John Le Carré in comics. Yes, really !

Gerard

If someone had told me, when i read the Smiley trilogy, that his universe would inspire a comic book series, I would have called him/her a liar. But...

John Le Carré's: The Circus—Losing Control #1
WRITER: MATT KINDT
ARTIST: IBRAHIM MOUSTAFA (COVER)
COLORIST: BRAD SIMPSON
LETTERER: SIMON BOWLAND
NOVEMBER 19, 2025 | 40 PAGES | FULL COLOR | $5.99 | UPC: 76156801455600111
Every day, the intelligence agents of the Circus are enmeshed in high-stakes, high-wire acts that the average citizen would never notice. They protect Britain's most sensitive secrets—and in modern Britain, secrets are everything. At the head of it all is Control: the all-powerful puppet master who decides who goes where, who does what, and sometimes, of necessity, who lives and who dies. But now, Control has vanished. He doesn't show up at the office. He misses his meetings. He won't—or can't—answer his phone. He is, simply, nowhere. Control's assistant Maggie is the only one who knows he's gone, and with a critical mission blown in Berlin, the clock is ticking. Maggie knows every protocol, every password, and every operative—but whether something has happened to Control or whether this is part of his plan, she has no idea. Either way, she can't trust anyone with the knowledge of his absence. Can she even trust him? Secrets within the Circus have a way of coming unraveled, and Maggie will have to act fast . . . or risk the walls tumbling down around her. *Written by Harvey Award–winning and NYT bestselling writer and artist Matt Kindt. Three-issue series.*

We'll see in october if it holds up to its model.

RichardTheBruce

I came across this unofficial 12-page example as well.


A BRIEF HISTORY OF
GEORGE SMILEY
https://www.reddit.com/r/LeCarre/comments/18nyidz/a_brief_history_of_george_smiley_12_page_comic/

QBranch

Looks good. Ibrahim Moustafa returns, writer and artist from my favourite Bond comic, Solstice.

Dragonpol

Yes, not two things you'd usually put together but I suppose that it could work. Dark Horse did a few Bond comics back in the 1990s if I remember correctly. I've never been much of a John le Carré fan as I can't understand what is going on in most of his stories. It's all a bit involved.

Torgeirtrap

I can't see how a comic book as a format can capture the work of John Le Carré properly, myself. I also think I'd have a bit more faith in a project like this, had it been a Franco-Belgian comic book adaptation of his work; In my experience Franco-Belgian comic books are often better written, and can be a bit more complex in their storytelling than their American counterparts.

It's too early to tell of course, but this just looks like a generic modern-day thriller comic series with Le Carré name attached to it. And why make something that, on paper, look so generic when creating a comic book based on the work by Le Carré' in the first place? I think it would have been more intriguing if this was an espionage thriller set in the 60's or 70's featuring George Smiley.

Dragonpol

A comic book adaptation doesn't seem to me like something that John le Carré would've consented to while he was alive. It's more likely a money grab from his estate. As we've seen with IFP the estate sadly doesn't always make the best decisions when it comes to preserving the author's literary legacy.