Twilight Graphic Novel: Part 4
May. 13th, 2011 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zelda_queenZeldaQueen: In which we get faux-drama.
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
Part 4
ZeldaQueen: After picking up Bella's keys and possibly contemplating how best to murder her with it, Edward tries to chat up a conversation with Bella. She responds by slamming her car door shut and trying to storm off. He asks her if she would like for him to give her the ride to Seattle, as in canon. I feel I ought to note that going by the spacing and breaking up of the panels, I think the implication is that we're supposed to see that Edward's Not Like Other Guys, by setting up like he's asking her to the dance and instead understands that she has other plans and offers to go along with them. Quite personally, I have to side with Bella (shocking, I know), who asks if Edward has some multiple personality disorder going on. Actually, we see how he only ever looks like an asshole or pure evil here, so he comes across as being even more of a dick, making it even more baffling that he honestly thinks she's going to take him up on that offer with no questions asked. I mean, you people have all seen Edward's *snrk* wide range of expressions. Would you want to essentially go on a date with someone has only ever looked at you like that?
Annoyingly, Bella doesn't call him out on any of this. Instead, as in canon, she asks why he keeps telling her not to be friends with him. He gives her his canon jackhole answer about how he wants to be friends with her, but it would be prudent for her not to be, but he doesn't want to stay away from her, and MY GOD, THIS GUY'S AN ASSHOLE!
*pangs* So alright then! We skip ahead to the cafeteria, where Edward beckons Bella over. And yes it looks exactly like someone calling a dog or a servant over, complete with a bored expression and a "come here, peon" beckon. Bella goes over and we actually get a panel with all sorts of buzzes and murmurs in the background. Because every single person in the cafeteria is watching Edward Cullen, and him actually calling someone over to talk to them is such big news.
I want to destroy this thing. I probably would do it, if it weren't a library book
ZeldaQueen: Erm, am I the only one who thinks that Edward slipped LSD into Bella's drink? I can just hear "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" playing in the background while she falls off her chair, laughing at all of the pretty colors.
And I know that bottom panel is supposed to be more sparkles, but it just looks really grainy. If I didn't have the context, I'd think it was a flashback sequence. Oh, and I know it's been said, but she is trying to avoid you, douchnozzle! Christ.
So we get canon conversations, with Bella being confused and Edward being pretentious, and there's even more pretentious images of his mug, just what I wanted.
ZeldaQueen: In any other context, I actually might have found that set-up to be amusing, with the build-up and the charm and the anti-climactic response. I swear, I can hear Edward's anime sigh in that last panel. The disturbing thing is, Edward's dazzling her, which is pretty much a G-rated cross between seducing her and drugging her. And I know that description sounds a bit exaggerated, but I've hung around good-looking guys. I have yet to come across a guy so good-looking that he can coerce me to do literally anything with just a glance, like Edward did to Bella up there. It reminds me of Alice Academy, with the one teacher who has the power of uncontrollable pheromones who uses it to stun naughty students. At least there it's justified, given how dangerous some of the students are!
And on a separate note, I know it's been touched on, but Edward? If you do your damndest to coerce someone to tell you their thoughts, don't whine that the thoughts aren't up to your expectations. Reminds me of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Aslan's advice on eavesdropping *nods sagely*
ZeldaQueen: HOLY -
Yes, Bella, I'd say he's dangerous! If I ever see a guy with an Evil Anime Aura and that expression on his face, I think it would set off a few bells!
ZeldaQueen: I'm not sure why the floor appears to have dropped out from under Bella. Perhaps she's learned how to float in midair, like the wizard Howl? (Incidentally, I now wish Howl and Sophie were in this thing. That would make this all so much more awesome)
You know, all that bit about "He's dangerous, but I'm not afraid" reminds me of is Gethesemane Butler. That's exactly how Audra Williams justified hanging around Jareth in Seven Days! Geez!
Also, Meyer? Bella not being afraid of Edward doesn't make me think she's brave. It makes me think she has no survival skills. I think that lions are awesome, but I'd still run away if I came face-to-face with one.
