Twilight Graphic Novel: Part 6

[zelda_queen]

ZeldaQueen: In which we get the infamous and stupid Port Angeles scene.

Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...

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Part 6

ZeldaQueen: So Bella now knows that Edward is possibly a vampire and has decided that it doesn't matter to her. I mean, it's not like she already knows he only eats animals, right? She's such an idiot



ZeldaQueen: I have to ask, why does Jessica have this smirky viper-ish look on her face? She's not doing anything particularly Scary. Maybe it's just her default expression. Very few people in this thing ever look genuinely nice.

Anyway, as Jessica is saying, she, Angela, and Bella are getting ready for their Port Angeles trip. Bella isn't quite as disdainful when she agrees, although there really is still that sense of "Eh, Edward's not around for me to obsess over. Sure, why not?"



ZeldaQueen: So yeah, we get another picto-montage of the shopping spree. This does work pretty well, since it gives some sense of time passing and keeping the story moving. Also, we once again get no narration from Bella, so she actually does seem a lot more pleasant. We also are spared that horrible running joke about her wanting to run Tyler over with the truck, though as you can see, we still get that stupid "first-kiss stage" thing.

Also, Lauren? Lauren who? Oh, that random girl from the beach? Yeah, what was the point of including that? There's even less evidence here that Lauren likes Tyler than in the book, and that's saying a lot!

Anyway, we get a random panel of Bella being dour, because I guess Meyer decided that she was coming across as too cheerful and we can't have that. I guess it's supposed to show how she misses Edward or something. Ah well, it's only one panel. Bella then goes off on her own to the bookstore, which is drawn as some New Age thing with crystals and beads and trinkets in the window. Also, if you read the sign in the window, it says "The Occult Arts Books - 10% Sale". Ignoring the...erm unique wording of that sign, I suppose it does explain how Bella found her way there if she was looking for books on vampire legends like in the movie.

Bella goes off and, as per canon, gets lost down an alleyway. I honestly have no idea how the fuck that happened, because the previous panels showed it like she was walking by the main street.



ZeldaQueen: To the graphic novel's credit, at least Bella does actually run instead of calmly contemplating how she'd trip if she tried to make a break for it and pelting us with the "I surely lost them!" dead herrings. It doesn't really explain why she didn't scream, especially since cars are supposed to be nearby, along with various buildings and shops. Surely someone is around.



ZeldaQueen: Well no wonder Bella's so scared! Clearly she's being threatened by a gang of rapist ghosts!

In all seriousness, how did Young Kim think that would work? Was it just that vital that we see Bella's jacket? I'm sure that with a little tweaking, it could easily have been drawn so that you could see Bella's expression and skip the random transparency.

Also, while I appreciate the skipping of Bella's ridiculous "self defense knowledge" from canon, it still comes right out of nowhere here as well. Actually, it reminds me of a stupid harlequin novel excerpt I read, where a woman was trapped in a mental hospital and didn't know why and conveniently had enough self defense training to break the orderly's nose and escape.

Also also - Bella, you can try screaming, you know. If you're determined to show off your m4d kung-foo skillz, you can do them while you scream. It's basic instinct to scream, really. Not calling for help doesn't make you look brave, it makes you look stupid.

So Edward goes...driving down the alleyway I guess, and actually hits one of the would-be rapists. And yes, the rapist just falls on his ass like he was bumped into at a sports stadium. I know it depends on the speed of the car, but the panel seems to be that Edward was going really fast.

And you all know how the rest of the ride goes. Edward gets Bella into the car and drives off and in a rare instance, both actually look believable for what just happened. Bella really looks freaked out and Edward looks furious and not all evil and pompous, and if I didn't know about the books (particularly Midnight Sun), I wouldn't be too bothered. As it is though, I know that Edward is coldly calculating how to murder those guys and it kind of looks more like Bella's afraid of him than the fact that she was nearly raped. *sigh*

We completely skip Bella talking to Edward to calm him down and he takes her to the restaurant. We get a very scary panel of Jessica and Angela, with both looking bug-eyed and Jessica wearing this Rita Skeeter-esque grin on her face. I swear, every time she shows up in this section, she has this incredibly smirky look. It's most inexplicable and annoying.

