KALEVALA: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL

Kalevala #1-2

by Sami Makkonen, Laura Arp (Translator), Felicity Kjisik (Translator)

A stunning comic adaptation of the Finnish national epic the Kalevala, which inspired J.R.R. Tolkien to write Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings.

The story tells the adventures and fates of wizard Väinämöinen, warrior Lemminkäinen, black-smith Ilmarinen and other larger than-life-characters looking for love, riches and magic in the far-away lands of the ancient North.

The world of Kalevala is lyrical, harsh and totally unique.

The Kalevala graphic novel is masterfully adapted by Sami Makkonen, best known for his four volumes of the Eisner Award nominated Hatter M series, which has made the NY Times best-selling list. Makkonen has also received the Sarjas Award for Best Fantasy Comic and has been nominated for a number of other awards, including the Ghastly Awards for horror work.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Fiction

308 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2024

Reviews

[Apa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just...no. Kalevala translated to not-very-flowing English doesn't work. The art is occasionally even striking and powerful but it's mostly dark grey, darker grey and black. Often you can't even distinguish the main characters from each other, let alone from the background. The typeface for spells was some kind of old gothic style and completely unreadable.

Sometimes some small liberties were taken to make the story and discussion flow better but not often enough.

The 2nd star is from the brave attempt to tackle the Kalevala.

[Juliana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would that I could remember why exactly I decided to read this graphic novel adaptation of the Kalevala, I ended up not liking it. Maybe it's partly an issue of the Finnish not translating so easily, though I doubt it. I could not follow the story. Early into my read I realized I needed a guide* to the story and ended up referencing that guide all the way through. But that guide only went so far in helping me understand what was happening panel to panel. When dialogue in a graphic novel fails to tell the story the idea is that illustrations will fill in the blanks. The illustrations, however, were often rife with useless nudity and sexually explicit scenes. And if not sexually charged, the illustrations were highly abstract at best.

I imagine this graphic novel is a different experience for someone already experienced with the
epic poem. As someone who was not previously familiar, and familiar enough, it was a struggle read. If not for obstinacy, had I not hyped in my mind that this would surely be a fast read because it was a graphic novel, I would have not finished my read. I almost gave this a 1 star rating but then realized how much I had to learn about the source story because of this read. 2 stars.

*https://kalevalaseura.fi/en/whos-who-....

[Tobin Elliott]

Why did I not look at the reviews before buying this?

Good lord, this is terrible. It may have actually set a new DNF record for graphic novels for me...300+ pages in this collection, and I was done by page 15.

Why? The art, while serviceable and often lovely to look at, was more a collection of pretty pictures than an attempt at coherent storytelling. Unfortunately, I've seen this before, where the artist is talented, but has not done their homework on how to properly assemble a consecutive series of images into something that tells the story. Look at almost any Marvel or DC comic and, even ignoring the words, the reader can pretty much figure out what the story is, with little trouble. Here? No, not so much.

But hey, there's words to help smooth those visual transitions, right? Well, sort of. The problem with this collection (and it likely adds to that images-not-telling-a-story issue above) is that there is no coherent story. Stuff...happens. There's no rhyme or reason to it, there's no motivation, there's no real consequences (except one sister being sad at being given away so her brother can live). But there's characters showing up for a couple of panels, then disappearing. There's major events happening between one panel and the next that we're not privy to. And none of it makes a lick of sense. And that's without the terrible "magical spell" font they chose that is completely incomprehensible.

This, sadly is a horrifying waste of time and a senseless killing of trees. DNF, no rating.

[Κεσκίνης Χρήστος · Rating 3 out of 5]

Χωρίς να είναι κακό, με κούρασε η μαυρίλα του (αν είναι δυνατόν να το λέω εγώ αυτό)! Γενικά το Kalevala είναι ένα σκοτεινό έργο και το βγάζει το κόμικ. Αλλά το παρακάνει νομίζω. σε σημεία. Στη διήγηση ήθελα γυαλιά για να διαβάσω τι έγινε και στα μαγικά η γραμματοσειρά ήταν ΑΘΛΙΑ αν και εντυπωσιακή. Κατά τα άλλα είναι μια αρκετά πιστή μεταφορά του έπους και μπορώ να πω πως το απόλαυσα που το ξαναεπισκέφτηκα.

[Jesse A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal and beautiful and enthralling and epic. Amazing amazing.

