An Opera as a Graphic Novel?

Remember 2020? Course you do. Remember how all the shows and events were cancelled? Remember how long it took to get them started up again? So, in that in-between time, companies tried out different things. Online streaming. Behind the scenes videos. Arizona Opera put together The Copper Queen, which came out in theaters in 2021. But filming an opera as a movie instead of producing it as a live show is still a visual medium with performers and sight and sound and song. It was different--but not altogether. Their other experimental project that came out of that time was even more different.

I'm referring to the graphic novel of Carmen, which was adapted by Alek Schrader, P. Craig Russel, and Aneke. A graphic novel is long in the making. I believe it was announced in December 2021 and the Kickstarter campaign began the following spring. Kickstarter can be a bit of a set-it-and-forget-it type of thing. Even though there were updates in the following months, I was still caught pleasantly by surprise to find the actual, physical graphic novel in my hands this week. 

One hardly knew what to expect from such a project. But it's quite a nice volume the team put together. It's big and hardcover (and printed in Canada). I haven't read many graphic novels, so I'm not the best judge of this. But it was easy to read and follow along with. The dialogue and action flowed. While the visuals were kept to a simple style, they still conveyed strong emotions--in the same dramatic way that emotion comes across when I'm watching an opera on stage. I also have never watched Carmen. Rather than taking that as a negative, though, it meant that I was able to see just how much I enjoyed the story in its own right and felt each emotional beat as I flipped the pages--even without having any previous knowledge of or connection with the story.

I left off hoping that I do get to see the opera in person sometime. The book was emotionally stirring, with plenty of action and drama. I enjoyed following the story and picturing the music. The bold color palette matches the bold plot and characters. 

The idea of a project like this seems like it's to get more people into opera who wouldn't normally be. But I wonder if it doesn't work the opposite way, in getting people who enjoy opera more into graphic novels. Someone who has never read a graphic novel before is probably more likely to read this book (because of the opera) than it is likely for someone who has never seen an opera (but is into graphic novels) to read it. I could be wrong about that. (And this conversation is also going along with the assumption that there are two different groups of people--those who watch operas and those who read graphic novels. But since they're both sort of niche things, I wonder if there isn't more crossover between the audiences than one would think. People who like one niche type of content tend to like many niche things.) But either way, crossover and artistic experimentation can be fun--and they really did do such a great job with this volume that it will be a satisfying read for whoever it is that comes across it. 

Native American Graphic Novel Collection

Lately I've felt like I should know more of Native American stories, particularly those from the general area where I live. But these are oral traditions that aren't always set down on paper--and often intentionally so. One of my professors in college taught a class on Native American stories (I never took it, but now I think that I should have), and that was something he talked about, the extra layer it adds to learning when a lot of the stories simply aren't in print. In high school, for instance, one of my friends did a scholarship where he had to do a project on these oral tales--and therefore he had to go and talk to members of the community to hear their stories.

So when I was at the Grand canyon last year, looking around one of their gift shops for a unique book that I wouldn't happen on elsewhere (and also one that wasn't just about the geology), this one caught my eye. Trickster: Native American Tales - A Graphic Collection, compiled by Matt Dembicki and published in 2010. That's right. It's a volume with twenty-one different tales, all told in graphic novel style. 

And right away, that concept seemed to fit, as random as it might at first seem. Oral storytelling is a specific narrative style. When you try and write it down and print it out, it changes. (This is why Beowulf always seems to look best when it's kept in verse; prose just doesn't keep the right flow.) But when you add all of the illustrations of a graphic novel, the pacing becomes something specific. There are certain pauses when you look at a picture--similar to the pauses a speaker might make for dramatic purposes. And it simply gives the story more of a living, moving feeling, even more of a feeling that it is being told by a narrator. So I really like this concept of telling these stories in this form.

When I was flipping through the book at the store, though, I hesitated because of the style of some of the illustrations. Let me first explain how the book was put together. Matt Dembicki had the idea because he, too, wanted to learn more Native American stories and also help other people find an interest in learning them. So he found Native American storytellers who would be willing to take part in the project and he let them choose their illustrators from a group of artists; the storytellers also gave approval for how each panel turned out. 

The thing is, these illustrators are all quite different--something that seemed to bother many people in the reviews of this book. I kind of agree, though maybe not as strongly. When you flip through the book, the colors change so quickly: earthy, vibrant, neutral, extremely bold, very yellow, very brown, very blue. The styles changes, too: fairly realistic, soft, cartoonish, very computer-y, more hand-drawn-looking, and so on. The styles do go with the stories, and I found myself thinking less about the differences in styles when I was actually reading--but still. If there were a little more similarity to the styles, the book would be visually much less random.

I generally preferred the more serious styles of illustrations. But at the same time, I don't know if I can ask that they all be that way: there is humor to these stories and there is casualness (that isn't the right word: I just mean to say that they aren't stuffy stories, many are stories of regular animals and regular settings and such). So a cartoon style does make sense, considering that this book is a fusion of two cultures (while still maintaining the traditional styles of the stories themselves).

Note that I haven't said much about the stories themselves. This is because I don't feel capable of saying anything about them: I've said I'm not very familiar with too many Native American stories. So I can say that I liked or didn't like and that's all--and that seems weird to say, too. Instead I'll just comment a little on the style. Many of the stories read similar to fables, having animal characters who talk to each other and sometimes to people. Many of them explain things in nature, like why there are stars in the sky or why alligators are scaly. Some are moral tales, sending messages to help young people know how to behave and imparting values. Some of the writers choose a more serious, poetic style--others modernize a bit with simple wording. 

