New Spring: the Graphic Novel
New Spring: the Graphic Novel
- ISBN13: 9780765323804
- Condition: New
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In the last few years before his death, Robert Jordan worked closely with Chuck Dixon and Mike Miller on the graphic adaptation of New Spring.
The eight full-color issues of New Spring, released between 2005 and 2010, tell the story of the search for the infant Dragon Reborn and of the adventures of Moiraine Damodred, a young Aes Sedai, and Lan Mandragoran, the uncrowned king of a long-dead nation. Adapted by noted comics writer Chuck Dixon with the full cooperation of Robert Jordan, an
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A Worthy Graphic Novel of New Spring,
Being not too much of a fan of western comics, I nevertheless enjoyed this quite a bit. The art, panel layout and design for the first five chapters are exquisite. This is definitely a level of quality that I can see Robert Jordan approving of. The sheer scope and detail of some of the page spreads is breathtaking. Moiraine almost looks *too* beautiful, though I doubt anyone is going to complain…
Chuck Dixon’s adaptation is generally quite good, though it tends to info-dump at times via internal monologuing. Wheel of Time is undoubtedly a very difficult franchise to translate into graphic form yet some of the information could probably have been imparted less clumsily (e.g. Tamra’s explanation of who the Whitecloaks are). There’s a sentence in one of the later chapters that includes the wording “the Saidar flowed into her” and at the risk of sounding nit-picky, that is wording that Robert Jordan would never have used. Despite all of this, Dixon’s work is passable at worst and quite good at best.
It’s obvious that the last few chapters (6-8) were rushed. Panel layout is considerably less complex and I’d also say less detailed as well. Furthermore, no kind of satisfying conclusion is felt at the denouement because we arrive there so fast. I’m not sure who is to blame for the frenzied pacing of the last couple chapters, but it’s as if the publisher just wanted to end the project as quickly as possible.
A little more on the art in the last few chapters: while it’s definitely a step down from the first five, chapters six and seven are not in any way bad. They’re just not as exceptional as the work of the first artist. Now the eighth chapter is quite terrible, there’s no doubting that. There is no panel consistency between character models AT ALL! Moiraine looks *OK* sometimes, but then in the next panel she looks as though she gained 40 pounds. Characters look painfully awkward in almost every scene.
In conclusion, this graphic novel is worth your time if you are already a fan of the Wheel of Time. The first five chapters are nearly flawless and contain some of the best art I’ve seen in a graphic novel. Chapters 6-7 are still quite good, though not as exceptional. Finally, the last chapter is definitely the low point of the novel in all respects, which is a rather big disappointment in a lot of ways.
If you’re a Wheel of Time junkie like I am, you will not be disappointed with this adaptation. For fans new to the series, I would definitely recommend reading the books first.
***1/2 stars rounded up to four.
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|Completion Satisfaction,
New Spring is a graphic novel/comic book adaptation of the prequeal book to the Wheel of Time series. Fans of the Wheel of Time would be better served by reading the actual novel in terms of appreciating the story, however visualizing the world as imagined by Robert Jordan is quite exciting. The artwork in the first five chapters is exquisite and was quite closely monitored by the original author of the series before his untimely death.
Unfortunately, the quality of the artwork takes a sharp dive during the last three chapters. While it is not necessarily bad artwork, it pales in comparison to the stunningly detailed work the precedes it. Many of the characters come close to being unrecognizable by the end of the story, and the clothing worn by the characters as well as the details of the surroundings becomes much less distinct. As readers of the series well know, details of this sort should NOT have been sacrificed. In addition, the coloring and shading become less distinct and what was in the early chapters a stunning depiction of the One Power becomes much more mundane.
Like many people who are buying the complete graphic novel, I was one of the original fans who “pre-ordered” the entire series (each chapter as an installment) from Red Eagle, only to see stalls, halts, rumored arguments with Robert Jordan himself, a change in production company, a decrease in quality, and ultimately, never received the final installments, although I had paid for them. Although the final chapters make me long for the quality product that could have been (as evidenced by the original chapters) I am at least satisfied that I have a complete product with a full story; as there was a time when it was doubted that the full graphic novel would ever be finished.
Also included is the original cover art for each of the installments (before each chapter), an illustrated glossary, and, most excitingly, emails from Robert Jordan himself! The uber-fan will have to buy this comic for the emails alone. They show how much he cared about his story, his characters, and his world; how he would not compromise his vision and how much he appreciated a quality product.
Overall the good is the artwork in the beginning and the emails from the author. The bad is that the ending chapters are so poorly illustrated. I think had it not been such a drastic disappointment at the end it would have been a 4-star book; had the artwork been maintained throughout it would have definitely been five-stars.
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|Different artist for the final editions,
I have been anxiously awaiting this compilation since Red Eagle started releasing these several years ago. Unfortunately, the artist(s) for the final 3 volumes is different than the one(s) who started it. Volumes 1 – 5 have phenomenal artwork and design/placement. The last 3 volumes look like they were inked with dry erase markers by a kindergarten kid with Parkinson’s. I do not recommend this unless you don’t care what the artwork looks like.
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