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A review by finesilkflower
Dawn and the Impossible Three by Ann M. Martin, Gale Galligan
3.0
The fifth graphic novel, and first of Gale Galligan's run as cartoonist, is a sort of combo adaptation of BSC #5, [b:Dawn and the Impossible Three|233719|Dawn and the Impossible Three (The Baby-Sitters Club, #5)|Ann M. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390193163l/233719._SX50_.jpg|226353], and BSC #14, [b:Hello, Mallory|48915|Hello, Mallory (The Baby-Sitters Club, #14)|Ann M. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387730819l/48915._SX50_.jpg|3057077].
To start with the good, I really love Gale's art. It's quite different from Raina's, but I feel like it also goes really well with the material. It's a little more shoujo and anime-y, and it's very pretty and sweet. (The shoujo style especially works for glamorous Mrs. Barrett.) It's also very expressive, with plenty of dramatic close-ups. The way Gale draws babies, like Marnie Barrett, cracks me up: there's such an innocent goofball-ness.
Onto the script. Here is where I have issues. In theory, I don't have a problem with the comics continuity diverging from canon, but in this case, combining the two books into one graphic novel does neither of them a service. The plots are not interwoven, exactly - it's mostly Mallory stuff in the beginning and mostly Dawn stuff at the end, and they don't really comment on each other. Both plotlines feel rushed, and the book lacks the usual gentle pace and room to breathe. Some of the most iconic scenes feel perfunctory, like the baby-sitters giving Mallory a baby-sitting test.
Combining a Dawn book with a Mallory book also muddies the strong sense of a single narrator/point-of-view character that BSC books usually have (including the previous graphic novel adaptations). Dawn is clearly the POV character here, but that totally changes the entire context and meaning of most of the Mallory scenes. One of the coolest things about "Hello, Mallory" is how it gets you to see your most beloved characters as antagonists, and that doesn't happen here. Plus, Dawn isn't a particularly interesting or pivotal character in Mallory's storyline, so it just leaves you with a feeling of, "Why is Dawn telling this story?"
My *final* and maybe biggest problem with the way the Mallory storyline is executed is that it manages to do so in a way that completely erases Jessi. She's not even introduced in this book. Is there another plan to introduce her? Because as of this writing, it's two books later ([b:Boy-Crazy Stacey|43319659|Boy-Crazy Stacey|Gale Galligan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547657459l/43319659._SX50_.jpg|67230995] just came out), and still no sign of her. I'm withholding judgment until the end of Gale's run, but it feels super weird and kind of suspect to me that it seems like the graphic novel series has dropped the only black member of the club.
Stray Observations
* The baby-sitting test scene really gets short shrift. It's one of the fastest and smallest-drawn in the book. Meanwhile, in "Hello, Mallory," it takes up multiple chapters; the club prepares for the test all week, giving Mallory time to brood anxiously and giving the senior sitters time to overthink it, looking up unnecessarily complicated gotchas and trick questions, so that by the time they administer it, they're asking Mallory to answer things they didn't know themselves before writing the test. In the graphic novel, the entire test feels impromptu, completely changing the point of the scene! And the pomp of having a two-part test with a drawing section is also smoothed out, as Mallory is asked to describe, rather than draw, the digestive system (though, confusingly, a picture of it the drawing featured as a chapter closer.) The scene is not only rendered toothless, it's internally contradictory.
* There are still remnants of the Kristy vs. Dawn rivalry plotline, where the two compete for Mary Anne's affections while helping her redecorate her room, even though the pivotal Kristy and Dawn bonding scene has already been snatched up by Raina Telgemeier and used in the [b:Claudia and Mean Janine|4534485|Claudia and Mean Janine|Raina Telgemeier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1448236525l/4534485._SX50_.jpg|4991377] graphic novel. With that said, I think Gale works around this nicely, shifting the resolution of the plotline into an existing scene where Dawn, Mary Anne, and Kristy hang out in the barn after Dawn's family BBQ, and Kristy admits she is anxious about moving to Watson's house. It's a totally logical place to resolve the "friend triangle" (more so than the placement of Dawn and Kristy's bonding in chapter five, FIVE, of the original [b:Dawn and the Impossible Three|233719|Dawn and the Impossible Three (The Baby-Sitters Club, #5)|Ann M. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390193163l/233719._SX50_.jpg|226353])
* Braden Lamb's coloring is pretty as always, although I wish they'd made Mary Anne's new room navy blue and yellow as in the book. It was always kind of hard for me to picture but seemed like it could be really cool, surprisingly bold, and VERY different from her original pink room. Instead, in the comic, her new room is beige and aqua, which is much more tame.
