Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Double Review: Twilight Graphic Novels by Stephenie Meyer and Young Kim

I couldn't help myself and had to check out Stephenie Meyer's novel Twilight made into graphic novel format.  Thankfully, this also helped me finish up my reading goal for 2011.  I'm not sure if Meyer and Kim plan on making her other three novels into graphic novel form, but Twilight was made into two, short graphic novels.


As with most graphic novels, the drawn out descriptions of thoughts and feelings, as well as descriptions of settings are left out of the mix.  The pictures replace any descriptions so that we have to focus on the pictures and the dialogue.

The story is pretty straight forward and tied in with the original.  Major lines spoken are the same, as well as the general "gist" of the action that propels the story forward.  I wasn't always 100% sure what the tear drop was about on Bella's cheek in some of the scenes.  It was there a lot, regardless of how happy or sad the scene might be.  Was this a beauty mark or meant for some symbolic meaning?  I'm not really sure.  The other thing I found strange was the clenching fist thing with Edward?  I think it was meant to show him trying to maintain control.  Oh, my!  What drama.  All you need is a little fist clenching to show one's power, right? 

On the whole, I did think these graphic novels were well done.  The washed out color scheme and really nice pictures do make for a great graphic version of the novel.  Although I had my moments of "what's up" in the depictions of this wildly-popular novel, they were still really well done and I would recommend them to curious readers.

*This review was based on library copies of the graphic novels. 

4 comments:

  1. The sweat drop means they are nervous, and is often used in Japanese cartoons/comic books (http://www.japanpowered.com/articles/animes-visual-language).

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  2. I'm really going to attempt to read a graphic novel for the first time this year. But as I'm not a huge fan of Twilight, I doubt these would be my first choice. ;)

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  3. Usually the tear drop means intense emotion, either happy or sad. I'm not entirely sure what the clenched fist means, if anything.

    Still waiting for the second volume to come in at the library! ::sigh::

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  4. James & Heidenkind--Thanks for the FYI on that. I couldn't figure out why it kept appearing, since it just felt odd and out of place. That helps it all make more sense though!

    Jenny--There are still plenty of other great graphic novels to choose from, so no worries if you're not a Twilight fan. :)

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