I’m a graphic novelist and designer based in beautiful Minneapolis. I tend to be varied in my artistic style and medium, moving between comics, illustration, design, and occasionally animation. Having created a graphic novel adaptation of The Great Gatsby, I feel very passionate about the subject of graphic novel adaptations. One of the most important things is that there should be a compelling reason for it to be a graphic novel in the first place; the graphic novel should do something that a prose book cannot. For my adaptation, that was the visual depiction of metaphors, the ethereal character designs, and the lush jewel-colored watercolor. The books I recommended add to the original story in unique and compelling ways.
My book is a graphic novel adaptation of The Great Gatsby, the classic Jazz Age story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. My version is a faithful, yet modern adaptation meant to appeal to fans of classic as well as those new to the story. I painted it in lush watercolors and tried to emphasize the extravagance, beauty, and mystery of Fitzgerald's world.
I had particular fun with Fitzgerald’s descriptive language and beautiful metaphors which I took to their literal extremes. For instance, when Fitzgerald described a party guest as resembling an orchid, I drew her as a blossoming orchid. Party guests flit around on wings with trays of champagne floating through the air.
Adapted from Neil Gaiman’s retelling of Snow White, Colleen Doran’s gorgeous and complex art, with heavy uses of black and ornamentation, is the perfect pairing for this dark story. I found Doran’s page compositions particularly inspiring as she largely avoids traditional panel borders while still keeping the story easy to read. This graphic novel inspired me to be more fluid and abstract in my own page spreads in The Great Gatsby.
Winner of the 2020 Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel!
A chilling fantasy retelling of the Snow White fairy tale by New York Times bestselling creators Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran!
A not-so-evil queen is terrified of her monstrous stepdaughter and determined to repel this creature and save her kingdom from a world where happy endings aren't so happily ever after.
From the Hugo, Bram Stoker, Locus, World Fantasy, Nebula award-winning, and New York Times bestselling writer Neil Gaiman (American Gods) comes this graphic novel adaptation by Colleen Doran (Troll Bridge)!
I’m always a fan of graphic novels that capture the mood of the book, rather than trying to make everything perfectly accurate to the original. Mariah Marsden’s adaptation of Anne of Green Gables perfectly captures the magic and beauty of one of my favorite childhood books.
I mentioned how much I enjoyed this adaptation to a friend who’s also a fan of L.M. Montgomery. However, my friend hated this adaptation (especially how Anne’s nose is drawn!) which I actually found very liberating as I considered adapting The Great Gatsby. I’d been concerned about how people who loved Gatsby would view my adaptation, but this made me realize that some people would love my book and some people wouldn’t—and that was okay!
The spirit of Anne is alive and well in Mariah Marsden's crisp adaptation, and it's a thrill to watch as the beloved orphan rushes headlong through Brenna Thummler's heavenly landscapes. Together Marsden and Thummler conjure all the magic and beauty of Green Gables. Like Anne herself, you won't want to leave. - Brian Selznick, author/illustrator of "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" and "The Marvels"
The magic of L.M. Montgomery's treasured classic is reimagined in a whimsically-illustrated graphic novel adaptation perfect for newcomers and kindred spirits alike.
When Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert decide to adopt an orphan who can help manage…
City of Glass: The Graphic Novel is the adaptation of a Paul Auster novella about a man who receives a call meant for a private investigator and is pulled into an existential mystery. I’ve long been a fan of film noir and the mystery genre, and I like how this adaptation handles these themes in more unusual and modern ways, as well as Paul Karasik’s thoughtful page layouts. The Great Gatsby also has many noir themes which I tried to hint at in places, although I resisted going full-out noir, since that wouldn’t have been appropriate for the book.
A graphic novel classic with a new introduction by Art Spiegelman
Quinn writes mysteries. The Washington Post has described him as a "post-existentialist private eye." An unknown voice on the telephone is now begging for his help, drawing him into a world and a mystery far stranger than any he ever created in print.
Adapted by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli, with graphics by David Mazzucchelli, Paul Auster's groundbreaking, Edgar Award-nominated masterwork has been astonishingly transformed into a new visual language.
"[This graphic novel] is, surprisingly, not just a worthy supplement to the novel, but a work of art that…
Gareth Hinds is a prolific adapter from Beowolf to Poe to Shakespeare. He doesn’t shy away from a momentous task like adapting The Odyssey or The Iliad which I find quite inspiring. At times, I was overwhelmed at the idea of drawing the elaborate party scenes in The Great Gatsby, but then I reminded myself that it was nothing compared to the epic battle scenes that Hinds had to draw. What I enjoyed most about Hinds' adaptation was how it elucidated the often bizarre relationships between the gods and mortals and helped me understand The Iliad in a new way.
In a companion volume to his award-winning adaptation of The Odyssey, the incomparable graphic novelist Gareth Hinds masterfully adapts Homer’s classic wartime epic.
More than three thousand years ago, two armies faced each other in an epic battle that rewrote history and came to be known as the Trojan War. The Iliad, Homer's legendary account of this nine-year ordeal, is considered the greatest war story of all time and one of the most important works of Western literature. In this stunning graphic novel adaptation — a thoroughly researched and artfully rendered masterwork — renowned illustrator Gareth Hinds captures all the…
Ideally, the style of art in a graphic novel should reflect the story being told. Yvain does a beautiful job of capturing this Arthurian myth set in the 12th century with drawings that feel appropriately medieval while the sketchy and gestural line art keep it from feeling heavy. I’m a bit obsessed with the idea of the style matching the story—I developed a whole new style and learned watercolor for The Great Gatsby—which is probably why I appreciate it so much in Yvain.
In his first graphic novel, National Book Award winner M. T. Anderson turns to Arthurian lore, with captivating art by Andrea Offermann bringing the classic legend to life.
Eager for glory and heedless of others, Sir Yvain sets out from King Arthur’s court and defeats a local lord in battle, unknowingly intertwining his future with the lives of two compelling women: Lady Laudine, the beautiful widow of the fallen lord, and her sly maid Lunette. In a stunning visual interpretation of a 12th century epic poem by Chrétien de Troyes, readers are — at first glance — transported into a…
Too often, I find that novelists force the endings of their books in ways that aren’t true to their characters, the stories, or their settings. Often, they do so to provide the Hollywood ending that many readers crave. That always leaves me cold. I love novels whose characters are complex, human, and believable and interact with their setting and the story in ways that do not stretch credulity. This is how I try to approach my own writing and was foremost in my mind as I set out to write my own book.
The Oracle of Spring Garden Road explores the life and singular worldview of “Crazy Eddie,” a brilliant, highly-educated homeless man who panhandles in front of a downtown bank in a coastal town.
Eddie is a local enigma. Who is he? Where did he come from? What brought him to a life on the streets? A dizzying ride between past and present, the novel unravels these mysteries, just as Eddie has decided to return to society after two decades on the streets, with the help of Jane, a woman whose intelligence and integrity rival his own. Will he succeed, or is…
“Crazy Eddie” is a homeless man who inhabits two squares of pavement in front of a bank in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. In this makeshift office, he panhandles and dispenses his peerless wisdom. Well-educated, fiercely intelligent with a passionate interest in philosophy and a profound love of nature, Eddie is an enigma for the locals. Who is he? Where did he come from? What brought him to a life on the streets? Though rumors abound, none capture the unique worldview and singular character that led him to withdraw from the perfidy and corruption of human beings. Just as Eddie has…
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