Because it offers a different kind of pleasure. Reading the prose, you imagine the clockwork palace. Reading the manga, you see it. The panel where the Magister first reveals his army of automatons is genuinely chilling in a way that prose alone cannot achieve.
Long before the explosion of “BookTok” and the recent resurgence of interest in Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter universe, a quiet but remarkable adaptation was released that bridged the gap between Victorian literature and Japanese manga. In 2012, Yen Press published The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel – The Manga , adapted and illustrated by the Korean-born artist HyeKyung Baek. Because it offers a different kind of pleasure
What works best is Baek’s use of motion. Fight scenes, particularly the sword clashes between Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs against the Magister’s minions, are fluid and dynamic. Unlike some manga adaptations that feel like static panels of dialogue, this one reads like a storyboard for an anime that, tragically, we never got. Adaptation is a tightrope walk. Too much loyalty creates a slog; too much liberty angers the fans. Baek walks this line carefully. The manga covers the entirety of Clockwork Angel , from Tessa’s arrival in Southampton to the heartbreaking revelation on the ship. The panel where the Magister first reveals his
For fans of Will Herondale’s razor-sharp wit and Tessa Gray’s transformative journey, this manga offered something the novel could not: a visual heartbeat. A decade later, it remains one of the most faithful and visually stunning adaptations of Clare’s work. The biggest challenge for any artist adapting Clockwork Angel is the world-building. Clare’s novel is a dense tapestry of Victorian London, supernatural politics, and Clockwork mechanics. HyeKyung Baek rises to the occasion magnificently. What works best is Baek’s use of motion
