapted by comic book writer Dan Watters (The Shadow, Assassin’s Creed, Lucifer, Cowboy Bebop) and illustrated artist Dev Pramanik (Paradiso, Firefly, Dune: House Atreides).

“The Man Who Fell to Earth is a masterpiece of a film with an awful lot to say; about men, about the Earth, and lots of things in between,” said Dan Watters. “There are ideas in the film, about climate crises and corporate greed, that are more relevant now than they were when Nicolas Roeg set out to make it. And now here we are. I think it’s high time to look at the world through Thomas Newton’s mismatched eyes all over again. Perhaps he’ll see something we’ve been missing.”