To start with the good, I really love Gale's art. It's quite different from Raina's, but I feel like it also goes really well with the material. It's a little more shoujo and anime-y, and it's very pretty and sweet. (The shoujo style especially works for glamorous Mrs. Barrett.) It's also very expressive, with plenty of dramatic close-ups. The way Gale draws babies, like Marnie Barrett, cracks me up: there's such an innocent goofball-ness.
Onto the script. Here is where I have issues. In theory, I don't have a problem with the comics continuity diverging from canon, but in this case, combining the two books into one graphic novel does neither of them a service. The plots are not interwoven, exactly - it's mostly Mallory stuff in the beginning and mostly Dawn stuff at the end, and they don't really comment on each other. Both plotlines feel rushed, and the book lacks the usual gentle pace and room to breathe. Some of the most iconic scenes feel perfunctory, like the baby-sitters giving Mallory a baby-sitting test.
Combining a Dawn book with a Mallory book also muddies the strong sense of a single narrator/point-of-view character that BSC books usually have (including the previous graphic novel adaptations). Dawn is clearly the POV character here, but that totally changes the entire context and meaning of most of the Mallory scenes. One of the coolest things about "Hello, Mallory" is how it gets you to see your most beloved characters as antagonists, and that doesn't happen here. Plus, Dawn isn't a particularly interesting or pivotal character in Mallory's storyline, so it just leaves you with a feeling of, "Why is Dawn telling this story?"
My *final* and maybe biggest problem with the way the Mallory storyline is executed is that it manages to do so in a way that completely erases Jessi. She's not even introduced in this book. Is there another plan to introduce her? Because as of this writing, it's two books later ([b:Boy-Crazy Stacey|43319659|Boy-Crazy Stacey|Gale Galligan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547657459l/43319659._SX50_.jpg|67230995] just came out), and still no sign of her. I'm withholding judgment until the end of Gale's run, but it feels super weird and kind of suspect to me that it seems like the graphic novel series has dropped the only black member of the club.
Stray Observations
* The baby-sitting test scene really gets short shrift. It's one of the fastest and smallest-drawn in the book. Meanwhile, in "Hello, Mallory," it takes up multiple chapters; the club prepares for the test all week, giving Mallory time to brood anxiously and giving the senior sitters time to overthink it, looking up unnecessarily complicated gotchas and trick questions, so that by the time they administer it, they're asking Mallory to answer things they didn't know themselves before writing the test. In the graphic novel, the entire test feels impromptu, completely changing the point of the scene! And the pomp of having a two-part test with a drawing section is also smoothed out, as Mallory is asked to describe, rather than draw, the digestive system (though, confusingly, a picture of it the drawing featured as a chapter closer.) The scene is not only rendered toothless, it's internally contradictory.
* There are still remnants of the Kristy vs. Dawn rivalry plotline, where the two compete for Mary Anne's affections while helping her redecorate her room, even though the pivotal Kristy and Dawn bonding scene has already been snatched up by Raina Telgemeier and used in the [b:Claudia and Mean Janine|4534485|Claudia and Mean Janine|Raina Telgemeier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1448236525l/4534485._SX50_.jpg|4991377] graphic novel. With that said, I think Gale works around this nicely, shifting the resolution of the plotline into an existing scene where Dawn, Mary Anne, and Kristy hang out in the barn after Dawn's family BBQ, and Kristy admits she is anxious about moving to Watson's house. It's a totally logical place to resolve the "friend triangle" (more so than the placement of Dawn and Kristy's bonding in chapter five, FIVE, of the original [b:Dawn and the Impossible Three|233719|Dawn and the Impossible Three (The Baby-Sitters Club, #5)|Ann M. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390193163l/233719._SX50_.jpg|226353])
* Braden Lamb's coloring is pretty as always, although I wish they'd made Mary Anne's new room navy blue and yellow as in the book. It was always kind of hard for me to picture but seemed like it could be really cool, surprisingly bold, and VERY different from her original pink room. Instead, in the comic, her new room is beige and aqua, which is much more tame.