When Isabella Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edward Cullen, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edward is both irresistible and impenetrable. Up until now, he has managed to keep his true identity hidden, but Bella is determined to uncover his dark secret...
Having uncovered the dark secret of her enigmatic classmate, Edward Cullen, Bella Swan embraces her feelings for him, trusting Edward to keep her safe despite the risks. When a rival clan of vampires makes its way into Forks, though, the danger to Bella has never been more real. Will she make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the people dearest to her?
Over a decade ago, Korean artist Young Kim was hired to adapt and illustrate the graphic adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's debut novel. This was one of my first introductions to graphic novels, so revisiting a book in the Twilight Saga that is rarely discussed was interesting.
Young Kim pens a highly faithful adaptation to the source material. Unlike Melissa Rosenberg, the screenwriter of all five movie adaptations, no creative licensing or deviations exist. Dialogue and scenes are accurately depicted in the novel, word for word and beat for beat.
So, it’s understandable why this book had to be released in two instalments – it was later combined in a collector’s edition, which is now only findable through eBay and even more difficult to find at a reasonable price. However, book purists of the franchise would enjoy this type of adaptation.
Kim’s artwork is truly stunning, and the rich detail made this a very visually dynamic retelling. Despite recently reading Meyer’s original novel and even the gender-bent retelling last year, I found Kim’s take on it surprisingly refreshing.
Drawn almost entirely in black and white, Kim characterises each character in striking detail that almost looks cinematic. Some panels had visuals that heightened the drama in a manga style, which suited this story. With everything so high stakes, it makes sense that the drama of it would find its way into the artwork.
Where Kim decided to incorporate colour, which made the scenes really effective, including the meadow scene and the concluding scene of the second volume, which were striking. Another way this worked was by using reds, ambers and golds to draw the readers’ attention to the vampire irises, a bloody scene or the foreshadowing of the werewolves.
One minor issue I have with this book is the lack of diversity in the characters outside of the Native American characters in LA Push. Aside from Jacob Black, Sam and Billy Black, it was an entirely white cast – even the characters never described in detail were white. From what I understand, Meyer was heavily involved in the artistic process of these volumes and, similar to what I know from the conflict she had with Catherine Hardwick during the casting of Twilight, she had a particular image in her head of how everyone looked.
The debate on representation – or lack of – in the Twilight Saga has been heavily discussed throughout the years, especially when the film wanted a more diverse cast back in 2008. The irony of not having representation in pop culture despite the world being a diverse place is still debated in pop culture. Emily Carroll’s adaptation of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak is an excellent example of an artist staying faithful to the source material and accurately depicting the characters' world as it is. There was an opportunity to include more representation through this adaptation, but sadly, that was not the case.
I have previously discussed my thoughts on the plot and characterisation in my previous Twilight reviews in much more detail. Volume One depicts the events up until the scene where Edward reveals his sparkly vampirism and Volume Two picks up from there, following the hunt to the final battle and wrapping up at the Prom scene. Fans of this franchise would definitely want to add this to their collection. For those looking for Twilight: The Graphic Novels, I’m sorry to say bookstores no longer have this readily available. If you’d like a copy or copies, I’d recommend checking second-hand sellers or websites.
I will be reviewing New Moon next and its various adaptations, so stay tuned for that.
My rating of Twilight: Volumes One & Two by Young Kim - ★★★★.
Comments (1)
I remember having a copy of the first volume of this back in my days of being a twilight-obsessed teenager! It's probably still in my parents attic, now that I think about it.