The Graveyard Book Graphic Novel: Volume 1

Turning a perfectly wonderful novel into a graphic novel is a tricky endeavour, but Gaiman and Russell do it spectacularly in this instance. The pacing matches the story so well that it's almost as if Gaiman had written the story for this format in the first place! But of course, both parties (as well as the guest illustrators) have a huge amount of experience in this arena, so I would have been more surprised if they had failed. The visual allowances of this format really work in Gaiman's favour in this instance, as it blends seamlessly with the dialogue to really immerse the reader in the goings-on of the graveyard. Some things become more apparent (notably Miss Lupescu's and Silas' supernatural selves) and other are wonderfully show more enhanced (I have a special fondness for the Danse Macabré scenes), so I am very much looking forward to the second volume. show less

[The Graveyard Book Graphic Novel: Volume One] by Neil Gaiman
[The Graveyard Book Graphic Novel: Volume Two] by Neil Gaiman

In the dead of night, a family is murdered, one member at a time, by a knife-wielding man. Only one member escapes, a boy child who crawls out the door the killer left standing open and disappears into the night. The toddler gets into an old graveyard, but the killer is turned away. The Owenses, a long-dead childless couple, commit to be this child's primary caregivers, and so the other spirits consent to allow him to remain. Silas, the only graveyard denizen able to leave the cemetery—he's neither dead nor undead, don't you see?—will be the child's guardian and will bring him food and clothing from the outside show more world. Because he hasn't learned to talk and doesn't know his name, he's called Bod, short for Nobody.

Bod grows, of course, and the spirits conscientiously try to educate him. The youngest of the spirits died a century ago, so a great deal is unknown to them. On other hand, Bod learns about the earliest people buried in the graveyard, about people buried in unmarked graves, about the secrets of certain crypts and their guardians—the Indigo Man and Sleer—about ghouls, monsters, night gaunts, and other dangerous…ah…creatures. Silas brings the mysterious Miss Lupescu into Bod's world to be his tutor and life coach. She turns up in a crisis or two to rescue Bod.

Naturally, Bod wants to get out of the graveyard and explore the world of the living. He encounters Scarlett, a live girl of his age, in the cemetery, makes friends, then tries to impress her by introducing her to the sinister underworld. It only terrifies her…and her parents, who interpret Bod—they've never met or even seen him—to be an imaginary friend, not a real boy.

The killer, of course, lurks throughout the story, driven to locate and slay Bod. By story's end, they have their confrontation.

Gaiman has imagined a rich and surprising world, inhabited by the living, the dead, and the in-betweens. The illustrations in the graphic novels are excellent, though I was jarred at a couple of places where one illustrator's work segued into that of a different illustrator. I enjoyed the GN package. show less

This is the first book of a two-volume, full color graphic novel. It's a 2015 adaptation of what originally was published in 2010 -- a Newbery Medal winner. What makes the two 2015 books unique are that each chapter is illustrated by a different artist. Very Fun to see the characters morph as a different artist brings them to life. And a great choice for my first graphic novel.

Bod (short for "Nobody") Owens is a toddler when he is first adopted by beings that live in a Graveyard. And he remains in their company (with the care of adoptive parents and a special guardian) grows toward adulthood, he learns much about the thin line between the living and the dead.

The story is imaginative, often suspenseful and mysterious, as Bod comes to show more learn the story of his origins and to recognize the possibilities of living life outside the graveyard. Probably NOT a good choice for children but certainly a great and engrossing read for both young adults and adults. I am now planning to read more by Neil Gaiman. show less

I was looking for additional graphic novels that students in middle school would enjoy and trying to expand my classroom library to include more fantasy books. While I am not a big reader of fantasy, especially not horror-based fantasy, but I really enjoyed this story. There are characters and situations that build a tense mood, but it is not gory. The setting is a long-abandoned graveyard, which adds to the general creepy feel, but most of the ghosts of the graveyard are friendly and from far in the past, offering a bit of levity and even a glimpse at some historical events. Some young people may struggle a bit with some of the dialogue, as the old-timey characters use Englishes more commonly used in the United Kingdom far in the past, show more but the majority of the dialogue is easy to follow and the graphic representations can add context for understanding. This first volume ends in a cliff hanger, which makes perfect sense as the original version was one book. I enjoyed this book so much that I will be picking it up for my classroom library and will likely add the prose version, as well! show less

This is the first book of a two-volume, full color graphic novel. It's a 2015 adaptation of what originally was published in 2010 -- a Newbery Medal winner. What makes the two 2015 books unique are that each chapter is illustrated by a different artist. Very Fun to see the characters morph as a different artist brings them to life. And a great choice for my first graphic novel.

