Graphic Novel Review: Nimona

Nimona

Story and art by Noelle Stevenson

*****

“Halt you villains! Unhand that science!”
― Noelle Stevenson

From Goodreads:

The graphic novel debut from rising star Noelle Stevenson, based on her beloved and critically acclaimed web comic, which Slate awarded its Cartoonist Studio Prize, calling it "a deadpan epic."

Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from Noelle Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel is perfect for the legions of fans of the web comic and is sure to win Noelle many new ones.

Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.

But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona's powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit. 

From Me:

Oh my word I loved this book! The story takes place in a sort of medieval, magical land that has refrigerators and pizza delivery and dragons. The story is heartfelt and I may have teared up once or twice, while at other times I struggled to hold in my giggles since I was reading it over lunch at work.

The art is fantastic and the story is lovely. I read a library copy, but this one is going to have to go permanently on my shelf.Highly recommended. 

Graphic Novel Review: In Real Life

In Real Life
Written by Cory Doctorow
Illustrated by Jen Wang
***

“This life is real too. We're communicating aren't we?” 
― Cory Doctorow, In Real Life

In Real Life follows Anda as she gets into gaming and discovers issues within the gaming world, as well as the actual world. It examines girls in games, gaming for money, "gold farming," and differences in how other countries treat their employees.

Frankly, this story was a little too after-school-special-y for me to truly enjoy it. It wasn't bad, not at all, but it may have been improved by more text and back story; in this context there were too many "issues" to care about the characters. That being said, the artwork was gorgeous. Jen Wang did a beautiful job.

Maybe I didn't love the book, but I'd still recommend it to young gamers, particularly girls who think maybe it's not ok for them to like gaming. It's a super fast read, so it's worth the half hour it takes to get through it.

Graphic Novel Review: Twilight Volume 2

Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 2  (*****)

by Stephenie Meyer, Young Kim (Art/Adaptation)

This volume picks up where the last one left off - volume 1 and volume 2 combine to make up the full story of Twilight.

I'm not sure what to add that I didn't cover in my review of volume 1. This part of the story has fewer cheesy lines and a little more action, but it's still a stripped version of the story.

If you want the full Twilight story, go for the original book. If you loved the book, you'll probably love the graphic novel, too. One nice thing about the graphic novel is that, compared to the movie, it keeps closer to the original story and includes some scenes that were cut from the movie. While the illustrations are really good, I wouldn't recommend the graphic novel to someone who hadn't already read the book - it's really more of a supplemental piece than a stand-alone novel.

Graphic Novel Review: Twilight: The Graphic Novel

Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1
by Stephenie Meyer
illustrated by Young Kim
(*****)

One problem with creating a movie based on a book with extraordinarily beautiful and occasionally sparkly vampires (not to mention the uber-tall and muscled wolf-people) is that you have to cast those parts with real people. While the actors and actresses in the Twilight movie are very attractive, they they still look like regular people...with bad make-up jobs (as someone who is naturally uber-pale, I thought the face make-up used in that movie was laughable). I think the graphic novel does much better with this. To me, like the combination of imagination and the written word, the artistry of this graphic novel created the author’s world better than the movie. Young Kim also made choices that enhanced the story, like the use of color or photographic elements (the La Push beach or the wolf in Bella’s dream).

I only had two issues with the graphic novel. Despite the fact that I really loved the artistry in this book – I thought Young Kim’s illustrations were beautiful – I thought some of the characters looked a little too similar to one another; sometimes it was hard to tell them apart. The other issue is that, while I think the graphic novel did an excellent job of making sure that all of the major scenes were included, without the meat of the text, what was left behind felt a little light or weak. And to stay with the food analogy, without that meat, sometimes it felt like all that was left was cheese. That’s why I think this graphic novel does much better as an “enhancement” to the original book, rather than a stand-alone graphic novel.