Saturday, August 10, 2013

Pride and Prejudice - Graphic Novel Review

I am really interested in reading all the Marvel Classics graphic novels.  It's hard to find a complete list of all of them but I think I finally found one that includes books from Treasure Island to The Odyssey.  I have been wanting to read the Pride and Prejudice one for a while and was finally able to get it from my library.

I didn't love the story in the graphic novel series. I was a little confused.  I think there should've possibly been more comics in the series maybe to help get the story out better.  There was a lot of text on the pages and I felt it jumped from one plot line to the next pretty fast.  The lines from the book are all in here though.  I think this is a good introduction to the story for readers who haven't read the novel by Jane Austen and are wondering what the story is all about.

Now for the art work.  I just really didn't think it fits this book's era.  I enlarged this page from the comic so you can see just all the text I am talking about in the artwork.  I think the novel makes the ladies look like the makeover that Disney recently did on the princesses.  


I see in some reviews that people are talking about the fact that the cover of the graphic novel is different then the panels inside the comic.  This is quite common in comics that I have seen.  I never like to say someone's artwork is bad.  I love art, so I believe art is in the eye of the beholder.  What I like to say is that it's not my style.  In this case I just felt it was just not perfect for this type of story.  though I do love the covers for each of the comics included in the graphic novel.  I think they are neat!

Now even though I didn't love this graphic novel.. I still love the idea of the novel.  I am really excited that Marvel is taking on the Classic stories and look forward to what they have to come in the future.  I would pick this up from the library if you are interested in reading it.  It'll be an afternoon of a little fun!



The Crystal Ball says:




Rain is pouring...  Not sure if this was really worth my time, must get umbrella.

13 comments:

  1. I really love the cover artwork for this, so it's a shame they didn't continue it for the rest of the comic. But it is great that they are doing comics of the classics, it's too bad this didn't hit the mark for you. The sisters in the last panel do look a little too modern and glamorous and that would take me out of the story!

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    1. Yea... way too glamorous! I think that kind of turns me off from seeing it as taking place when the novel does.

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  2. Wow, THAT is a lot of text. And the art work is not my style either. I like Marvel's idea of adapting classics into graphic novels, it's just not for me. I like manga style art better.

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    1. Yea.. I am going to check out more of these classic comics soon to see how they all are. Sense and Sensibility might be next.

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  3. I like the idea, but maybe they're just choosing the wrong titles. Catcher in the Rye would be a good one.

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    1. Yea that's true. I heard they are trying to attract girl readers. I am going to try the other "girl" stories they have published to see what they are like.

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  4. As a huge fan of the novel (and the movies made of it) I was disappointed in this adaptation as well, pretty much for the reasons you describe. It just doesn't translate well, and the visual design doesn't match the source.

    The covers, though, are great! 100% agreed. They send a bit of a mixed message, giving the impression this will be some kind of post-modern transcription of the book. But hey: misleading comics covers? Someone call Ripley's Believe It Or Not...

    Reading all of Marvel's efforts for the Classics is a cool project. I don't think I've read any others, actually, so it'll be good to have a road map, once you make your way through them.

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    1. I am looking forward to reading all of them. When I learned about them I was quite excited. I am not sure which one I will read next.. Treasure Island sounds like a good one so that might be next!

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  5. Love the covers but after reading your review I"m not sure if I will pick this graphic novel. Also, I'm not crazy about the art inside.

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    1. The art is a little bit not my style. Still a fun read for a comic book.

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  6. Love the covers. Not so crazy about the art inside.

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  7. Whaaaaat!!! I had no idea there were classic graphic novels! I can't say the artwork would endear me to this one in particular (I can be picky about that with manga, and it's hard for me to get into if I don't love the art) but I might go see if my library has any of these!

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    1. OK it's crazy but we were probably just visiting each other's blog at the same time!!! WHA!!! I still want to read more of these. I am currently reading the Oz ones which I love after I get caught up on those I will continue down the road of more classics in graphic novel form!

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