Review of Marvel's "Pride and Prejudice"
Oct. 21st, 2014 04:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aikateriniAs a longtime fan of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, I was excited when I saw that Marvel would be adapting it to a graphic novel form and once it reached bookstores, I immediately bought it. While I had read it in comic and manga form online, to have a published illustrated version in my hands was quite a different experience. I read it and it was entertaining...in unintended ways. At the time, it was the only printed illustrated version available to me, so I was grateful for what I had.
Now that there’s a manga version available in the U.S., I think that it's only fair to compare the two and see which one does a better job bringing Austen's novel to life.
So, first runner-up?
Marvel's version of Pride and Prejudice, adapted by Nancy Butler and illustrated by Hugo Petrus:
Or, as it perhaps can be more accurately described: Pouty and Pucker.
Seriously, though, there is no escaping the duckface. Every character has pouty lips, from Elizabeth to Mr. Collins. And it's not even as if the comic waits to introduce them; oh, no. As soon as the Bennet girls are all introduced, I saw what I was in for:
The first thought that crossed my mind was, "Where did the Bennets all get their lip gloss from?" Because every one of them looks like she either applied a liberal amount of lipstick or underwent plastic surgery. Even Mary (on the far right) - Mary, of all people! - looks as if she just spent the day at the salon. I remind the reader that Mary Bennet is basically the "prim librarian" archetype who spends her days reading the Bible, playing the piano, and lecturing everyone about morality.
Like I mentioned above, it's not just the women. Even the men cannot resist pursing their lips at the reader:
And just look at the expressions! So many times the characters look like they're bored or drunk out of their minds:
Also, the artist occasionally loses track of what hair color the girls are supposed to have. Caroline Bingley has red hair for most of the book (I suspect that the character designs were heavily influenced by the Keira Knightley film version) and then she suddenly becomes a blonde in one panel.
But that's not all. Sure, I could laugh at the pouty lips and weird expressions, but there was one thing I could not laugh at or look beyond.
Fitzwilliam Darcy:
Dear Lord, how could Petrus get this wrong? How could he have made Mr. Darcy look so old? Yes, I know that young people can have crease lines in art, but Mr. Darcy is supposed to be 28 years old, not 38 or 48!
And I don't think that he looks handsome at all. There are only a few panels where he doesn't look old or ridiculous. Say what you want about the film versions, but this Mr. Darcy does not at all look like the Mr. Darcy that I imagined while reading the original book.
So, yeah. In terms of the character designs, I was not very impressed. But what about the actual story?
Well, this version is pretty faithful to the book, in both a good and bad way. The good news is that the essential elements of the plot are kept, as well as the dialogue. Since much of the romance between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy revolves around their war of words, it's nice that the writer tried to keep as much of their quips as usual.
The bad news is that retaining the original text comes at a price. In this book's case, it's long chunks of exposition that litter the pages. Instead of showing us flashbacks and events, such as Mr. Wickham's attempted elopement with Georgiana and his later elopement with Lydia, the reader instead is told that they happened and all that is shown is Elizabeth sitting down and reading a letter. Which isn't good, considering that comics are a visual medium.
Then there's also the fact that Elizabeth does not get to kiss Mr. Darcy at the end. He just picks her up happily when she accepts his second proposal, and then the closing panel shows them inching towards each other's faces. No kiss. Which is a quibble, yes, but it also added to my disappointment.
So, that's one illustrated reendition of Jane Austen's classic novel. Let's see how the manga will fare...
Now that there’s a manga version available in the U.S., I think that it's only fair to compare the two and see which one does a better job bringing Austen's novel to life.
So, first runner-up?
Marvel's version of Pride and Prejudice, adapted by Nancy Butler and illustrated by Hugo Petrus:
Or, as it perhaps can be more accurately described: Pouty and Pucker.
Seriously, though, there is no escaping the duckface. Every character has pouty lips, from Elizabeth to Mr. Collins. And it's not even as if the comic waits to introduce them; oh, no. As soon as the Bennet girls are all introduced, I saw what I was in for:
The first thought that crossed my mind was, "Where did the Bennets all get their lip gloss from?" Because every one of them looks like she either applied a liberal amount of lipstick or underwent plastic surgery. Even Mary (on the far right) - Mary, of all people! - looks as if she just spent the day at the salon. I remind the reader that Mary Bennet is basically the "prim librarian" archetype who spends her days reading the Bible, playing the piano, and lecturing everyone about morality.
Like I mentioned above, it's not just the women. Even the men cannot resist pursing their lips at the reader:
And just look at the expressions! So many times the characters look like they're bored or drunk out of their minds:
Also, the artist occasionally loses track of what hair color the girls are supposed to have. Caroline Bingley has red hair for most of the book (I suspect that the character designs were heavily influenced by the Keira Knightley film version) and then she suddenly becomes a blonde in one panel.
But that's not all. Sure, I could laugh at the pouty lips and weird expressions, but there was one thing I could not laugh at or look beyond.
Fitzwilliam Darcy:
Dear Lord, how could Petrus get this wrong? How could he have made Mr. Darcy look so old? Yes, I know that young people can have crease lines in art, but Mr. Darcy is supposed to be 28 years old, not 38 or 48!
And I don't think that he looks handsome at all. There are only a few panels where he doesn't look old or ridiculous. Say what you want about the film versions, but this Mr. Darcy does not at all look like the Mr. Darcy that I imagined while reading the original book.
So, yeah. In terms of the character designs, I was not very impressed. But what about the actual story?
Well, this version is pretty faithful to the book, in both a good and bad way. The good news is that the essential elements of the plot are kept, as well as the dialogue. Since much of the romance between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy revolves around their war of words, it's nice that the writer tried to keep as much of their quips as usual.
The bad news is that retaining the original text comes at a price. In this book's case, it's long chunks of exposition that litter the pages. Instead of showing us flashbacks and events, such as Mr. Wickham's attempted elopement with Georgiana and his later elopement with Lydia, the reader instead is told that they happened and all that is shown is Elizabeth sitting down and reading a letter. Which isn't good, considering that comics are a visual medium.
Then there's also the fact that Elizabeth does not get to kiss Mr. Darcy at the end. He just picks her up happily when she accepts his second proposal, and then the closing panel shows them inching towards each other's faces. No kiss. Which is a quibble, yes, but it also added to my disappointment.
So, that's one illustrated reendition of Jane Austen's classic novel. Let's see how the manga will fare...
