Books: FINE ART IN LAYERS OF ABSURDITY; KER-POW.

Byline: LORNE JACKSON

THERE'S a generally held consensus that only bad art can be adapted successfully.

For instance, The Bonfire Of The Vanities by Tom Wolfe is a great novel.

But the film version - starring Tom Hanks and Bruce Willis - is considered a profanity of inanities.

On the other hand, Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather films from the 70s are celebrated as two of the finest movies of that decade, transcending weak source material.

Luckily, City Of Glass (Faber and Faber, pounds 8.99) proves the exception to this rule. Adapted by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli from Paul Auster's classic novel, it adds striking visual layers to what was already a highly original work.

The Kafka-esque tale describes how a writer of detective stories descends into an absurdist hell. Karasik and Mazzucchelli provide a masterclass in the subtle art of sequential storytelling that is not to be missed.

Adaptations can also travel the other way, flowing from comicbook into other media and then back again.

That's what has happened with popular DC oddbod John Constantine.

Conceived by bearded Midland genius Alan Moore as a secondary character during hisSwamp Thing run, Constantine progressed to his own monthly comic.

A blond-haired bloke who's one half shamus, one half magus, he hails from the exotic wilderness that is Newcastle upon Tyne.

Constantine's distinctive look was based on the exotic sexiness that is Newcastle-on-Tantric pop star Sting.

Obviously Sting couldn't star in the movie. He is to acting what crackhead Pete Doherty is to healthy living.

Instead, the producers hired the finest actor of his generation... er, Keanu Reeves. Or perhaps not.

In Constantine - The Hellblazer Collection' (Titan Books, pounds 9.99), we have the comic adaptation of the movie adaptation of the original comic. Confused? You will be.

Especially since blond-haired Constantine has been drawn to look like the dark-haired Reeves boy.

The collection also contains material from the original comics, in which Constantine is blond once more.

This is a good starting point for new readers to the series, rather than aficionados.

Much better is JohnConstantine, Hellblazer: Rare Cuts (Titan Books, pounds 9.99which contains a bundle of rarely-seen tales written by Britain's finest comicbook talent, including Grant Morrison, Jamie Delano and Garth Ennis.

Quirky fun