reviewed by Julian LawrenceWicked: The Graphic Novel Part I. Gregory Maguire,
adapted and illustrated by Scott Hampton. New York: William Morrow Paperbacks,
2025. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/wicked-the-graphic-novel-part-i-gregory-maguirescott-hampton
The publication of
Eisner-winning veteran Scott Hampton’s wonderfully illustrated adaptation
transports the transmedial Wicked phenomenon
into comics. The strength of this property lies in the range of themes that
underlie its overarching tale of transformation. Elphaba’s character
transformation in Wicked portrays her
as going “from being a misunderstood outcast to being a friend, a love
interest, and a social movement activist” (Schrader, 2011: 49). Furthermore,
“Elphaba's peers initially ostracize her for her physical difference, but we
soon see that her real difference is political” (Wolf, 2008: 9).
Wicked has impacted a variety
of mediums including literature, theatre, film, and now comics. I discovered Wicked when I attended a live
performance of the show in the summer of 2024, over twenty years after the Tony
Award-winning musical premiered, and almost 30 years since the novel’s
publication in 1995. I have not read author Gregory Maguire’s novel, but now
that I have read the graphic novel, I have added the book to my 2025 summer
reading list.
Themes relevant to LGBTQ+,
race, and disability are clearly presented in the stage, film and comic book adaptations
of Wicked, yet the theme of speciesism
jumped out at me the first time I saw the musical performed. The Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes speciesism as “the view that only
humans should be morally considered” (Gruen and Monsó, 2024). The group of human
animals with whom I attended the performance understood the show’s themes of
identity and transformation, but they all overlooked the significance of speciesism
in Wicked. This appears to be the
case for most audiences with whom I discuss the topic; people downplay or ignore
the catalyst that leads to Elphaba’s transformation, namely her advocacy for
animals. Like the musical, animal oppression is important to the film, and this
theme is explored in more detail in Hampton’s adaptation. Thus, in this review
of the graphic novel, I will address the importance of Elphaba’s transformation
into a vegan advocate for the animals, which ultimately leads to her
vilification by Oz society.
Like Elphaba, I have
been an advocate for the animals since January 2000 and over the decades I have
noticed a palpable anti-vegan bias in society that has compelled “scholars and
legal bodies to recognise anti-veganism as a prejudice, resulting in the
protection of ‘ethical veganism’ under the UK Equality Act 2010. Some evidence,
reported by The Times, even suggests that vegan-related hate crimes
may be on the rise in the UK” (Gregson, Piazza, and Boyd, 2022: 2). As such,
the broad lack of media and critical focus on the vegan theme in Wicked is not surprising to me. For
instance, it has been suggested that “the Animals stand in for the racialized Other,
with strong associations with Jewishness in the musical” (Wolf, 2008: 10). However,
a vegan reading of Wicked
(musical/film/comic) aligns with critiques of unsustainable and inhumane practices
that slaughter billions of land animals annually in factory farms. It can be
said that Wicked is commenting on our
contemporary animal holocaust rather than the Holocaust.
Through a vegan lens, Wicked does not focus on racism or
sexual orientation, but speciesism. As a woman, Elphaba brings an additional
feminist layer because “both sexism and speciesism are not only positively
correlated but are also underpinned by group-dominance motives, consistent with
ecofeminist theorizing highlighting the role of patriarchal values of
domination underlying attitudes towards both women and animals” (Salmen and
Dhont, 2023: 5). Elphaba is vilified and hunted down by Oz society not because
of her skin colour or the romantic relationship she has with Glinda; rather,
Elphaba is perceived as “wicked”
by Ozians because she is a woman fighting the Wizard’s patriarchal oppression of
animals. Visually, Hampton creatively demonstrates the connection between
speciesism and sexism on two pages: the large panel on page 59 portrays a white
cockatoo in a cage (fig.1), and on the last panel of the next page, the male Munchkin
Boq gazes lustily at two women in their white undergarments through a window
whose frames simulate the bars of a bird cage (fig. 2).
 |
| fig. 1 |
 |
| fig. 2 |
The graphic novel
adaptation includes the animal rights theme and utilizes it as the motivation that
transforms Elphaba into the story’s Wicked
heroine: she wants to be a voice for the increasingly silenced and voiceless
animals. The wise goat, Dr. Dillamond, becomes her mentor as they work together
to fight legislated animal oppression. On page 76, Elphaba says to Boq: “I admire
the goat intensely. But the real interest of it to me is the political slant.