So yeah, Edward goes back to be smarmy and pompous and tells them that he'll take Bella for dinner and then bring her home. Thank the lord above, Young Kim completely skips Bella's continuous attempts to insist that she's not hungry and just wants to go home



ZeldaQueen: ...Yes, because that quote about him dazzling Bella frequently was just so important it had to be kept in.

And I smell more copy pasta of Google images for this panel, particularly with the ravioli.

So yeah, their entire "date" is pretty parred down, which isn't too bad since, as I said, we are spared the endless narration from Bella about how she doesn't want to eat, how Edward is ordering her to eat, and so on and so forth. The downside is that the whole thing is now even more banal than in canon.

Bella randomly brings up her mind-reading theory, as per canon.



ZeldaQueen: ...Please , someone, tell me I'm not the only one who finds that expression utterly freaking terrifying!!! I mean, JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH, what is with Edward constantly being drawn like that? Do Meyer and Young King honestly think that looks alluring? THAT'S CREEPY AS HELL!!!

And...as soon as that panel's done, they're heading out to the car. And they're still talking about the exceptions to Edward's mind reading, which really gives the implication that they've teleported to the parking lot.

So it's pretty much their canon conversation, with the panels alternating between bizarre close-ups and the sparkly backgrounds



ZeldaQueen: You know, I noticed a lot of hand-clenching in this graphic novel. I think it's the only way Young Kim knows to show tension.

And I skipped it, but there was an earlier panel where they're in the car and Bella is afraid to tell Edward her theory that he's a vampire, because she thinks he'll be angry with her. Give that and the fact that he does seem angry and his hand is trembling and there's a close-up of her face...oh God, please tell me I'm not the only one seeing the unfortunate implications!!!

Actually, we all know why Edward's hand is shaking there, don't we? He's thinking about how he can be justified in murdering the entire reservation. Stephenie Meyer, you are one creepy lady.

Let's move on. They have their canon conversation about how she doesn't care that he's a vampire and he starts to get really angry. And I know that Young Kim was going for the idea that he was worried that the jig was up and she wouldn't love him, but given the vibes I got from that earlier panel...it all really came across as super-creepy



ZeldaQueen: I think that top panel is the happiest Bella has looked in this entire graphic novel.

And the bottom part just shows how freaking boring this all is! Seriously, do something!



ZeldaQueen: JESUS CHRIST! That expression on his face! Now I know what he's thinking of!

Also, how could they have "a long memory"? Wasn't Ephraim Black Jacob's great-grandfather? That's hardly going back years and years and years. I mean, a lot of people still have living grandparents when they're teenagers.

So yeah, there's a lot of boring panels of Edward driving Bella home and as she gets out of the car, he leans up into her face and tells her to sleep well. I'm going to say, this has got to be the only time I've ever seen the two of them look at each other with anything remotely resembling affection. I mean, it's more dull concern with Edward, but it's still far more tender than his usual assholish look.



ZeldaQueen: There you have it. That One Quote. It was in the book and got into the movie and managed to worm its way into here as well. I'm fairly certain that Stephenie Meyer is particularly fond of it, given how it's what you see on the back of the book jacket and in all three versions of the story.



ZeldaQueen: Yeah, I just skipped ahead to school the next day, because it's all just the same boring canon conversations, with the same boring panels of Edward and Bella just staring at each other. That picture of Jessica though...that does not look like a teenage girl. You know who that looks like?



ZeldaQueen: Um, yeah. Although I suppose Jessie's supposed to be, like, 15 anyway.

So Jessica is of course a gossipy wretch and Bella thinks about how she's going to turn the ringer off on her phone so she won't have to talk to her. What a charming person. Edward sidles up and thankfully we're spared his stupid comment about how he totally was spying on Bella through Jessica's thoughts and he likes her more than she likes him



ZeldaQueen: I have to ask, how in the world is it possible to do that? If Bella was going for an overhead swing maybe, but it would be in an arc and not dipping down to hit her head. And I would imagine that most people would stop swinging after they hit their own noggin, and how is that swing even possible from where here arm is and oh screw it, I don't care. This section's totally over.

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Onward to: Part 7

Back to: Part 5

Return to: Table of Contents

Comments

[greenerygripes.livejournal.com]

*GAAAASP!*

Bella...is...smiling! OH MY GOD, MARK THE CALENDAR!

