Twilight Graphic Novel: Part 1
May. 6th, 2011 12:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zelda_queenZeldaQueen: Well, it's taken long enough, but the graphic novel of Twilight is finally getting roasted. Illustrated by Young Kim, this thing was overseen by Meyer, meaning that she stuck her nose in and refused to let it deviate from her precious book at all. Nothing for it, ladies and gentlemen. Let's dive right on in!
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
Part 1
ZeldaQueen: So of course we start off in the prologue, with Bella going on about how she's dying in the place of someone she loves, she's been threatened by death before, yadda, yadda, yadda. We get some pretty nice dramatic pictures, by which I mean we get a lot of drawings of close-ups of Bella and James's heads. This bit is also all done in a pretty nice grey overtone.
ZeldaQueen: Incidentally, this is really the best shot we get of James. You see, the graphic novel doesn't get the entire book in there, so we haven't made it to the end thus far. Given how that picture looks, it's probably safe to say that Meyer got Young Kim to stick to her idea that the Bad Vampire is Ugly. I much prefer Cam Gigandet.
So we skip ahead to Bella leaving Phoenix for Forks. This is a rather awkward transition. All we're told is that we're in Phoenix, it's January, and it's seventy-five degrees. Because, you know, we need it explained that it's warmer in Phoenix, because Bella doesn't bitch about it enough. We aren't actually given any time references beyond that, so it's really a pretty confusing jump if you haven't read the book.
We also see that the artwork is now a dusty brown tone. This will be a running theme in the novel. So we have everything being grey when Bella's in danger of nommage by James and a light brown when she's in Phoenix. If you think this is subtle, just wait until Edward shows up.
ZeldaQueen: Mmm, bitchy Bella is bitchy. And we see more of the extremely SYMBOLIC color shifts - when she's in Forks, there's this gloomy greenish-grey tint. Again, very subtle.
Also, what is up with Bella's face? I'm dead serious here. There's something about the way the faces in this thing are drawn that disturbs me, but Bella really hits my uncanny valley senses. It's like they drew a teenager's body, but slapped an adult woman's face on or something. I don't know. Am I the only one bothered by this?
ZeldaQueen: And lo, we meet Charlie! Again, I really prefer Billy Burke's version. This one just doesn't have the warmth, wit, or awesome mustache.
Also, I'm not entirely sure what Bella's doing in that bottom-right panel. I think she's supposed to be hugging him, but I don't think I've ever seen Bella do anything remotely affection unless Edward's around. Maybe she's supposed to be falling over and he's catching her
We're treated to several pages of them talking about that truck of Bella's, and by God is it riveting! I can see why this wouldn't be cut, I mean, it's just so important to the plot...thing.
Bella goes into her house to unpack, and we get the usual order of Bella being sullen and gloomy. I'd like to add that it's by about this point that I became aware of how frigging much this thing relies on Bella narrating things to the audience. It honestly reminds me of the graphic novel of Coraline, which kept every. Single. Line from the book, no matter how much it dragged on things. This graphic novel does exactly the same thing, when there are pictures that show just as well how Bella likes the truck, is lonely, and so on. Young Kim might as well have added book ends about her writing everything in her diary, and it would make more sense!
ZeldaQueen: Ah yes, what Mary Sue Supernatural Romance would be complete without the lamentations of how "I don't fit in with humanity, woe! If only a vampire would sweep me off my feet, so I may run with him through meadows and sparkle!"
Anyway, I brought up this picture because I have no idea what the images are supposed to mean. I mean, I get the top one, with Bella being all whiny. Stupid and unlikable as it is, it's vaguely relevant, setting up for how she is destined for vampirism. The middle picture though? I think it's from that bit where she complains about how her dad dares to keep pictures of her mother and her when they were all still a family. I'll admit that it's nice that we're reminded that yes, the three Swans were once happy together, but nothing comes of it, so it's still pointless. And then we skip right from that to her in the rain'till she falls and then she feels a pain.
So, that's enough of Charlie! On to school!
ZeldaQueen: Dear lord, do these people want to make it any more obvious that Eric's the icky geek? Again, I much prefer movie-Eric. I sense this will be a running theme in my commentary.
Also, how does introducing yourself and offering to help someone find their next class make one "over-helpful"?
Also-also, this was pointed out by Dan when he blogged this book, but why does Forks High School sound like it's a college campus? I mean, "your building"? I know that some high schools have several buildings, but all we get is it being hammered into our heads how Forks High has such a tiny population of students, how it's so run-down and out-dated, and so on and so forth. Unless the school used to have a much larger student body and there haven't been renovations, why would it be so huge?
ZeldaQueen: Can we get a Cliche Roll Call here?
Actually, these introductions remind me of some sort of badly-scripted RPG video game. Or a dating Sim, where you're awkwardly introduced to a potential love interest. Or no, like the computer game for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. "Hi Harry! It's me, Ron! We rode on the Hogwarts Express together, remember?"