[Freya Abbas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art style and colour palette chosen for this was cool. Unfortunately, the story was very hard to follow along with. At first I thought this was because I am unfamiliar with the original Kalevala, but then I realized it must be cause the author focused the art rather than the story. I am going to read the original Kalevala now. I gotta see what that’s all about. Also, another complaint I have about this graphic novel is that some of the scenes are very violent or sexual and while this might not be an issue by itself, it is when those are the scenes that are the most detailed and easy to follow along with. Many other important scenes do not seem to get the same attention to detail.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is amazing! Let’s get that out there…….Admittedly my knowledge of The Kalevala comes mostly from Amorphis lyrics so I wouldn’t say I’m super familiar with the epic source, and…….. I wish I was. It may have helped, that’s on me. My only qualm with the GN is the font size and font selection. Some blurbs require a telescope to ascertain, while the choice of font used for the casting of “spells” may as well have been typeset in Wingdings, super illegible, surprised it made it through proofing. Just a heads up, it could be that I’m old and my eyes don’t work so good and my back hurts, etc………I’d love to rate this higher because the art has a unique, almost etched, sinister quality to it- beautiful, haunting, horrifying, and sexy.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

The Kalevala is Finland's epic poem - think Beowulf - that was the inspiration for the Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings. As such, it has captured the interest of many over recent years, especially with regards to the Peter Jackson movies. It is a difficult, often inscrutable, and huge story and I can't say translates into something a graphic format could or should ever tackle. But this was at least done by a Finn, has a nice Easter Egg in the form of an homage to Finland's great painter Gallen Kallela (who was best known for his fin de siècle Kalevala paintings/Finnish nationalism) and certainly the art is unique and distinct.

The issue here is that you'll still have to have read the poem to understand even half of what's going on in this graphic novel. The Kalevala is a collection of folk tales/oral tales/songs/lyric poems/ballads gathered from around the country in the 1840s by Finnish polymath Elias Lonnrot. As such, names change often, things don't follow in necessarily a linear pattern, and it feels like a bunch of pieces that were attempted to be forcefully molded into one big story.

I never really got into the art - it is dark and splotchy, loose drawings often without shape or with loose forms. Artistically it is interesting but not necessarily very useful for taking a wordy epic poem and showcasing the story in graphical format. I honestly had no idea what was going on most of the time and even became annoyed at the use of an all capitals font in several text bubbles (for chants and war cries) that was unreadable and hurt my eyes trying. In every aspect of the term, this is truly style over substance.

I think if you are studying the Kalevala that this is an interesting interpretation. You'll likely be familiar with the story and understand what the artist is going for/depicting. For everyone else, you'll probably become frustrated fast. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Mikael · Rating 1 out of 5]

In some ways this is an artsy book, or graphical novel.
It is entirely in black/white, or black/grey/white, with heavy and dark illustrations. This could have given it so much potential, but it doesn’t.

The main problem i have with this book is that there is no story. Or, well, there is, as it’s based on the Kalevala epos. But as it’s been a while since I read the original texts and don’t recall them well enough I looked at this as an opportunity to catch up, but it doesn’t give you that opportunity in any way. There are some stories yes, but I cannot make out about what, or who, or when one ends and the next begin.
There’s pillaging and lots of forced marriages by older men buying their neighbours daughters, and even a (historically accurate if I remember correctly) rape. There’s also a lot of unnecessary and as I see it misplaced female nudity, I can’t imagine women going to parties bare naked in the winter when the men are fully dressed?
And there’s also some fighting and maybe cursing, I don’t rightly know since part of the stories are set in old gothic font. In small size. Totally unreadable, so I had to skip those and it could be just plain talking for all I know.

But in a graphical novel the amount of text is lesser than the original book, and the illustrations are supposed to help the reader better understand the story despite this. It doesn’t. Maybe it will if you’re well versed in the original Kalevala, but then this edition is really for a select few and not mainstream.

In summary I think this was probably the worst graphical illustration of a book I have ever read, and quite horrible in itself as well. Still, as an art book there were several rather good illustrations.
But it’s not actually an art book.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating and occasionally frustrating retelling of a Scandinavian epic poem (or, rather, a collection of epic poems). Fascinating, because Makkonen's visual aesthetic is stark, stylized and harshly gorgeous, like classic Sienkiewicz filtered through the lens of Death Metal. It's more than a little grim, but seems perfectly suited to the source material.

Each of the subsidiary narratives within the novel are told in a style that...to my sensibility, at least...perfectly matches the source material. This is where many will stumble. Does it offer a crackin', easy to follow storyline?

It. Does. Not.

It's always visually striking, but often inscrutable. You often have to slow waaay down to figure out what, precisely, is going on. It's hard.

But have you ever READ ancient narratives? Particularly those that source back from a time when the language you speak didn't yet exist? Like Beowulf? Or any true-to-the-language translation of the Enuma Elish or the Shahnameh? These stories aren't kind to the modern reader, because they weren't created for our sensibilities. This is clearly Makkonen's intent, and it works. For me.

