Karrie Fransman
Autore di Gender Swapped Fairy Tales
Opere di Karrie Fransman
Opere correlate
The Graphic Canon of Crime & Mystery, Vol. 1: From Sherlock Holmes to A Clockwork Orange to Jo Nesbø (2017) — Illustratore — 35 copie
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Data di nascita
- 20th Century
- Sesso
- female
- Nazionalità
- United Kingdom
Utenti
Recensioni
The House that Groaned di Karrie Fransman
It turns out that I may be a bit picky about the art in my graphic novels. There are a lot of interesting ideas in this book, but I found it was harder to engage with because I wasn't wowed or thrilled by the art style. I think it's certainly possible for an excellent story to overcome weaknesses in the art, but that just didn't happen for me here.
Clever concept, flipping traditional fairy tales on their heads by swapping the roles of the boys and the girls, making for a matriarchy rather than a patriarchy.
There's some funny stuff in here, some decent satirical pokes at the Tories, especially Theresa May and Boris Johnson, some well-drafted cartoons and illustrations, too. But...
Overall, it comes off as a little too ernest, a little too preachy, and often a little too holier-than-thou to redeem the parts that hit the mark. It's a shame, because I really wanted to love this comic.
Overall, it comes off as a little too ernest, a little too preachy, and often a little too holier-than-thou to redeem the parts that hit the mark. It's a shame, because I really wanted to love this comic.
I haven't read many graphic novels because I'm really not a fan, so I wasn't sure about weighing in on this. But then I read one that really moved me (see next review). I see now why it is such an exacting genre.
There are words and there are pictures. Ideally, the words and the pictures work together to tell a story that just words, or just pictures won't tell. When I was young, I saw this lovely synergy come about in numerous beautifully inked superhero comics where characters came to life through the draughtsman's command of composition, shadow and body language. And the dialogue was there too as part of the whole design. I had no interest in stupid super heroes but they made me be interested. I enjoyed the drawing and lettering of love comics too. I get what Roy Lichtenstein saw in them. I also loved the visual plainsong of classic comics, so neatly drawn, the colours slightly browned, their stand-offish lettering filling enormous speech balloons. And don't get me started on Edward Gorey. Swoon!
Unfortunately, 'The House That Groaned' has none of this magic. The artwork is too clunky for me to enjoy. It's all done in a series of monochrome blue-greens where the darks and lights fight each other rather than coalesce. It's like a book full of drawings of people by someone who hates to draw people. Most of the frames suffer from poor composition which makes them confusing and hard to 'read'. This is a form of storytelling that needs a cinematographer's editing eye to get to the kernel of every frame. Think of Vittorio Storaro's highly populated scenes in 'The Last Emperor' and how the eye is never confused because he composes the frame for clarity first, letting the beauty, tragedy, or ugliness follow.
There's a scene in this book where schoolgirls tear off their clothes and dance around naked at boarding school. It's one of the better moments where the frames come together enough to sing a bit. And yet, I recently came across a similar sequence in 'Skippy Dies' by Paul Murray. No pictures, just a white page of words that make me feel the heat of the gym while my eyes water from the smell of hormones and Axe. In this book neither the pictures nor the words quite do this, jointly or severally.
… (altro)
There are words and there are pictures. Ideally, the words and the pictures work together to tell a story that just words, or just pictures won't tell. When I was young, I saw this lovely synergy come about in numerous beautifully inked superhero comics where characters came to life through the draughtsman's command of composition, shadow and body language. And the dialogue was there too as part of the whole design. I had no interest in stupid super heroes but they made me be interested. I enjoyed the drawing and lettering of love comics too. I get what Roy Lichtenstein saw in them. I also loved the visual plainsong of classic comics, so neatly drawn, the colours slightly browned, their stand-offish lettering filling enormous speech balloons. And don't get me started on Edward Gorey. Swoon!
Unfortunately, 'The House That Groaned' has none of this magic. The artwork is too clunky for me to enjoy. It's all done in a series of monochrome blue-greens where the darks and lights fight each other rather than coalesce. It's like a book full of drawings of people by someone who hates to draw people. Most of the frames suffer from poor composition which makes them confusing and hard to 'read'. This is a form of storytelling that needs a cinematographer's editing eye to get to the kernel of every frame. Think of Vittorio Storaro's highly populated scenes in 'The Last Emperor' and how the eye is never confused because he composes the frame for clarity first, letting the beauty, tragedy, or ugliness follow.
There's a scene in this book where schoolgirls tear off their clothes and dance around naked at boarding school. It's one of the better moments where the frames come together enough to sing a bit. And yet, I recently came across a similar sequence in 'Skippy Dies' by Paul Murray. No pictures, just a white page of words that make me feel the heat of the gym while my eyes water from the smell of hormones and Axe. In this book neither the pictures nor the words quite do this, jointly or severally.
… (altro)
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dmarsh451 | 2 altre recensioni | Mar 31, 2013 |
dmarsh451 | 2 altre recensioni | Mar 31, 2013 | Liste
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Statistiche
- Opere
- 5
- Opere correlate
- 2
- Utenti
- 176
- Popolarità
- #121,982
- Voto
- 3.3
- Recensioni
- 7
- ISBN
- 13
- Lingue
- 1