Bod (short for "Nobody") Owens is a toddler when he is first adopted by beings that live in a Graveyard. And he remains in their company (with the care of adoptive parents and a special guardian) grows toward adulthood, he learns much about the thin line between the living and the dead.

The story is imaginative, often suspenseful and mysterious, as Bod comes to show more learn the story of his origins and to recognize the possibilities of living life outside the graveyard. Probably NOT a good choice for children but certainly a great and engrossing read for both young adults and adults. I am now planning to read more by Neil Gaiman. show less

When I first heard about this I was pretty excited. For one, I have thought that [b:The Graveyard Book|2213661|The Graveyard Book|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1303859949s/2213661.jpg|2219449] is Gaiman's best prose novel ever since I first read it, and it's one of the books that I have re-read the most, so I know for a fact that it holds up to the scrutiny of multiple readings. I love that book with all my heart.

The second part of that excitement was my belief that Neil Gaiman, perhaps my favorite author, seemed to do a bit better at comics than prose novels. Which isn't to say that he hasn't written good novels (even though The Graveyard Book and [b:The Ocean at the End of the Lane|15783514|The Ocean at the End of the show more Lane|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1351914778s/15783514.jpg|21500681] are the only ones that I love unconditionally and without criticism), but nothing touches The Sandman.

Unfortunately I think something was lost in translation here. I'm not that up on P. Craig Russell, as I'm not primarily a comics person, but I do like his work here. It looks gorgeous, and being able to flip through this book randomly to look at the art any time I want eases a lot of the feeling that I wasted my money, but I couldn't get into the act of actually reading the story this way at all, and I probably won't be getting the second volume. It really doesn't do the flow of the prose justice. Things are too segmented, too slow to move. It made the story rather boring, frankly.

In an ironic twist the writer who (arguably) writes better comics than prose novels wrote a prose novel that did not translate well into comic form. Ironic, but not unsurprising. The two are very different, and I imagine Gaiman writes very differently depending on which one he's doing. This is the first time I've ever read a graphic novel adaptation of a novel, and that's probably the root of the problem here more than any specific failing on Russell's part. I think I'll be avoiding that kind of thing in the future (even though that Dresden Files graphic novel looks like it's pretty cool).

Such a shame. show less

The Graveyard Book Graphic Novel, Volume 1 by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell is the first part of the adaptation from novel to graphic novel. It's also the third version of this story I've read and the second one I've reviewed.

The Graveyard Book is a retelling of Rudyard's Kipling's Jungle Book. The location has been moved from the Indian jungle to an unnamed, but decidedly European, perhaps even British empire, town and the time period has been brought if not to the present, at least closer to it.

As the boy Mowgli was abandoned to the wolves, Nobody Owen, is abandoned to the graveyard up the hill from his home. Though Kipling leaves the reason behind the disappearance of Mowgli's parents to the imagination, Gaiman creates Jack, a show more hired hitman sent on a bloody mission for reasons later revealed.

On the dying wish of Bod's mother, the Owens take in the baby (shown in this version as a toddler). Just as Mowgli is given the ability to talk to the animals, starting first with the wolves, and later with Baloo the bear, and Bagheera the panther, Bod is given further access to the grave through Silas and Miss Lupescu.

As the relatively short book has been subdivided and expanded to accommodate Craig Russell's drawings, the pacing seems off. But in terms of the original Kipling book, which is a series of short stories spread across two volumes, it's more in tune. That leaves me a bit torn, because I like the rhythm of Gaiman's book and the way he lulls us into a false sense of security before unleashing the ghouls before the return of Jack.

Here, though, Bod as a teenager, going up against the danger that once tried to kill him (as another boy who lived), comes in the second volume. show less