Ah well, time for the Blood-Type Chem Lab of SYMBOLISM!
ZeldaQueen: So apparently this graphic novel has turned into Sin City. I'm not complaining, mind, as it's infinitely better than the sparkles. Actually, I like this black and white with red thing the best thus far.
Also, Bella said that it was the smell of blood that made her pass out, yet she's getting freaked out at the sight of the needle. I guess it could be that she's anticipating the blood, but really what?
ZeldaQueen: DRAMATIC BELLA IS DRAMATIC!
Seriously, it's a pinprick of blood! Stop pretending she was clubbed on the back of the head!
ZeldaQueen: I'm...not sure why that picture of Edward is there. He's not in the room and she doesn't know he's a vampire, so there shouldn't be association issues. My best guess is that it's either SUBTLE FORESHADOWING or that Bella has already become so hopelessly dependent on him that she imagines him around every time she's hurt or distressed.
Mike takes her out of class and she's flopping around like a fish. Edward arrives on the scene and amazingly, he actually looks genuinely concerned for Bella's well being. He takes her off to the nurse while she's sweating and unconscious and acting like someone who's dying. Really.
Oh, and after several panels, Edward goes back to looking like a smug doll. Blah.
As in canon, we get the scene where Edward charms the nurse into excusing Bella and himself from class. They go to the parking lot, where we are treated to the lovely scene of him threatening to drag her into the car if she won't get in voluntarily. GAH!
And, of course, we get that stupid Claire de Lune scene. In a desperate attempt to make this very boring and shallow conversation interesting, Young Kim draws a lot of musical score.
ZeldaQueen: All it looks like is that Edward needs to clean his car of some bizarre animal tracks.
Also, that picture demonstrates quite well how freaking boring this all is! We don't even see Bella and Edward in that particular panel! Most of the page is taken up with speech bubbles! Show, don't tell!
Onward to: Part 5
Back to: Part 3
Return to: Table of Contents
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
Part 4
ZeldaQueen: After picking up Bella's keys and possibly contemplating how best to murder her with it, Edward tries to chat up a conversation with Bella. She responds by slamming her car door shut and trying to storm off. He asks her if she would like for him to give her the ride to Seattle, as in canon. I feel I ought to note that going by the spacing and breaking up of the panels, I think the implication is that we're supposed to see that Edward's Not Like Other Guys, by setting up like he's asking her to the dance and instead understands that she has other plans and offers to go along with them. Quite personally, I have to side with Bella (shocking, I know), who asks if Edward has some multiple personality disorder going on. Actually, we see how he only ever looks like an asshole or pure evil here, so he comes across as being even more of a dick, making it even more baffling that he honestly thinks she's going to take him up on that offer with no questions asked. I mean, you people have all seen Edward's *snrk* wide range of expressions. Would you want to essentially go on a date with someone has only ever looked at you like that?
Annoyingly, Bella doesn't call him out on any of this. Instead, as in canon, she asks why he keeps telling her not to be friends with him. He gives her his canon jackhole answer about how he wants to be friends with her, but it would be prudent for her not to be, but he doesn't want to stay away from her, and MY GOD, THIS GUY'S AN ASSHOLE!
*pangs* So alright then! We skip ahead to the cafeteria, where Edward beckons Bella over. And yes it looks exactly like someone calling a dog or a servant over, complete with a bored expression and a "come here, peon" beckon. Bella goes over and we actually get a panel with all sorts of buzzes and murmurs in the background. Because every single person in the cafeteria is watching Edward Cullen, and him actually calling someone over to talk to them is such big news.
I want to destroy this thing. I probably would do it, if it weren't a library book
ZeldaQueen: Erm, am I the only one who thinks that Edward slipped LSD into Bella's drink? I can just hear "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" playing in the background while she falls off her chair, laughing at all of the pretty colors.
And I know that bottom panel is supposed to be more sparkles, but it just looks really grainy. If I didn't have the context, I'd think it was a flashback sequence. Oh, and I know it's been said, but she is trying to avoid you, douchnozzle! Christ.
