The Supernaturalist: The Graphic Novel

by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, Paolo Lamanna (Illustrator)

The The Graphic Novel [ THE THE GRAPHIC NOVEL ] By Rigano, Giovanni ( Author )Jul-10-2012 Hardcover

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Teen

128 pages, Hardcover

First published July 10, 2012

About the author

Eoin Colfer (pronounced Owen) was born in Wexford on the South-East coast of Ireland in 1965, where he and his four brothers were brought up by his father and mother, who were both educators.

He received his degree from Dublin University and began teaching primary school in Wexford. He has lived and worked all over the world, including Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Italy. After the publication of the Artemis Fowl novels, Eoin retired from teaching and now writes full time. He lives in Ireland with his wife and two children.

Reviews

[Henry S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read the book The Supernaturalist. The book is very action packed. Personally I think Stephan's life is really bad at the moment. 1st his mom gets killed... and it's his fault. Then he hunts down the Parasites... and then finds out he's helping them reproduce. Then he finds his mother's friend Ellen Faustino... and she tricks them into setting of an energy charge under Clarrisa Frane. Then Stephan finds out that the Parasites actually are helping people by removing the pain they are feeling... and realizes that he was tricked by Ellen Faustino. Then he go's to rescue the Parasites from Ellen's prison that sucks the life of the Parasites... AND GETS SHOT... in the heart (but Stephan did save the Parasites). So what do you think of Stephan's life? If you want me to know please comment.

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like this story, but I hated the strange artwork. Everyone has buggy eyes and their faces look melted. The colors are bland and boring.
But the story and characters are really good!

[Raina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not every novel should go graphic. In fact, a lot of times, I don't understand why stories get adapted into the graphic novel form. In large part, it feels like publishers trying to capitalize on an already popular story. The best graphic novels were generally conceptualized for the strengths of the graphic novel medium.

Because of my biases this way, I wasn't expecting much from this graphic novel adaptation of Colfer's The Supernaturalist. I had read the original prose work, on talking book, years ago. And I remembered it positively.

On first glance, I didn't see the point of this. And I didn't really like the art, either. The way Rigano draws figures is not particularly accessible. There is some manga influence, stylistically. And the panels are generally relatively small. The color palette is dark, with a heavy green lean.

But once I got into the story, I was immediately sucked into this world. Being able to SEE the Parasites draining people of life was far more affecting than reading a description of the act (or listening to someone read a description of the act). And my FAVORITE part of the whole thing comes by in the first ten pages of the story. I was intrigued by the testing on the orphans when I heard them mentioned in print, and wanted to know more. The way this is communicated in the graphic novel is extremely effective and succinct.

Reading this graphic novel made me realize that sci-fi is a genre that works exceedingly well in graphic form. It's difficult to describe technical specifications of imagined technology. In graphic form, we can see what the author intends right there on the page. I find it much easier to follow.

I loved this so much, I intend to booktalk it to the middle school students in my community in the near future. I'll be booktalking both the prose and the graphic novel form and let the students choose for themselves.

SO good.

[Allie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with most graphic novelizations of books/movies, I feel like I would have had a much greater appreciation for this book had a been familiar with the original story first. I was definitely intrigued by the story, but the graphic novel was so fast-paced that I didn't get to invest myself in the characters or plot as much as I would have liked. I do own the original format of this book and I do still plan to read it. I'm hoping that I will enjoy it more when I have more time to become invested. But I believe this is a very good book for those already familiar with the story!

[D.T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the narrative/dialogue was snappy and entertaining. Mona was my favorite character. The artwork was very bug-eyed and dull, frankly, too ugly for me, but it worked well. that ending kiss felt weird. I thought Mona just thought of Cosmo as a cute sidekick.

3.5

[Ashley Prueter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weiiiiiird

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst. Adaptation. Ever. The art is so crabbed and tiny that I often couldn't make out either the characters or the action, and ended up just reading the text boxes and dialogue balloons. Fortunately, you can get the whole story from those---which makes me suspect that Colfer knew there was a problem. I strongly recommend skipping this and going to the original version.

[Sara Houser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea that this was an adaptation of the book, now I’ve never read the book or any of Eoin Colfers books before. I didn’t know what to expect once I cracked the first page open but I’m very impressed. I loved this graphic novel the writing was and storyline was there but I would have changed how the artistry looked. The pictures were very dark and some were just hard to make out what you were even looking at. That’s the only reason it got 4 stars.

If you haven’t read the book then let me help you out with that, it’s about these four teenage kids that call themselves the supernaturalists. They go around town mostly at night shooting these blue entities they call “parasites“ which they think is helping the city when later they found out they were doing much the opposite. I’m not going to reveal to much because I don’t want to spoil how the book ends so pick it up and I bet you will enjoy it just as much as I did but I really hope there is a second one in the works cause it definitely ended so a new one could pick up.