I found this to be part of the pleasure of the reading, because it made it seem like I was engaging with something authentic. Even the peculiar runic font used occasionally for incantations...tantalizingly half-readable...felt appropriate and evocative. Is this too much literary mise en scene for many graphic novel folk? Sure. But danged if I didn't find it delightful. A solid four.

[Niche · Rating 2 out of 5]

Based on Swedish/Norse mythology, this is considered to be part of the inspiration for Tolkien in his tales of Middle Earth. Väinämöinen, the wizard sage, definitely had elements I could see in Gandalf, the other "heroes," blacksmith Ilmarinen and warrior Lemminkäinen (who everyone keeps calling "mild" despite him being a temperamental, horny, jerk) less so.

The art's kind of mixed bag. Telling one blurry bearded guy from another wasn't always easy. The other issue I run into is the original text might just have "then the rape/incest happened," but adaptations usually want to set you down and show it. I did like that a number of the women are pretty blunt that they're not interested in being the wife-slaves of the leads.

Storywise, most of the plot involves the leads trying to do something so they can own someone's daughter or rob one of the other character's of someone's daughter or magic with the Witch being the antagonist because keeps sending the guys on quests and not giving them her daughter or spells. There's a giant obelisk/rod/tower called the Samba that they all fight over later.

[Michael Daines · Rating 2 out of 5]

(2.5)

The artwork is beautiful.

I'm not surprised when older tales assembled from folk legends are choppy and inconsistent, but I consider it the job of a contemporary writer to capture a more consistent narrative. This work fails at that, and instead feels like some nice artwork on a barely modified scrap of legend.

Whenever the men cast spells, it is written in a nearly indecipherable font. If you squint, you start to make out words, but I found it easier to just skip it and treat it as incomprehensible chanting.

There are odd anachronisms here and there, particularly with the ships, and it doesn't come across as intentional.

Nearly all the women are half or fully naked. There's full male nudity and explicit sex here and there as well.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finally gave up on this turkey halfway through. It's kind of the Finnish version of Beowulf with a bunch of poems put together to form this conglomerate. The art reminds me of something Dave McKean would draw but with way more nude women in there for no good reason. For spells, the font switches to some kind of Ye Olde English type lettering that I couldn't read one word of. I finally gave up before I went cross-eyed. That middle panel is an example.



This was a nice idea that just didn't pan out. I can't imagine anyone but maybe scholars who have read the original text would like this.

[Malcolm · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got interested in Kalevala when, in preparing for a trip that includes Finland, I learned that Finland had its own creation myth in the form of an epic poem. I hoped that a graphic novel would give me a relatively painless introduction to the characters and their world. I think I did get some sense of who the main heroes are. But I was disappointed in the book. I stopped reading about one-third of the way in. Picked it up again only because I found myself without other reading material for a stretch. The illustrations are terrible. The action sequences are pointless. The best thing I can say about it is that it didn't kill my interest in learning more of these stories.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit confusing, but I was also confused by the original when I read it. The art is suitably dark and gloomy but the very twiddly font that is used in some of the speech bubbles was almost unreadable.

[Jimgosailing · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m becoming familiar with the actual text of The Kalevala, but thought the prose in this graphic version was lacking. I also found a lot of the characters in the panels difficult to distinguish one from another. And for me, the violence, translated or presented as a graphic seemed more in your face; similarly with some of the male versus female characters and sex seem like all the women in this world less than fully clothed, shall we say a lot of legs shown, a lotta cleavage shown; and I’m not sure how necessary that was in a graphic novel certainly not something I’m going to present to my grandson.

[Nicki Markus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have previously read The Kalevala -- all 600+ pages of it. It is a long and complex work, so I wondered how it could be condensed into a single graphic novel, though I was intrigued by the idea of it. I thought it could be a good way to introduce new readers to this wonderful epic, but in that respect, I don't think it will quite work. Without my prior knowledge of the story, I fear I would have been a bit lost at times in trying to follow this version, not least because so many characters were bearded men it was hard to tell them apart until reading enough of the dialogue made it clearer. There were some nice bits of artwork here and there, particularly on the larger panels, but some panels were really hard to "read". There were so dark and with such unclear lines, I often had to study the image for a while before I could make it out, which spoilt the flow of my reading. On the plus size, all the monsters looked cool. I think if you already know the Kalevala well, this would be an interesting adaptation to check out, but if you are new to the story, I think it would be better to start with the more detailed text version. I am giving this book 3.5 stars.

I received this book as a free eBook ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.