So we get canon conversations, with Bella being confused and Edward being pretentious, and there's even more pretentious images of his mug, just what I wanted.
ZeldaQueen: In any other context, I actually might have found that set-up to be amusing, with the build-up and the charm and the anti-climactic response. I swear, I can hear Edward's anime sigh in that last panel. The disturbing thing is, Edward's dazzling her, which is pretty much a G-rated cross between seducing her and drugging her. And I know that description sounds a bit exaggerated, but I've hung around good-looking guys. I have yet to come across a guy so good-looking that he can coerce me to do literally anything with just a glance, like Edward did to Bella up there. It reminds me of Alice Academy, with the one teacher who has the power of uncontrollable pheromones who uses it to stun naughty students. At least there it's justified, given how dangerous some of the students are!
And on a separate note, I know it's been touched on, but Edward? If you do your damndest to coerce someone to tell you their thoughts, don't whine that the thoughts aren't up to your expectations. Reminds me of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Aslan's advice on eavesdropping *nods sagely*
ZeldaQueen: HOLY -
Yes, Bella, I'd say he's dangerous! If I ever see a guy with an Evil Anime Aura and that expression on his face, I think it would set off a few bells!
ZeldaQueen: I'm not sure why the floor appears to have dropped out from under Bella. Perhaps she's learned how to float in midair, like the wizard Howl? (Incidentally, I now wish Howl and Sophie were in this thing. That would make this all so much more awesome)
You know, all that bit about "He's dangerous, but I'm not afraid" reminds me of is Gethesemane Butler. That's exactly how Audra Williams justified hanging around Jareth in Seven Days! Geez!
Also, Meyer? Bella not being afraid of Edward doesn't make me think she's brave. It makes me think she has no survival skills. I think that lions are awesome, but I'd still run away if I came face-to-face with one.
Ah well, time for the Blood-Type Chem Lab of SYMBOLISM!
ZeldaQueen: So apparently this graphic novel has turned into Sin City. I'm not complaining, mind, as it's infinitely better than the sparkles. Actually, I like this black and white with red thing the best thus far.
Also, Bella said that it was the smell of blood that made her pass out, yet she's getting freaked out at the sight of the needle. I guess it could be that she's anticipating the blood, but really what?
ZeldaQueen: DRAMATIC BELLA IS DRAMATIC!
Seriously, it's a pinprick of blood! Stop pretending she was clubbed on the back of the head!
ZeldaQueen: I'm...not sure why that picture of Edward is there. He's not in the room and she doesn't know he's a vampire, so there shouldn't be association issues. My best guess is that it's either SUBTLE FORESHADOWING or that Bella has already become so hopelessly dependent on him that she imagines him around every time she's hurt or distressed.
Mike takes her out of class and she's flopping around like a fish. Edward arrives on the scene and amazingly, he actually looks genuinely concerned for Bella's well being. He takes her off to the nurse while she's sweating and unconscious and acting like someone who's dying. Really.
Oh, and after several panels, Edward goes back to looking like a smug doll. Blah.
As in canon, we get the scene where Edward charms the nurse into excusing Bella and himself from class. They go to the parking lot, where we are treated to the lovely scene of him threatening to drag her into the car if she won't get in voluntarily. GAH!
And, of course, we get that stupid Claire de Lune scene. In a desperate attempt to make this very boring and shallow conversation interesting, Young Kim draws a lot of musical score.
ZeldaQueen: All it looks like is that Edward needs to clean his car of some bizarre animal tracks.
Also, that picture demonstrates quite well how freaking boring this all is! We don't even see Bella and Edward in that particular panel! Most of the page is taken up with speech bubbles! Show, don't tell!
Onward to: Part 5
Back to: Part 3
Return to: Table of Contents
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 04:33 am (UTC)You know I'm not a big fan of the font for the speech bubbles.
And in the first image, second panel? The gaze makes me giggle.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 05:19 am (UTC)And wow, look, Bella's school has glass tables.
Howl could beat up Edward any day of the week and look damn good doin' it. Likewise, Sophie can pwn Bella with just one comment. I'm just sayin'.
