The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man, By H.G. Wells, Adapted by Alfred Sundel & Norman Nodel, Classics Illustrated

GEOFFREY BRIGGS’ cover of the Invisible Man invites us to turn the cover. Here is a man in motion, with a mission, and something on his mind. That is plain to see, even if we can’t see his face...

The story begins for us readers as a lone figure seeks shelter on a snowy blistery night. The man’s face is bandaged, his hands gloved, he offers no explanation for why, simply states that he is “an experimental investigator” and needs rooms to carry on his work. Mystery hangs in the air, and as robberies begin to take place in the area, suspicion falls naturally on the stranger in this village’s midst.

Good-hearted readers hope it won’t be the experimental investigator, but it is. And he’s invisible. That’s how he has committed his crime unknown – but we continue to sympathise a little, for how else can he support himself? But soon our concerns vanish, as the Invisible Man goes from taking advantage of a tramp who he forces into becoming his companion in theft, to abusing an old friendship with a former university colleague.

There is an inevitability to this story, and not just because it is a classic being retold, and tragedy must occur to satisfy our story value needs. The lasting impression here is that the Invisible Man was not made mad and forced to turn to crime because of his experiments making him disappear but that it offered him the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Alfred Sundel wrote a concise précis of H.G. Wells’ short book, delivering all the key notes, paced well with drama, that Norman Nodel drew sequentially with enough detail to convey both a degree of emotional depth (not easy when you’re lead character can’t be seen) and uneasy mystery.

I presume this book was originally produced no later than the early sixties but its short format adaptation works well and it stands the test of time pretty well.

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