Graphic novels, 2021

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, April 2021; written by Kelly Johnson.

There has been an interesting trend in graphic novels recently, standard novels are being reintroduced to the world in graphic form. I didn’t pick up on it right away, perhaps because the Manga Classics series in the Teen Room that includes works like Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Nights Dream”, Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” and Hugo’s “Les Misérables” had me familiar with flipping books in this manner. However, the amazing variety of art and the creativity of these delightful works brought the non-manga trend to my attention eventually.

The first one I read was actually not a surprise to find in this format, “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman came in three volumes to do the best version of the work, and since Neil Gaiman is already well known in the graphic novel world with his “Sandman” series and other graphic works it was a delight to discover. The art in this series is a bit sublime which totally works with the story that is filled with dreams and visions as well as the harder edges of technology.

It seemed before I even finished the final volume more and more of these flipped novels were showing up on the graphic novel shelves. George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”, “Kafkaesque : fourteen stories”, and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird“ are all well done graphic versions of the original works with attention to the details of the story in both language and image. And they keep showing up with F. Scott Fitzgerald's “The Great Gatsby” and Octavia E. Butler's “Parable of the Sower” the most recent arrivals.

And it’s not just adult novels getting this treatment, in the Children’s Room you can find Roald Dahl’s “The Witches”, Jeanne DuPrau’s “City of Ember” and even the “I survived” series in graphic novel form. “The Witches” uses a cartoonish style to tell the somewhat disturbing tale, which actually works with the story’s over the top characters while “City of Ember” is done in dark, neutral tones giving the actual feel of the city’s slowly fading power supply. The “I survived” series does well with a realistic style that goes along with these stories based on true life events.

There are a few of these graphic adaptations in the Teen Room as well, not including those manga classics. One of the first that came in was Laurie Halse Anderson’s “Speak” the story of a young woman who lost her voice due to a physical attack, but eventually finds it again with the help of a caring teacher and her art. Jason Reynold’s “Long Way Down” won many awards and honors as a novel and now as a graphic work it is newly powerful as these characters are brought to life visually and tell the story of a young man seeking revenge and the ghosts that he meets along his way.

If you haven’t tried graphic novels before these retelling of familiar works might be a way to get started in the graphic shelves. If, like me, you already love graphic novels these are options to see great stories in new ways. And of course, there are always tons of original options on these shelves too, so check them out! Good Reading!