Jessica...Jessie...It all makes sense!
ugh, I kinda wanna see that crossover now. I don't know how in God's green earth it would work, but I want it.

Also, I...I have no idea how Bella managed to accidentally hit herself. The way the panel is makes it look like she was just waving that racket back and forth and deliberately aiming to smack herself.

On another note, these expressions--mainly on Bella and Edward, and how they "move" are just...awful. I'm not a professional by any means, but even I could draw better expressions and poses than this. In fact, I almost want to redraw some of these pages just to show how it probably should look...
I can do better than that, and I'm just a random fanartist!

[turtlecrackers.livejournal.com]

OT: Oh my goodness, is that a Super Secret Secret Squirrel icon? 8D I haven't seen that show since I was a kid!

[greenerygripes.livejournal.com]

8DDD It most certainly is!
Oh my god, you have no idea how rare it is to find a fellow fan of the show. Get in that group hug!

[turtlecrackers.livejournal.com]

8DD *huggles*
I don't even remember half of what happened in the show, but I remember that I really, really loved it. XD; It seems like it's time to look it up on youtube to refresh my memories.

[nekokonneko.livejournal.com]

Can I join the group hug? I miss that show so much.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

No, Lauren was the one who was the bitchy blonde. She only shows up once though, so I understand not remembering her. Angela was supposed to have brown hair if I recall, so yeah she too looks blonde. XD

According to Cleolinda, Meyer has very odd reasoning as to why certain quotes are to be kept in. Cleolinda cited how the movie wanted to remove the "lion fell in love with the lamb" quote and use something less...stupid. Meyer insisted they keep it, and her back-up was that people had the line tattooed on their persons, so it would be wrong to deny them that line. People have also probably tattooed that "Three things of which I was certain" line on them as well. -_-

[carmyn]

Is it just me, or doesn't it seem like Angela is a blonde and Jessica is a brunette...I mean, that's what I gather from Angela's hair not being colored in while Jessica's is.

...I find that HILARIOUSLY ironic. Yet FRUSTRATINGLY confusing. Didn't Meyer say in some interview somewhere that Jessica was a blonde? (Hence why she was a gossipy bitch? ...apparently) How come we can't have a set look for any of the supporting/side characters?!

WHY, WHY WITH THE QUOTES? WASN'T THE MOVIE, AND THE BOOK, AND THE MERCHANDISE ENOUGH? I don't remember Harry Potter putting so much emphasis on a couple of quotes!

[emmram.livejournal.com]

No, in the book, Jessica is described as dark-haired.

In fact, this is how she is introduced in Twilight, from the first chapter, First Sight:

"One girl sat next to me in both Trig and Spanish, and she walked with me to the cafeteria for lunch. She was tiny, several inches shorter than my five feet four inches, but her wildly curly dark hair made up a lot of the difference between our heights. I couldn't remember her name, so I smiled and nodded as she prattled about teachers and classes. I didn't try to keep up."

So, yeah. Still ironic, though.

[turtlecrackers.livejournal.com]

The only way I can even try to explain that last panel there, and the same scene in the book, is that Meyer completely fails basic physics. Which is obvious, I guess.
I think it's the same thing with the Van o'Doom, actually. Meyer thinks that when an item collides with something, that item will keep on bouncing around with the same momentum it had before the collision, instead of, you know, obey the laws of nature.

I do hope that Young Kim was going "... how the hell am I going to be able to draw THAT? It makes no sense!" before just half-assing it as we can see there.

[das-mervin.livejournal.com]

The Quileutes have a long memory.

Edward: *quietly and with that obviously batshit-insane grin still on his face* And I'm going to slaughter them all.

*stares*

Yeah. That expression coupled with the fact that we all know he was thinking about genocide at the time....

I'm gonna hide under my bed now.

[detritius.livejournal.com]

And I smell more copy pasta of Google images for this panel, particularly with the ravioli.
So, literal copy pasta, then?

You know, if I was reading this and didn't know anything about the books, I think I'd be expecting Edward to turn out to be a serial killer. It would certainly fit with the way he's drawn. But then, if I hadn't read the books, I'd also expect the ghosts to show up again as part of the plot. (Does it ever clarify that they aren't ghosts? Because in that one panel, at least, that's certainly what they look like.) I have no idea how I'd think it would all fit together - maybe I'd assume they were Edward's past victims trying to warn Bella about him? I have no idea. But then, this is probably being marketed to people who are already fans of the books, so telling the story for those who haven't read it probably wasn't the top priority.

