Twilight Graphic Novel – The bastardization continues
January 25th, 2010
So it seems the bastardization of the vampire archetype continues as Twilight further transforms what were once intimidating, feared creatures of the night into sparkly, brooding teenagers with angst. They are taking the original novels and reproducing them as graphic novels. Because of the size of the original source, the first book is being split up into two volumes. Perhaps appropriately, the graphic novel is being done in the very popular shojo manga style, which has always been geared toward younger girls. And they seem to be expecting quite the favorable response; the first print of the graphic novel calls for 350,000 copies.
As much of a fan of the format that I am, I can’t see what point there is in making this. There are already the four novels, the two movies, and more on the way. The stories have been told and visualized. As far as I can tell, the story won’t be changing in any significant way. This is basically just a poorly veiled gimmick to earn some more money.
In Stephanie Meyer’s defense, she does say that “the images are much closer to the characters I see in my head than any actual human being could be.” So perhaps there is some merit to producing this graphic novel. But I don’t know if it can be argued that that is substantial enough to generate such a project.
Young Kim, the artist for the book, has a style much like many other shojo mangaka (proper term for a manga artist) out there. Not a bad style in itself, but at the same time, not groundbreaking or striking. Being a visual person, I really need the art to be well done and fitting with the style of the content. Even if I don’t particularly like the style of the artist, I can still appreciate what they bring to the table, assuming it is something different. It is the things that stand out that we remember, good or bad. It’s the ones with nothing new to show that are often forgotten.
Also, what’s up with that lettering in the second balloon? A slant, really? That’s just unprofessional. This feels like something I could find on DeviantArt. I don’t know if this is a completed page or not, but because it was on an article claiming an exclusive preview, I assume it is. In which case, those stupid black squiggles are not what I would call proper word balloon tails.
I realized by the end of the article however, that I’m upset not only because of the content of this new graphic novel and what it could mean to the medium, but because the medium is still differentiated and “comic books” are still considered lesser. Case in point, here is a quote from the article:
In case you are unaware, a graphic novel is a story told through ilustrations and captions much like a comic book, yet the subject matter can range from non-fiction to fictional works.
It should first be noted that the misspelling of illustrations is verbatim. Spell check, much? Anyway, last I checked, the subject matter of a comic book can range from non-fiction to fictional works as well. People always try to say graphic novel because they believe it makes them sound more sophisticated, all while turning their nose up at individual comic books. Screw that. The medium and format are exactly the same. Literally, same Bristol board, similar images produced, etc. The only real difference between what society perceives as “comic books” and graphic novels is the packaging and intended final format. Is it part of a longer series, generally released once a month, or is it a stand alone narrative that has a clear beginning, middle and ending? Even some of the monthly series blur the line more, having individual arcs bound into a trade paperback.
Even the “most critically acclaimed graphic novel of all time,” The Watchmen, started as twelve individual floppies that were later compiled into the single masterpiece that it is. Likewise, V For Vendetta was a ten-issue series before being collected as a graphic novel. Would Alan Moore be considered a comic book writer, or a graphic novel writer? Is there a difference?
It’s such a minor point that it’s probably not worth arguing. However, comic books have been released for nearly eighty years now, with their content matter and quality of production increasing every year. They are a viable format for storytelling, straddling that line between pure text and moving pictures. With the number of recent movies based on comic book characters, you’d think it would garner more respect from the masses. Instead, there is still a large stigma that is carried by those deemed “comic book geeks” and there remains a glass ceiling for the artistic merit appreciation of the medium.
Rather than rant more, I’ll leave it here with these last words: much like a square is a rectangle but not all rectangles are squares, all graphic novels are comic books but not all comic books are graphic novels.
Tags: Comic Books, Graphic Novels
