Over the years, I’ve read any number of biographies of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, including one or two joint biographies. But I’ve never come across one quite like John Hendrix’s recently released The Mythmakers, a graphic novel that incorporates beautifully drawn and colorful images into the story, along with a lion and a wizard who guide us through that famous friendship.
Hendrix keeps his graphic dual biography (a more accurate term, when you get right down to it, than “graphic novel”) tightly focused on the two men’s friendship and their work. His lion and wizard journey through the biographical facts that many of us are familiar with, but they really dwell on why Tolkien and Lewis wrote what they wrote, how they encouraged and helped each other, and the similarities and differences in their approaches to writing.
It’s great to see a new version of this story being told to young readers (though I believe plenty of adults will enjoy it too).
Throughout their lives and careers, Hendrix shows, both Tolkien and Lewis wrote in order to meet the needs of the moment—for escape from harsh realities, for more of the kinds of stories they loved, and just for expression of their beliefs, interests, and passions. It was their shared passion for myth that drew them together in the first place, and, while the friendship helped draw Lewis to the Christian faith—Tolkien served him as “a guide to get back home,” Hendrix writes—it also sparked new creativity in Tolkien.
“We write myths,” Tolkien tells Lewis, “because our hearts were written by a mythmaker.”
The book delves so deeply into the joys of this personal and professional friendship, that it’s hard to watch the strains and misunderstandings that tested it in later years. (A poignant image of Tolkien watching Lewis and Charles Williams walk off down the street together lingers in the memory, for instance.) But the book is honest about all of it, both the highs and the lows, the disagreements and the sincere efforts at reconciliation, until the end, when Hendrix dares to imagine one final warm conversation that puts all misunderstanding to rest at last.
The Mythmakers is a graphic novel directed especially at younger people—Amazon suggests that the target age range is 10 to 14. I’m not quite sure whether I agree. The delightful images and the appealing characters, especially the wizard and lion, are a good fit for that age range. But the writing is quite sophisticated, and, in the descriptions of World War I, sometimes a little disturbing (e.g., Lewis’s sergeant was “vaporized in a spray of muddy mist”). As is so often true, it’s probably best to decide these things on a case-by-case basis. Some 10-year-olds could probably handle it all just fine; others might do better to wait until they’re a little older.
But in any case, it’s great to see a new version of this story being told to young readers (though I believe plenty of adults will enjoy it too). It’s especially good to see a writer trusting them to comprehend some of the complex spiritual themes, mythological motifs, and theological arguments that are a fundamental part of the story, and also writing realistically for them about the fractures that can strain a friendship.
Many of the newest generation of Narnia and Lord of the Rings fans are surely ready to start learning more about the minds behind the books. The Mythmakers is a wonderful way to introduce them.
This review was originally published on Dear, Strange Things! on September 29, 2024. Republished here with the author’s permission.