[lurkythespork.livejournal.com]

That first panel you have there with Creepy-Edward: The spacing of the eyes put me in mind of this image: http://www.timkamen.com/?p=55 (The comments to that post are rather crude, just as a warning.)

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

O_O Well, that's uncanny.

[overlordmikey.livejournal.com]

Do Meyer and Young King honestly think that looks alluring?

Meyer probably, but I get this odd feeling like Young Kim is purposely making him look creepy. Sort of sneaking in mean spirited things.

I mean - we’ve seen her draw expressions properly from time to time so my guess is sometimes Meyer would notice and make her change something and sometimes she wouldn’t.

Meyer’s missed a lot of sneaky attacks at Edward and Bella because she can’t imagine anything about them being seen as bad.

I think Kim Young is also half-assing a lot of it out of shear boredom and the realization that
1) Meyer won’t accept anything none-Meyer approved.
2) Meyer has like no taste anyway and you could get away with anything as long as you throw in the right scenes and lines.

I mean seriously; I refuse to believe (most) anyone with the slightest lick of creativity could deal with Meyer and not want to do something to get back at her.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of the creepiness comes from the eye shape. I noticed in the close-ups that the characters were all drawn with very almond-shaped eyes. Yeah.

Apparently Young Kim hasn't done much before this, so I think it's just that she was inexperienced and glad to have the...erm guidance of Meyer. Add in that apparently Twilight wasn't very big in Korea, and yeah...

[foxypope.livejournal.com]

So, have you ever actually googled Young Kim? I became curious after looking over her art direction and deciding it was... bad. Really bad. I wondered how much influence editors or American publishers had on the art--it just seems to me like they're making it all quite Americanized, as much as possible, really. We still have sweat-drops and the pretty manga dazzle but there isn't the same clean, simplified feel to the art direction that most manga has--the ugly-ass sepia tones are evident of that. It's just cluttered and sloppy to me (or extremely dull, it flips around).

So, I wanted to know what her background is. Turns out it's pretty much NOTHING. I give kudos for giving an unknown artist a chance, but... well, you could say the same thing about Stephenie, couldn't you?

The only thing I could find was this interview. (http://www.twilightnews.co.uk/2010/03/24/qa-with-young-kim/) It's all a bit cut and dry, but it gives you an idea of what the process was behind this mess.

Who is your favorite character to draw and why?

If you ask “to draw,” I would have to say Edward. To be honest, Edward is not an easy character to draw. He presents several challenges. First, he has to be absolutely beautiful, and his eye color changes according to his mood. When I draw the vampires, I use a different brush than the one I use for the humans, something more delicate and meticulous. Edward’s hair also requires significantly more touches with the pen. At the end of the day as an artist, though, it’s fun to draw such an esthetically beautiful character.

The bullshit is piled high with this one. Edward is the least aesthetically-pleasing character of the entire graphic novel!

Out of curiosity, was a second volume ever published? I haven't seen it around in book stores. Are they planning on doing the whole series? I hope not.

[winki-pop.livejournal.com]

*I can just hear Smeyer saying to Young Kim to make Jessica look nastier in the manga, since she's supposed to be the Scary Sue and all. Seriously, I still stand by what I said before: all these characters do not have a consistent design to them. Jessica looks more viper-ish than she ever has in this novel. In fact, she's kinda how I'd imagine Victoria to look like in this graphic novel rather than Jessica.

*Team Rocket! :P

*OMG Bella, it's the attack of the Transparent People! :O

*Man, how much of this comic just has Googled pictures scanned into it, that dinner setting couldn't be more obvious! Maybe Young Kim was getting so many stupid design requests from Meyer, that she decided to just half-arse it to shut Meyer up

*Edward's turtleneck shirt made me lol as well :P Ooh, he's sooooo bad, he wears his turtleneck shirt to chase after hoodlums in his bouffant Volvo of Doom! :P

[lady-fofa.livejournal.com]

That picture of Jessica after "That One Quote" always makes me jump for some reason.