I kept imagining almost that I was reading the stories out loud--or that someone was reading them to me. As such, this volume would be great for reading with children, a good way of introducing them at a young age to a little bit of Native American storytelling. I do feel like I should add, though, that depending on the age of your child, you might want to skip one or two stories, or at least just check them beforehand. Otherwise, though, I think there is a lot in here for children to enjoy. That said, I don't mean that I think of this as a children's book. Certainly not: this type of story is for any age, provided you have the interest. (Use common sense: if you hate fables, though these are a little different, think twice and let everyone else enjoy this book.) 

Mainly I like the concept. But I also enjoyed reading. The stories are quick to read through and a good starting place. One last note I seem to have forgotten: these aren't stories of a specific region. They range from the Southwest to Alaska to Hawaii and so on throughout the country--and it's usually pretty quickly apparent what the region is because the stories all draw from nature imagery and animals particular to certain areas.

New Moon Graphic Novel Vol. 1

It's only my fourth graphic novel, right? (Not counting The Invention of Hugo Cabret.) The others were the two volumes for Twilight and Jane Eyre. What Young Kim did with Stephenie Meyer's text in the those first two volumes pleased me; simply put, Volume 1 of New Moon does the same.

I read the first few pages casually, then set the book down for a day or two, not feeling much need to hurry back to it. But when I did, I found myself sitting with it until I'd finished. It's of course quick to flip through, being a graphic novel. But it wasn't the book's speed that made me finish: it was a repeat of that feeling I'd had before. It was a refresher of what made me like this story to begin with. While dialogue is shortened, there are still enough of my favorite quotes and scenes to re-immerse myself in this world, while also introducing a new format.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there was less color in this book; I can't double check because I don't have the others with me at the moment. Yet there were still a couple of scenes that stood out, artistry-wise: Bella's dreams and the scene with Laurent. I'll be getting Volume 2 when it comes out.

Jane Eyre as a Graphic Novel

Mostly I was just curious what a graphic novel version of Jane Eyre would be like. The only graphic novels I have read (unless you count The Invention of Hugo Cabret) are the Twilight ones (click for Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), but I did enjoy those.

This one is part of the Classical Comics series, designed with the aim of inspiring new readers (especially younger ones) of these works. They offer both Original Text and Quick Text versions, as well as Plain Text for Shakespeare adaptations. My copy of Jane Eyre is Original Text, with script adaptation by Amy Corzine and artwork by John M. Burns.

It may be Original Text, but this is of course still a highly abridged version of the original novel. It's compressed into around 130 pages and is therefore missing many scenes, lines, and descriptions. At first, it bothered me to have so much missing and for scenes to move so quickly into one another, often with too-abrupt transitions. But I imagine there was a set length limit that everyone involved in making this book had to stick to. If they had been able to do a five volume book, the result would have been different. It would also have defeated the purpose of Classical Comics--inspiring interest in a different group of readers. A long and unwieldy text wouldn't do that.

So given the constraints, this adaptation is nice. Naturally, there is more dialogue preserved than anything else. While some lines are cut out, I found that many of my favorites remained, allowing me to relive my experience reading the novel. We don't find out quite all the details of the story, but we have the important parts. And if the graphic novel does inspire interest in a reader, he can move on to read the original novel.

While I found myself really enjoying the artistry of the Twilight graphic novels, I felt that much less with this one. There was less of a sense of movement across the images, and my eyes drifted mainly to the text and not as much to the images. Part of this is because we're dealing with Victorian novel speech: it takes up more space, even abridged. And while I thought St. John should have looked younger, Bertha was frightening--there was a sense of movement when she was on the page. The proposal scene, the call, and the destruction of Thornfield were also rather nice in terms of imagery. So while the artwork didn't put me in awe overall, there were moments that I enjoyed. Reading this book was much like watching a subtitled film.

For "new readers," the book also includes a short biography on Charlotte Brontë, the Brontë family tree, a chronology, a copy of one of Charlotte's letters, and two pages showing how the text and artwork came together for the book. This is where you can see what the difference is between Original Text and Quick Text. Just from the examples they gave, I would highly recommend going for Original Text. Quick Text is so abbreviated that it hardly seems worth it unless perhaps for a very young or short-attention-span reader. It seems to take out anything unique to the story, making it into a summary with pictures. After all, even the Original Text gives you a much shorter version of the novel.

Twilight the Graphic Novel: Volume 2

Last year, I commented on the first volume of the graphic novel version of Twilight, saying that the format was rather intriguing, even if I would only turn to it for something like this that I already like. I'm not out to read other graphic novels, but I did pick up volume two when it came out this month (okay, so I pre-ordered it on Amazon, but with a list price of $19.99, you didn't expect me to buy it in-store, did you?). Once I had the book, the best part may have been finally being able to do this with the two volumes:

Because the graphic novel format wasn't so new to me this time, I wasn't quite as impressed by the workings and artistry of it. However, it was still a nice way to spend a couple of afternoons. Some of my favorite visual renderings were the Bella's lullaby scene, a wonderful and hilarious shot (to go along with Edward's line about fabricating evidence for Bella's "fall" in Phoenix) of Alice leaping through a window, and the final prom bits. Carlisle's background was also creatively portrayed, and I loved seeing an image of the Cullen house much to closer to how the book describes it than how the movie shows it.

On the negatives, I was a little disappointed by the "Angel" scene. A page or two before, I suddenly realizing that one of my favorite chapters (from the book, that is--the graphic novel doesn't have chapters) was coming up, and I used that brief bit of time to build up some high expectations. It just wasn't the same. The part after they discover the bite was fine, but before that, I wanted more of that dreamy, woozy, other-worldy feeling of pain and contentment (which sounds very odd, I realize). And still, there are pieces of dialogue mixed up or placed in different scenes, so the graphic novels by no means replace the books. But they're interesting and done well, therefore being worth picking up if you either like graphic novels or can't get enough Twilight material.