How can the Wizard publish those bans on Animal mobility if Doctor Dillamond
can prove, scientifically, that there isn't any inherent difference between
humans and Animals?” (Maguire and Hampton, 2025: 90). As such, Elphaba “notes the unjust
treatment of Animals, the questionable conduct of the Wizard, and the ways in
which greater equality might be achieved” (Kruse and Prettyman, 2008). Most of
us acknowledge equality as it relates to diversity, equity, and inclusion for
humans. However, the theme of non-human animal equity lies at the foundation of
Wicked’s narrative as Elphaba “flies
on a broom at night in order to free captive Animals” (Schrader, 2011: 57). Fighting
animal abuse is a noble cause, but the authorities in Oz vilify Elphaba for
defying the Wizard’s legislated oppression of non-human animals.
 |
| fig. 3 |
Hampton’s effective portrayal
of the Wizard as a deformed, monstrous animal evokes the spirit of the late
comic book horror artist Bernie Wrightson’s fearsome creatures of yore. In her
meeting with the Wizard (fig. 3), Elphaba implores him to “reverse your recent
judgements on the rights of animals…The hardship on the Animals is more than
can be borne” (Maguire and Hampton, 2025: 126-127). Her pleading falls on deaf
ears, and the meeting is fruitless; thus, Elphaba’s resistance and activism is
born. Parallels between humans and non-human animals are affirmed later in the
comic when Fiyero walks into the bedroom while Elphaba sleeps: “a smell of
perfume still in the air, and the resiny, animal smell…” (143).
 |
| fig. 4 |
The graphic novel is
indeed beautifully illustrated, and Hampton is a master of quality comic art. His
depiction of Dr Dillamond’s violent murder is respectfully illustrated, with
the hint of a glazed-over goat eye peering out from underneath the shroud that
covers his unfortunate corpse (fig 4). The caption above this sad illustration
explains that “his throat was still knotted with congealed ropes of black
blood, where it had been slit as thoroughly as if he had wandered into an
abattoir” (90).
I note, however, that
despite the careful detail in the art, some of the text renders could be
improved. For instance, captions are sometimes casually applied, unfortunately obscuring
interesting portions of the art (fig. 5).
 |
| fig. 5 |
 |
| fig. 6 |
In another couple of
instances, speech bubble fonts randomly change (fig. 6). These are
typographical and editorial issues that can be rectified in future printings;
they do not impact the detailed watercolour art overall. It is, nonetheless, a
very wordy comic, with lots of telling rather than showing. However, moments
where Hampton shows, rather than tells, effectively and wordlessly capture tone
and mood. Pages 146-47 present a particularly touching sequence that clarifies
the impacts of the Wizard’s laws on the oppressed animals (fig. 7). |
| fig. 7 |
The graphic novel opens
with a Leo Tolstoy quote: “In historical events great men – so-called – are but
the labels that serve to give a name to an event, and like labels, they have
the last possible connection with the event itself. Every action of theirs,
that seems to them an act of their own free will, is in an historical sense not
free at all, but in bondage to the whole course of previous history, and
predestined from all eternity.” In contextualizing that quote with Wicked: The Graphic Novel, it can be
said that greatness is achieved when individuals permit the moral progress of
history to guide their actions. Elphaba’s advocacy for the animals presents a critical
and ethical step forward for civilization, and that is Wicked’s underlying message.
Tolstoy was
a strict vegetarian, which inspired him to ask: “Who will deny that it is repugnant
and harrowing to a man's feelings to torture or kill, not only a man, but also
even a dog, a hen, or a calf? I have known men, living by agricultural labor,
who have ceased entirely to eat meat only because they had to kill their own
cattle” (Tolstoy, 1886: 16). Consider that quote before you bite into another’s
flesh while eating a sandwich or a burger, because Dr Dillamond’s hypothesis is
correct: there are no relevant scientific, biological, or theoretical differences
between humans and non-human animals. We all want to defy gravity, including Elphaba
flying on her broom, lambs gamboling in the fields, dogs running in a park,
and caped children leaping from swings.
References
Gregson, Rebecca, Jared Piazza
and Ryan Boyd. 2022. ‘“Against the cult of veganism”: Unpacking the social
psychology and ideology of anti-vegans’, Appetite, 178, pp.
106143–106143. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2022.106143.
Gruen, Lori and Susana
Monsó, "The Moral Status of Animals." The Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Fall 2024 Edition. Edward N. Zalta & Uri
Nodelman (eds.). Available at
<https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2024/entries/moral-animal/>.
Accessed February 22, 2025.
Kruse, Sharon and Sandra
Spickard Prettyman. 2008. “Women, leadership, and power revisiting the Wicked Witch of the West.” Gender
and education, 20(5), pp. 451–464. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09540250701805797. Accessed February 22,
2025.
Salmen, Alina and Kristof
Dhont. 2023. “Animalizing women and feminizing (vegan) men: The psychological
intersections of sexism, speciesism, meat, and masculinity.” Social and
personality psychology compass, 17(2). Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12717. Accessed February 22,
2025.
Schrader, Valerie Lynn.
(2011) “Witch or Reformer?: Character Transformations Through the Use of Humor
in the Musical Wicked.” Studies
in American humor, 23(23), pp. 49–65. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/42573612. Accessed February 22,
2025.
Tolstoy, Leo. 1886. What
I Believe. New York: William S. Gottsberger.
Wolf, Stacy. (2008) “‘Defying
Gravity’: Queer Conventions in the Musical “Wicked.’” Theatre
journal (Washington, D.C.), 60(1), pp. 1–21. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1353/tj.2008.0075. Accessed February 22,
2025.
Julian Lawrence is a
senior lecturer in comics and graphic novels at Teesside University,
specializing in storytelling, graphic memoir, and comics pedagogy. As a
cartoonist, researcher, and teacher, his work bridges creative practice and
academic research, exploring comics as a medium for education, reflection, and
social change. http://www.julianlawrence.net/
A version of this review will appear in print in IJOCA 27:1
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