Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis: An Original Graphic Novel

by Francis Ford Coppola, Chris Ryall (Adapter), Jacob Phillips (Illustrator)

In his debut graphic novel, legendary award-winning director Francis Ford Coppola brings Megalopolis to life with an all-new, reimagined story, adapted by Coppola with Chris Ryall and award-wining artist Jacob Phillips

An Original Graphic Novel is a unique 160-page graphic novel that presents an alternate version of Francis Ford Coppola’s visionary film, created and written by Francis Ford Coppola, adapted by Chris Ryall in collaboration with Coppola, and illustrated by Eisner Award–nominated cartoonist Jacob Phillips.

The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina, a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero, who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare.

Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero, the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.

This graphic novel is a unique, standalone interpretation of the larger world Coppola created; or as Coppola himself put it,  An Original Graphic Novel is "a sibling of the film, rather than just an echo."

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

160 pages, Hardcover

Published October 7, 2025

About the author

Francis Ford Coppola is a five-time Academy Award-winning American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Coppola is also a vintner, magazine publisher, and hotelier. He is a graduate of Hofstra University where he studied theatre. He earned an M.F.A. in film directing from the UCLA Film School. He is most renowned for directing the highly-regarded Godfather trilogy, The Conversation, and the Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now.

Reviews

[kesseljunkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this as a great Christmas gift from the eldest, and I've been looking forward to reading it since.

It's interesting as an intellectual experiment to read a graphic adaptation of a deeply dreamlike and abstract film that flouts traditional elements of structure and linear narrative while adhering to a forward progress toward an ending. Some elements come into sharper focus, others are lost in odd montages and false endings.

But it does distill the distinct humanity at the core of a profoundly weird source material. In short: I think it's an oddly disorienting experience. The narrative is certainly in sharp focus and some of the metaphor is distilled. I'm rating it 4/5 distinctly because, like the film, it doesn't care about expectations of structure or dialogue beats. It simply exists as a dreamlike fable and, strangely, the graphic novel reads like a David Lynch movie as much as anything else -- which I think makes this a worthwhile companion piece to what I think is a profoundly misunderstood film. [Note: I totally "get" why people didn't like it. But it's stuck with me ever since I saw it.]

[Dylan · Rating 2 out of 5]

What was the point of this? It was so stupid. I just skimmed through the last part, since it really has the same flavor as 'Metropolis' by Thea von Harbou in that it tries so hard to appear intelligent, when I find that it does not resemble anything of intelligent writing. Everything read with a sense of cliche writing that made it seem like I had already read it before in an equally low-quality form of writing. I have not seen the film, but I plan to. I really like Youth Without Youth and The Godfather Epic, but I suspect that Coppola is one of those directors (perhaps a bit like Hitchcock or Villeneuve) who is a better film director than story creator.

[Blaine Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The movie is much better but this is a good companion piece. It's nice to see some of the lines written out, and it's interesting to see what's different

[W.S. Luk · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best parts of MEGALOPOLIS can be found in its epic philosophical scope and visual ambition, but these are qualities that this graphic novel isn't well-equipped to deliver on. The plot of the movie isn't particularly strong, never fully delivering on the drama that a contemporary adaptation of the Catiline conspiracy could offer, and compressing it into this brief format does it a further disservice, while the graphic novel's artwork is nothing to write home about. While it's interesting to see Coppola's vision in a different format, and explore some of the small differences between this version and the film, this graphic novel never quite captures the effects of the movie or stands effectively on its own.

[Rafael Suleiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good graphic novel.

[AR]

Need to crawl inside Francis Ford Coppola’s mind fr.

[Jojo Gelato]

should really be a movie

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really sure what just read.
Confusing, hard to follow, the art felt flat.
I hear the movie is somewhat the same.

[rmj]

No "what do you think... of this boner I got?" 0/10