# Novelization of comics?



## Svrtnsse (May 4, 2015)

I recently picked up Agatha H And The Voice Of The Castle, by Phil and Kaja Foglio. It's a novelization of their comic Girl Genius.

The book is unfortunately not very good, but as I'd heard good things about the comic I looked it up and started reading it. It's available on their website Girl Genius Online Comics
I'm also still reading the book, as I'm not too keen on giving up on a book once I've started it - I can be pretty stubborn like that.
The book is supposed to cover the events of the 7th, 8th, and 9th volume of the comic, and I figured it'd be interesting to see how the two different versions match up. Turns out they're extremely similar - the characters even say the same lines in the book as they do in the speech bubbles in the comic.

I guess what they've done is they've used the comic as the outline and then just translated it, panel by panel, into text. It doesn't really work. The ideas are nice, the setting is intriguing, and the plot is interesting. It's just that the execution really isn't up to par. As a comic, it's great, but as a novel, it's not.

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This has got me wondering about the difference between the two mediums. With comics, you get the visual aspect of the characters right away there in the picture. In a novel, all you see is what you can infer from what the writer shows you.

Now, how would I do this? I've been thinking about how I would approach this kind of task: writing a story based on a comic. How would I do it, and how would it work out? Would readers of the comic be able to recognize the characters or would they feel I portrayed them incorrectly?

I don't think the difference between a comic and a novel would be as big as between a novel and a movie, but I think that in order to make it work you might have to take some liberties with the source material and make your own interpretations of things.

What's your take on this?
Have you read any novelizations of comics? Did you feel they were well done or not?


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## Reaver (May 4, 2015)

I agree that artistic license is necessary when novelizing comics. The story must be expanded upon because of the difference in the medium. The average comic has about fifteen pages to tell the story and it's done primarily through illustration.

The best novelization of a comic I've ever read is "KNIGHTFALL" by Dennis O'Neil. It's excellent because O'Neil created a large part of the Batman mythos, so he knows the character very well.


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## Svrtnsse (May 4, 2015)

Reaver said:


> The best novelization of a comic I've ever read is "KNIGHTFALL" by Dennis O'Neil. It's excellent because O'Neil created a large part of the Batman mythos, so he knows the character very well.



Cheers! I'll get that added to my list and get on it as soon as I'm done with this current one.


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## Devor (May 4, 2015)

Stories are usually written for the medium they're intended, so something is usually off when it's ported into a new medium.  If I had a comic and wanted to write a novel from it, I would want to tell a new side of the story, one that I could have the freedom to play with as a novel, rather than create a "lesser" form of the same story.

There are exceptions, of course.  There's a reason that mangas are turned into animes, and superheroes do so well as movies.  I'm only casually familiar with Girl Genius, but it might do better as an animated TV show than as a novel.


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## Reaver (May 4, 2015)

That's the great thing about Knightfall because O'Neil delves into things that happen as a result of events from the comic stories.

For example, Bruce Wayne dealing with being paralyzed: He is still the world's greatest detective and O'neil handles this perfectly.


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## Addison (May 5, 2015)

In my experience a novel has you use your imagination to open the doors, see the characters and follow them through their world. With comics the door is open, the characters are right there, all you have to do is make up their voices in your head as you're watching through the given lens. 

We've seen Comics of Novels, what about Novels of Comics? Has anyone taken their favorite superhero or such and re-written it as a novel?


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