Scan barcode
rebus's review against another edition
3.5
It's significantly better than the first volume, owing mostly to my being more familiar with the much more modern (and better) literature, but it still often strikes me as nothing more than PR and marketing for the full length adaptations of this literature. Of particular note were the versions of Shelley, Melville, Thoreau, Whitman, Frederick Douglas, and Wilde while the worst pieces were an incoherent rendition of Les Miserables and the work of the untalented Dame Darcy (adapting Alice in Wonderland, to my mind one of the worst books ever written, though the gallery of art from it is pretty spectacular without the words!). There is also, however, no point in depicting Alice as anything other than the little white girl she was in real life. Huck Finn and Wuthering Heights were also very good, as was the gallery of Poe (another author I can't stand).
I enjoyed the Blake, even if I couldn't stand any of the epic poetry depicted here, and the fairy tales were very good, even if those were entire texts with illustrations and not at all graphic fiction. Kick's intros are usually decent and offer some information about the authors or works that is illuminating, but he does deal in a bit of redundancy, telling parts of the tales we are about to read.
It's a mixed bag at best, but when it hits the mark it's pretty great and does make me want to pick up some of the full adaptations (and any reader who loves these things should pick up the new graphic adaptations of Slaughterhouse-5 and Brave New World).
I enjoyed the Blake, even if I couldn't stand any of the epic poetry depicted here, and the fairy tales were very good, even if those were entire texts with illustrations and not at all graphic fiction. Kick's intros are usually decent and offer some information about the authors or works that is illuminating, but he does deal in a bit of redundancy, telling parts of the tales we are about to read.
It's a mixed bag at best, but when it hits the mark it's pretty great and does make me want to pick up some of the full adaptations (and any reader who loves these things should pick up the new graphic adaptations of Slaughterhouse-5 and Brave New World).
rusty_moonshadow's review against another edition
This book seems excellent but I am only committing to the Dorian Gray chapter right now as the book is also quite long and needs to go back to the library.
upthescene's review against another edition
4.0
Didn't like this one as much as I liked volume one. I think because it wasn't as diverse.
jennlcollier's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed volume two of the graphic canon. The excerpts were amazing for the most part, and the art work was brilliant. I would list off my favorites of all the great artwork and adaptations, but honestly there are too many that I enjoyed. I think I enjoyed volume two a bit more than volume one, but that may be because I am slightly more familiar with the works in this period. I am excited to get the third volume in April. I can't wait to see more, and to have the complete collection!
ryner's review against another edition
3.0
Volume 2 in a series of condensed or excerpted literary works, from Kubla Khan (1797) to The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). All kinds of artistic styles and media are on display, including some exceptionally clever adaptations. There were a handful of samples I found dull or impossible to follow, and a number of others whose original works I hadn't heard of, but it was overall an entertaining trip through the long history of world literature. Volume three completes the chronological journey.
night_owl's review against another edition
4.0
Keeps up the same high standards set by vol. 1.
Not much else to say about it, some of the interpretations are really interesting and it is nice to take a look at old classics with a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective (such as seeing a black version of Lewis Carroll's Alice). It has inspired me to pick up a few that I may have overlooked in the past.
Not much else to say about it, some of the interpretations are really interesting and it is nice to take a look at old classics with a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective (such as seeing a black version of Lewis Carroll's Alice). It has inspired me to pick up a few that I may have overlooked in the past.
hollowspine's review
3.0
This huge volume of graphic novelizations of various poems, stories and novels is almost too much to get through, some portions actually including large sections of works (Grimm's Fables and others) in very small print with relatively little illustration to accompany them.
Overall I enjoyed the various artists twists on the stories, some of my favorites include the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by Wordsworth I thought was conveyed very nicely by PMurphy, very colorful, but also adding a twist to the poem. I also really enjoyed the artwork accompanying Carroll's Jabberwocky and would read the entirety of Middlemarch in comic form by Megan Kelso.
I also enjoyed the various Alice montages and even more so those devoted to Moby Dick, many of which I would love to have for myself.
Something I could have seen more of were the 3 or 4 panel review/summary comics that were in the beginning of the book by Lisa Brown, they were quite funny and I thought deserved a lot more space than just a nod by the editor and a few dotted here or there.
Overall I enjoyed the various artists twists on the stories, some of my favorites include the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by Wordsworth I thought was conveyed very nicely by PMurphy, very colorful, but also adding a twist to the poem. I also really enjoyed the artwork accompanying Carroll's Jabberwocky and would read the entirety of Middlemarch in comic form by Megan Kelso.
I also enjoyed the various Alice montages and even more so those devoted to Moby Dick, many of which I would love to have for myself.
Something I could have seen more of were the 3 or 4 panel review/summary comics that were in the beginning of the book by Lisa Brown, they were quite funny and I thought deserved a lot more space than just a nod by the editor and a few dotted here or there.
More...