The way the pinprick of blood somehow led to whole panels being splashed in red makes me think that it suddenly began geysering blood out. Why is geysering not a verb?
"Can someone take Bella to a nurse please?"
*dies of laughter* Oh my God, I can hear the teacher talking in this exasperated, embarrassed voice, like "Oh my God, this wimp is one of my students? Someone get her outta here..."
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 06:08 am (UTC)I'm thinking that's a reference to Midnight Sun, where Edward is in the parking lot, listening in to what Bella's doing.
I... am not a fan of this anime-style rendering of Twilight. It just clashes so horribly. And makes it even more evident that NOTHING HAPPENS for 80% of the actual novel.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-16 02:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 08:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 11:01 am (UTC)Just a tiny little nitpick: if I remember correctly, blood is never red in Sin City. Womens' lips are red, so are sheets or dresses, but blood is white.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-16 02:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 01:55 pm (UTC)The whole comic feels really rushed, because the artist doesn't seem to have learned that you should leave space between panels, not just for "dramatic" scenes like where Bella passes out, but to help with the pacing. If you leave a gutter between panels, and not just a thin black line, the reader's eye gets some rest, and you make it easier for the eye to move the way you want it to move over the page.
Let's take the page where the teacher talks about the blood test. My eye first jumps directly to the red spots on the test card. Then I can start to read the page.
My eyes want to move from Bella, along the speech bubble, to the hand putting on a glove, down to the test card again, along the speech bubble to Bella, down to Bella's eye and then along the speech bubble to the lancet-thing.
I don't know if that's the way it's intended to be read, but it's awkward to read the middle speech bubble, because I reach it from the wrong side. My eye moves from right to left, then has to stop and read the text from left to right and then keep moving left again.
Hm. Now I want to read Understanding Comics again. *goes to bookshelf*
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 02:03 pm (UTC)Damn, I want to get back to my own comic projects now.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 02:45 pm (UTC)Bella's dazzled face is just odd. Looking at the images, it feels like Edward just said "Tell me what you know or I might pay your mother a visit" and Bella is looking up in shock.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-16 01:12 am (UTC)Meyer just *had* to insist that the scenes of Bella fainting in class and being dragged around by Edward be kept, didn't she? *sighs*
Now that we see Bella being so dramatic about a pinprick of blood, how exactly are we supposed to reconcile that scene with the scene in "New Moon" where Carlisle extracts glass from Bella's arm and she's apparently fine with seeing her massive, gaping arm wound? I don't know if Meyer wants Young Kim to continue with the rest of the series, but it would look pretty dumb and inconsistent if Young Kim didn't draw Bella with the same reaction in "New Moon."
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-16 02:15 am (UTC)The sad thing is, it's not just her. I read this book written by a Twilight fan, where other Twilight fans gave opinions on various debates. One question was which movie was better, New Moon or Twilight. It was unanimous that New Moon was better, and one of the things complained about was how Twilight didn't have that stupid blood-testing lab.
And I seriously doubt we're getting a graphic novel of New Moon. They don't eve get to the end of the first book here.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-19 01:26 pm (UTC)*Maybe Young Kim read the book and really was freaked out and designed what she felt what the story really was about, yet Smeyer had to shover her big fat nose in and that's why the 'real' story got altered in the process. The reason for my theory is that actions speak louder than words: what is supposed to be 'luv and sparkles' looks way scarier visually, ie. Bella looking frightened of Edward when she tells him her 'theories' about him being bitten by a radioactive spider.
*Is it me or does the design of the characters keep changing slightly? I always think they're off somehow.
*Edward's Satanic Flames of Fury when Bella's asks 'you're dangerous?'! :O It truly looks like he's supposed to be one of the Children of the Corn or something :P
*Who smeared all their blood on those pages? It just looks stupid and hilariously emo :P
*Why are all those musical notes attacking the car? :P
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-28 04:33 am (UTC)And yes, that simple error of covering the face for no damn reason does bother me more than anything else in this comic, because facial expressions are very important in visual mediums and I would expect better of anyone doing comics than to do that.