Comic vs. Book: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Everyone knows that books tin beryllium adapted into movies. It happens each the time. But did you cognize they tin beryllium adapted into graphic novels, too? In this series, I’ll beryllium taking a look astatine classical novels and their illustrated counterparts to find what each did well, what each did wrong, and however they attack the aforesaid communicative decades isolated and successful specified antithetic media.

The taxable for our inaugural duke-it-out league is, of course, the 1960 classical To Kill a Mockingbird! I’m excited! Are you excited?

The Book

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee became an instant hit, adjacent spawning an Oscar-winning movie adaptation 2 years aft its publication. The crippled is arsenic follows, and present beryllium spoilers:

Over the people of 2 years successful the 1930s, young Scout Finch and her member Jem are forced to reckon with the unpleasant realities lurking beneath the aboveground of genial Maycomb County, Alabama. Most notable of these events is the wrongful condemnation of Tom Robinson, a Black antheral falsely accused of raping an impoverished achromatic pistillate with an abusive father, Bob Ewell. This inevitable miscarriage of justness comes contempt the champion efforts of Scout’s begetter Atticus, a lawyer, to prevention Tom. Scout besides nurses an obsession with a mysterious neighbor, Arthur “Boo” Radley, who hasn’t near his location successful years. It each comes to a caput 1 autumn night, erstwhile Boo yet leaves his location to prevention the Finch children from a vengeful Bob Ewell.

Rereading the caller for this article, I was struck by however affable it is. Scout is simply a witty narrator and an enjoyable protagonist whose limited, youthful position leaves a batch unsaid. The older you are, the easier — and much achy — I deliberation it is to capable successful those gaps.

The last section brought tears to my eyes arsenic Scout follows Atticus’s proposal to “stand successful [another person’s] shoes and locomotion astir successful them,” and imagines what the past 2 years indispensable person been similar for Boo, watching the goings-on from his window.

Despite knowing the communicative truthful well, and contempt its flaws, I enjoyed going on for the thrust erstwhile more. I bash judge the operation “Hey, Boo” is seared into my soul. I can’t deliberation of a higher compliment to springiness a publication than that.

With each that successful mind, I wondered if 2018’s To Kill a Mockingbird: A Graphic Novel, adapted and illustrated by Fred Fordham, would stay faithful to the original’s flaws arsenic good arsenic its strengths. Or would it successful immoderate mode update the communicative to relationship for modern criticisms, possibly by spending much clip examining events from the Black characters’ perspectives?

Turns out, it’s the former: there’s a enactment successful the backmost of the publication stating arsenic much. That’s astir apt for the best, fixed other caller attempts to region violative worldly from aged books. I bash commend the comic for being truthful faithful to the novel: it cuts lone a fewer insignificant scenes — I don’t deliberation I’d person missed them if I hadn’t conscionable reread the publication — but different keeps the full communicative much oregon little intact. Given that, I truly shouldn’t person been amazed that the comic (273 pages) is astir arsenic agelong arsenic the caller (323 pages).

The lone caller publication the comic makes to the communicative is its art. On that front, I person mixed feelings. It has a rough, rustic prime to it — you tin spot pencil marks successful immoderate panels — that is due for a communicative acceptable successful rural, Depression-era Alabama. Overall, the creation is pretty, peculiarly the backgrounds.

On the different hand, I was not a instrumentality of however the faces were drawn: the characters’ expressions felt level a batch of the time, muting the much affectional moments, similar during Tom Robinson’s testimony. I couldn’t assistance remembering this scene’s movie version, wherever histrion Brock Peters, arsenic Tom, retains a stoic reserve adjacent arsenic helium starts crying portion testifying. That’s not a just examination — this is adapting the book, not the movie — but since the movie was my instauration to this story, it’s conscionable wherever my encephalon goes.

(If I’m going to bring up the movie, I should springiness the comic recognition for accurately depicting Tom’s disability, whereas Peters was able-bodied and faking it.)

I besides indispensable accidental that thing astir everyone’s eyes reminded maine of Junji Ito’s work. “Horror manga” is not the vibe I expected oregon wanted for this story.

The lone portion I felt they did amended than the archetypal was erstwhile the assemblage convicts Tom. In the novel, Scout closes her eyes during this moment. In the comic, we are forced to presumption Tom’s absorption head-on arsenic 4 panels, 1 atop the other, amusement america his fear, his anguish, his grief, and yet his resignation.

But again, the comic is not atrocious by immoderate means, and if you bask graphic novels oregon privation to (re)experience the communicative successful a caller way, I don’t deliberation you’ll beryllium disappointed by it. In fact, if you similar the original, you’ll beryllium precise pleased with however overmuch they preserved and however faithful the comic is to it.

The much I immersed myself successful this story, the much I longed for the time erstwhile it volition autumn into the nationalist domain. There is truthful overmuch worldly to enactment with here, and I tin precise easy spot radical penning novels — graphic oregon prose — astir the Ewells oregon Tom’s widow Helen. Or possibly they could reimagine the archetypal communicative from the viewpoint of Calpurnia, the Finches’ maid, oregon 1 of the different Black characters who haven’t yet gotten the accidental to talk for themselves.

But until then, we tin inactive bask the caller and its assorted iterations — arsenic good arsenic much nuanced books for young radical astir American racism.