Regarding panel one - stellar placement of Bella's face thar, Young. Seriously, was that tiny close-up of a book that necessary? Or couldn't it have been placed a little lower, so it didn't cover the main character's face?
(Note from the future: it seems it's actually Angela's face that was covered. While it's nice to know that Young Kim didn't make as amateurish a decision as to cover up the face of the main character, it still is poor spacing and also doesn't speak too well about how distinguishable the character designs are.)
Regarding panel two - I have no idea what's up with that coy, sneering look on Mike's face. Do we really need it hammered into our heads that he's sleazy and thus Bella won't have him?
Regarding panel three - I love that spacey, disgusted look on Bella's face, because Mike has the audacity to speak to her. Oh, is it just that overwhelming to have three people introduce themselves to you? You poor dear! Actually, what little you can see of Bella's face in panel one suggests that she's also turned away from Jessica as well. What, is Bella so revolted by these people that she just can't look them in the eye while they talk to her?
So we skip ahead to lunch, where Bella of course narrates how annoying it is to converse with "several curious strangers". Of course, we all know what's coming up.
ZeldaQueen: Ta-da! Edward and the Cullens have made their appearance! And my word, it looks like Young Kim enjoyed the sparkly vampires thing. I like to imagine that Bella's just sitting at her lunch table with that stupid expression on her face, while Mike and Angela are waving their hands in front of her, trying to get her attention.
ZeldaQueen: GAH! Those people are creepy! Creepy, I say! Seriously, all of them look ready to bite my head off! Alice especially freaks me out. She looks like one of those people who you look ready to cut you if you try to talk to them. And Bella's first thought, upon seeing these people, is "I'd like to tap that".
Actually, this is one case where the uncanny valley designs fit very well. From what I've gathered, Meyer meant for her vampires to be very beautiful, but in an inhuman way, which might explain how everyone thinks they're hot but are wary of them. This doesn't explain why we see no examples of said wariness, but I digress. If the vampires were the only ones drawn in that style, it would fit very well. All of the people are drawn like that though, so it's very unnerving!
ZeldaQueen: Enter the Edward! And he's...being followed by a trail of cherry blossom petals? Bzuh? No wonder Bella's giving him a weird look!
Anyway, this is about as good a place to take a break as any, so until next time!
Onward to: Part 2
Return to: Table of Contents
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
Part 1
ZeldaQueen: So of course we start off in the prologue, with Bella going on about how she's dying in the place of someone she loves, she's been threatened by death before, yadda, yadda, yadda. We get some pretty nice dramatic pictures, by which I mean we get a lot of drawings of close-ups of Bella and James's heads. This bit is also all done in a pretty nice grey overtone.
ZeldaQueen: Incidentally, this is really the best shot we get of James. You see, the graphic novel doesn't get the entire book in there, so we haven't made it to the end thus far. Given how that picture looks, it's probably safe to say that Meyer got Young Kim to stick to her idea that the Bad Vampire is Ugly. I much prefer Cam Gigandet.
So we skip ahead to Bella leaving Phoenix for Forks. This is a rather awkward transition. All we're told is that we're in Phoenix, it's January, and it's seventy-five degrees. Because, you know, we need it explained that it's warmer in Phoenix, because Bella doesn't bitch about it enough. We aren't actually given any time references beyond that, so it's really a pretty confusing jump if you haven't read the book.
We also see that the artwork is now a dusty brown tone. This will be a running theme in the novel. So we have everything being grey when Bella's in danger of nommage by James and a light brown when she's in Phoenix. If you think this is subtle, just wait until Edward shows up.
ZeldaQueen: Mmm, bitchy Bella is bitchy. And we see more of the extremely SYMBOLIC color shifts - when she's in Forks, there's this gloomy greenish-grey tint. Again, very subtle.
Also, what is up with Bella's face? I'm dead serious here. There's something about the way the faces in this thing are drawn that disturbs me, but Bella really hits my uncanny valley senses. It's like they drew a teenager's body, but slapped an adult woman's face on or something. I don't know. Am I the only one bothered by this?
ZeldaQueen: And lo, we meet Charlie! Again, I really prefer Billy Burke's version. This one just doesn't have the warmth, wit, or awesome mustache.
Also, I'm not entirely sure what Bella's doing in that bottom-right panel. I think she's supposed to be hugging him, but I don't think I've ever seen Bella do anything remotely affection unless Edward's around. Maybe she's supposed to be falling over and he's catching her
We're treated to several pages of them talking about that truck of Bella's, and by God is it riveting! I can see why this wouldn't be cut, I mean, it's just so important to the plot...thing.