[Kari · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd listened to most of the original book in audiobook format and while it wasn't the most riveting story for me, I appreciated how Colfer developed his characters and the backstory of the society inhabiting Satellite City. I don't think this graphic novelization of the story did any of that justice and I felt a similar disappointment to that when a book is poorly adapted to television. Events kept happening with thunder and the voice in the back of my head kept asking, "Why? What precipitated this?" but the book didn't answer back. I think this is best consumed in its original writing.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a ride. When I reached the middle of the book, I was seriously considering giving up and not finishing it. I kept getting left with too many questions and wasn't enjoying the art too much, but since it's only 128 pages I figured I should just finish it, and I'm glad I did. This story would make an awesome TV show, in my opinion; with more time to develop the plot and characters it could really be something.

[Jacob MacDonald · Rating 2 out of 5]

I dug the art style: It drives home the Akira connections I missed in the prose as a kid. Unfortunately, there are a lot of bad choices that make the adaptation poor cyberpunk. There are way too many text boxes, and instead of the tropiness of Harrison Ford's Blade Runner voiceover, they read as band-aids applied late to the work. The panel layout is often frustrating. A nostalgic hors d'oeuvre for the novel, nothing more.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not care for the layout of this graphic novel. Some of the panels took up the whole two pages, but it was hard to tell which ones. So you would read a whole page before realizing that it was layed out over both pages and that is why it didn't make a lot of sense. It was a ok story, but less than I was expecting.

[The Editorial · Rating 4 out of 5]

'I’m inside a cartoon, thought Cosmo. This is all a graphic novel. Someone
is turning the pages right now and saying, This is too weird, who could believe something like this?' - From: 'The Supernaturalist (novel)'


Good thinking Colfer ;)

[Elle Paxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an incredibly nostalgic read, since I enjoyed the book so much in my youth. However, the pacing of the comic seemed to go too quickly, at the expense of the details that I seem to recall from the book.

[Nikolas C · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good but not my taste of a book

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I am glad I read this instead of the book but it wasn't that interesting to me for some reason.

[willa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The layout of the panels was confusing but it was a good story

[Shahna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the novel back in 2013.
I like reading graphic novel versions of things. It's fun.
I like the graphics, they're a bit grotesque.

[Suanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colfer is a genius of creativity. The illustrations are also fantastic.

[Percy Haas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mean, it's the book.

[Rachel Havrilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great art. Great story.

[Bethany · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars

[Casey Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

very entertaining

[Aqeela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool concept

[Monika Leubner · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book years ago and its still just as weird maybe even weirder seeing it drawn out.

[Lori L Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some slow parts but overall enjoyable.

[Kayla Zabcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

87%

so much packed into one little book! I enjoyed the unusual art style and the exciting, surprisingly complex story

[Concha C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great dystopian story, great drawings

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay although the placement of the panels was a bit confusing sometimes.

[Soobie is expired · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read all the adaptations Eoin Colfer made out of his Artemis Fowl books. I quite liked them and I had the impression that they kept getting better and better. So I ordered The Supernaturalists as well. I read the books millions of years ago and I remember that I like it even if I don't remember any details of the plot.

Unfortunately this graphic novel isn't as good as the others. OK, it's as dark as usual, its drawings are as small as usual, panels are too full of details... For an unknown reason all this bothered me this time. I know that being a manga reader doesn't help when it comes to graphic novel but I really think that there was something wrong here.

Manga usually present tons of close-ups. Big faces that take up all the room in a panel so that the reader can read the emotions in the characters' eyes. Here we have characters but I'm not sure I would able to describe their physical appeareance to someone who hasn't read this graphic novel. I had the feeling that this whole graphic novel was made by normal A4 drawings that were later reduced to fit the size of a mini panel. Because the details of each panel are amazing but you need a magnifying glass to see them properly. Same thing for the charachters' faces. It was as if I was watching them through a pair of binoculars.

Don't get me wrong. I think Giovanni Rigano is an excellent artist. The splash page in which Cosmo's body is divided into six panels, each showing a different experiment they performed on him, is fantastic. But then when the gang goes to Booshka... the story doesn't make sense anymore.

The pages in front of me show a regular grid of 16 panels... But if you read them in the regular order

1 - 2 / 9 - 10
3 - 4 / 11 - 12
5 - 6 / 13 - 14
7 - 8 / 15 - 16

the story seems confusing, or more confusing than before. I must admit, that I was reading the graphic novel while I was doing something else but it took me a while to understand that I wasn't looking at 16 panels: they were actually 12 of them, to be read in this order:

1 - 2 - 3
4 - 5 - 6
7 - 8 - 9
10 - 11 - 12

After that, before starting a page I had to quickly check if the panels in front of me were regular ones or the artist was messing with me again. Which is not fun at all.

But I think I may read the original novel again. I really like the story behind the weird art and the dark colors.