Remember the first time you read
Twilight? You were probably consumed by the settings, the characters, and the romance, and you were likely surprised by your passion for and involvement with the story. Chances are, you even became subject to the thoughts and emotions that Bella felt as she described meeting her first and perfect love, Edward Cullen.
Well,
Twilight: The Graphic Novel Volume 1 offers that very intensity . . . that inertia into this fantastic world that you wanted to be a part of in whichever way possible.
Released today, the book really transforms the story of
Twilight. Even the prologue is given a new face with the graphical accompaniments offered by Young Kim, designer of this book.
In the forward acknowledgment, Stephenie Meyer states that she not only
loves the book but that when it was being created, "Young . . . would send me a new set of drawings . . . and suddenly I would be feeling all the same things I felt that first summer while I was writing their story."
Twilight fans who read this book will probably enjoy the same experience - a return to that first encounter with the story of these characters.
What I liked about
Twilight: The Graphic Novel was the way that Young Kim decided to depict the scenes we've known and loved for all this time. The book has the unique advantage of being the first thing that precisely coupled physical, visible features for the characters with the words and phrases that Stephenie Meyer presented us in her book. Young Kim, in making the
Graphic Novel, seemingly did not take this opportunity for granted (or lightly).
Little nuanced details, like the rocking chair in Bella's bedroom and the curls in Jessica Stanley's hair, became an unspoken (but beautifully done) part of the story in this book. Instead of describing Jasper Hale's height and hair color, the book presents that character in observable form (and so on for other features).
Twilight fans have an advantage here because we already know what to look for, but it's written and drawn so that even the most avid of us all will be pleasantly surprised - especially by the caliber of Kim's artwork.
Also, Young Kim has done well to leave critical moments in Bella's thoughts right there on the page when they couldn't (or shouldn't) be drawn out. For instance, the day after Bella and Edward have finally spoken for the first time in Biology class, Bella thinks (and this is written out in the
Graphic Novel) "despite all the snow and ice, I was eager to get to school. If I was being honest with myself, I knew it was because I would see Edward Cullen. And that was very, very stupid."
In a recent interview that Young Kim did with
USA Today, she stated that "It is always difficult to visualize text, since everyone has a different interpretation of it, but I tried to be as faithful as possible to the descriptions in the book, and Stephenie's review and input were greatly helpful."
The words, phrases, thoughts, and pictures chosen to be a part of this book were clearly cherry-picked with incredible respect for the material at hand as well as Stephenie Meyer and her beautiful words.
My favorite thing about the book is how certain pages were chosen to be in color. I won't spoil anything (because it was so exhilarating each time a color page came up), but I will say that the scenes and details chosen for color printing were so appropriate and lovely.
Not only will
Twilight fans be pleased with the results of Young Kim's work in
Twilight: The Graphic Novel Volume 1, but chances are, they'll find that it offers an escape into the world of Forks like that which was only experienced in reading
Twilight for the first time. It is a well done and methodical bit of tribute to
Twilight that we can all enjoy.
Twilight: The Graphic Novel: Volume 1 was released today, and it is available at
Amazon,
Borders,
Barnes & Noble,
Books a Million,
Target, and other locations.
Posts