Bella goes into her house to unpack, and we get the usual order of Bella being sullen and gloomy. I'd like to add that it's by about this point that I became aware of how frigging much this thing relies on Bella narrating things to the audience. It honestly reminds me of the graphic novel of Coraline, which kept every. Single. Line from the book, no matter how much it dragged on things. This graphic novel does exactly the same thing, when there are pictures that show just as well how Bella likes the truck, is lonely, and so on. Young Kim might as well have added book ends about her writing everything in her diary, and it would make more sense!
ZeldaQueen: Ah yes, what Mary Sue Supernatural Romance would be complete without the lamentations of how "I don't fit in with humanity, woe! If only a vampire would sweep me off my feet, so I may run with him through meadows
Anyway, I brought up this picture because I have no idea what the images are supposed to mean. I mean, I get the top one, with Bella being all whiny. Stupid and unlikable as it is, it's vaguely relevant, setting up for how she is destined for vampirism. The middle picture though? I think it's from that bit where she complains about how her dad dares to keep pictures of her mother and her when they were all still a family. I'll admit that it's nice that we're reminded that yes, the three Swans were once happy together, but nothing comes of it, so it's still pointless. And then we skip right from that to her in the rain
So, that's enough of Charlie! On to school!
ZeldaQueen: Dear lord, do these people want to make it any more obvious that Eric's the icky geek? Again, I much prefer movie-Eric. I sense this will be a running theme in my commentary.
Also, how does introducing yourself and offering to help someone find their next class make one "over-helpful"?
Also-also, this was pointed out by Dan when he blogged this book, but why does Forks High School sound like it's a college campus? I mean, "your building"? I know that some high schools have several buildings, but all we get is it being hammered into our heads how Forks High has such a tiny population of students, how it's so run-down and out-dated, and so on and so forth. Unless the school used to have a much larger student body and there haven't been renovations, why would it be so huge?
ZeldaQueen: Can we get a Cliche Roll Call here?
Actually, these introductions remind me of some sort of badly-scripted RPG video game. Or a dating Sim, where you're awkwardly introduced to a potential love interest. Or no, like the computer game for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. "Hi Harry! It's me, Ron! We rode on the Hogwarts Express together, remember?"
Regarding panel one - stellar placement of Bella's face thar, Young. Seriously, was that tiny close-up of a book that necessary? Or couldn't it have been placed a little lower, so it didn't cover the main character's face?
(Note from the future: it seems it's actually Angela's face that was covered. While it's nice to know that Young Kim didn't make as amateurish a decision as to cover up the face of the main character, it still is poor spacing and also doesn't speak too well about how distinguishable the character designs are.)
Regarding panel two - I have no idea what's up with that coy, sneering look on Mike's face. Do we really need it hammered into our heads that he's sleazy and thus Bella won't have him?
Regarding panel three - I love that spacey, disgusted look on Bella's face, because Mike has the audacity to speak to her. Oh, is it just that overwhelming to have three people introduce themselves to you? You poor dear! Actually, what little you can see of Bella's face in panel one suggests that she's also turned away from Jessica as well. What, is Bella so revolted by these people that she just can't look them in the eye while they talk to her?
So we skip ahead to lunch, where Bella of course narrates how annoying it is to converse with "several curious strangers". Of course, we all know what's coming up.
ZeldaQueen: Ta-da! Edward and the Cullens have made their appearance! And my word, it looks like Young Kim enjoyed the sparkly vampires thing. I like to imagine that Bella's just sitting at her lunch table with that stupid expression on her face, while Mike and Angela are waving their hands in front of her, trying to get her attention.
ZeldaQueen: GAH! Those people are creepy! Creepy, I say! Seriously, all of them look ready to bite my head off! Alice especially freaks me out. She looks like one of those people who you look ready to cut you if you try to talk to them. And Bella's first thought, upon seeing these people, is "I'd like to tap that".
Actually, this is one case where the uncanny valley designs fit very well. From what I've gathered, Meyer meant for her vampires to be very beautiful, but in an inhuman way, which might explain how everyone thinks they're hot but are wary of them. This doesn't explain why we see no examples of said wariness, but I digress. If the vampires were the only ones drawn in that style, it would fit very well. All of the people are drawn like that though, so it's very unnerving!
ZeldaQueen: Enter the Edward! And he's...being followed by a trail of cherry blossom petals? Bzuh? No wonder Bella's giving him a weird look!
Anyway, this is about as good a place to take a break as any, so until next time!
Onward to: Part 2
Return to: Table of Contents
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-07 06:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-07 06:36 pm (UTC)Well, Angela is Bella 2.0, so I guess it makes sense that they look similar. XD
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-07 06:58 pm (UTC)I just noticed that James looks kind of like a middle-aged man in that picture in the beginning.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-07 07:15 pm (UTC)Of course, it also reminds me of the fact that people over seventeen are evil/useless/OLD in this series, so yeah -_-