Coraline by Neil Gaiman, adapted & illustrated by P. Craig Russell

Can’t seem to get inspired on my paper so thought I would post.  I’ve done Coraline completely backwards.  First I saw the movie, then I just read the graphic novel adaptation and I have yet to read the novel itself.  Maybe I’m just building up to the best part instead of starting with the best and being disappointed by the rest.  I enjoyed the movie.  This was only my second graphic novel but it was well enjoyed.  (The first was Wolverine: Origin which is actually a collection of the comic books and I apologize to my nerd friends of that type that I cannot remember the correct term to distinguish.  Trade paperback?)  I think the theatrical part of me or maybe just the artistic appreciator loves the power of color, light and darkness, composition and other such things to add to a story.  I love the written word but a mood can be so much more quickly set sometimes with other tools.  The movie makes the whole thing goofy and the world on the other side of the door is silly scary, but the graphic novel makes it eerie and that seems the way it should be.  I think Coraline is one cool kid and I’m glad she actually looks human in this (versus the movie where adding button eyes doesn’t really seem that out of place).  My only nitpick is that the title has the i dotted with a sew-through button.  I think of sew-through buttons but the buttons are shank buttons and then when they are laying on the plate they lay flat, this is the sewer in me talking.  Overall I love it.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Dave McKean

Definitely fun for all ages. Some parts made me tear up a bit, but laughing out loud made up for it. A lot of times passes during the course of the book but it is done without any confusion. The story line is detailed but easy to follow. Nobody Owens is an orphan adopted by ghosts and living in a graveyard, but in many ways he is much like any other boy. An enchanting world that is hard to put down. Dave McKean’s illustrations are simply fantastic perfectly suited the text and never overwhelming. Bah, this is one of those ones that I like so much it is hard to put together something coherent about why I like it.

Newbery Winner 2009

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

I saw the movie first, so this might be a little different. The tale begins with a young Dunstan Thorn, but we are not with him for long, instead we move on to Dunstan’s son, Tristan, who has always believed that his father’s wife was his mother. Perhaps if his father had told him that his mother was from across the wall, Tristan might have realized earlier what he was getting himself into. One of the biggest changes that stood out to me was the varied emphasis on side characters many great ones from the book are omitted from the movie where as the relatively small part of the captain is made huge. I think I love the dead brothers even more in the book, which is saying something and the significance of their names stands out even more including mother, Una. So anyway we follow Tristan on his journey for true love, the results are just not what he imagined they would be. If you have seen the movie, when you read the book you should realize that Gaiman can do brilliant things, but they just aren’t Hollywood. The ending in particular is absolutely bloody fabulous, but people would have left a movie theater groaning… I guess that is life.