The Lord of the Rings Ring" and part of "The Two Towers". A three-issue comic book version of the movie was also published in Europe (but not printed in English), with illustrations by Luis Bermejo. When Bakshi's investors shied away of financing the second film that would complete the story, the remainder of the story was covered in an animated television special by Rankin-Bass. Stylistically, the two segments are very different. The second and more commercially successful adaptation was Peter Jackson's live action "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, produced by New Line Cinema and released in three instalments as "" (2001), "" (2002),
The Lord of the Rings May 2007. The enormous popularity of Tolkien's work expanded the demand for fantasy fiction. Largely thanks to "The Lord of the Rings," the genre flowered throughout the 1960s, and enjoys popularity to the present day. The opus has spawned many imitators, such as "The Sword of Shannara", which Lin Carter called "the single most cold-blooded, complete rip-off of another book that I have ever read". "Dungeons & Dragons", which popularized the role-playing game (RPG) genre in the 1970s, features many races found in "The Lord of the Rings," most notably halflings (another term for hobbits), elves (who are distinct from