Nice text, pity about the art
author: adapted by: Illustrator: THIS comic book is based on Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Not Haruki Murakami’s Northanger Abbey; not any of the other half a dozen novels with the same title.
OK, so there aren’t half a dozen other Northanger Abbeys out there. And no, Murakami does not have a novel by that name. That is is my point, and I daresay I’m nit-picking, but well, I’m just saying that I was irritated even before I started Nancy Butler’s adaptation. While I love Austen, I dislike the idea of Jane Austen as a brand – the only ones who would be impressed would be those who approved of Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennett in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride & Prejudice.
I was also unimpressed by the cover image depicting the novel’s heroine, Catherine Morland. Catherine is 17. The woman on the cover is at least 25. And, in the comic proper, Miss Morland is completely hideous – horsey-faced and sporting a series of exaggerated facial expressions that you might see in a caricaturist’s notebook. All the characters are similarly drawn. Perhaps artist Janet Lee chose this style because the novel parodies the gothic novel. However, I find this extreme portrayal over-states the case, and is distracting and off-putting.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the novel, it’s about a young girl from a large family, who accompanies her neighbours (a middle-aged couple) to the city of Bath for a holiday. There, she meets Henry and Eleanor Tilney, a brother and sister whose family home is the book’s titular property.
Catherine, who is mad about gothic novels, is very taken with the idea of the Tilney seat, as ruined castles and abbeys often feature in these books. She is thrilled to receive an invitation to stay at Northanger Abbey and lets her imagination run away with her while she’s there.
Although I don’t like the artwork, I found the text of the novel made a smooth transition to this format, with most of my favourite scenes and conversations making it onto the page, including Henry’s ribbing of Catherine.
At the back of the book are five drawings, including the cover art and in that same style, depicting Catherine and Henry’s romance. They look rather tacky to me, and remind me of the kind of “shipping” fanart that you find on Tumblr.
While this comic isn’t quite my cup of tea, I think it would work well as an introduction to Austen’s work. For those who don’t think they could ever read the novel cover to cover, this is a good way of at least getting a taste of her wit and style.