Coraline - Neil Gaiman, adapted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell
Coraline wondered why so few of the adults she had met made any sense and who they thought they were talking to.
Neil Gaiman's creepy tale for young readers has now been adapted into comic book format by P. Craig Russell, who is a wonderful artist. I first read Coraline several years ago and now own a copy; it's kind of an Alice-in-Wonderland sort of tale but a good deal spookier. (Since my original review didn't say much about plot, I'll give a quick once-over here.)
Coraline lives in a big rambling house with her parents, along with a few other tenants in the other flats. Coraline's parents are boring people and she wishes her life were more interesting. One day while exploring the flat, she finds a strange door in the drawing room. It leads, says Coraline's mother, to the empty flat on the other side, but when the house was divided up into apartments it was simply bricked up. But of course, this being Gaiman, eventually this door opens up onto a dark passage, and Coraline enters a world that is certainly more interesting.
Russell's drawings are excellent and it's fun to see a favorite book in a new format. However, there are also some things that remain more sinister and shiver-inducing in Gaiman's original prose and Dave McKean's illustrations. My suggestion: read the original first, then take a gander at the comic.
Fed to jonathan's brain | August 11, 2008
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