A review by robk
Jane Eyre: A Graphic Novel by Charlotte Brontë, Fiona MacDonald, Penko Gelev

2.0

I read this with [b:Jane Eyre|168156|Jane Eyre|David Hoover|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1266487266s/168156.jpg|40165176], and I found both to have strengths and weaknesses. The older, Classics Illustrated, version is a better comic book adaptation; Hoover's book follows the tropes of comics more closely. Gelev's "Graphic Classics" reads much more like an illustrated summary, or even like a storyboard--like for a movie. Gelev's has a lot of illustrations, but the story is moved forward less by the illustrations and dialogue than it is by the plot summaries beneath each illustration. Hooper's version uses illustrations and dialogue more effectively to advance the plot. Both are obviously missing details from the novel; each comic book can be read easily in less than one hour, but these are more like primers than replacement texts. Each comic includes a summary of the novel's plot and other teaching tools as appendices in the back. In this regard, the Classic's Illustrated version is again superior.

Overall, these are both quick introductions to the text, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, but neither comes close to capturing the magnificence of the novel. At the end of the day, these are not works of art, they are study guides at best.