Orlando: A Graphic Novel Biography

by Jules Scheele

Virginia Woolf's classic novel Orlando tells the story of a poet adrift in time; he starts out his life as a nobleman in Queen Elizabeth I's court, and her story concludes as a thirty-six year-old woman in the present.

Jules Scheele's graphic novel adaptation of this important queer work tells the complete story of Orlando's journey through history that examines the shifting and changing ideas of gender and sexuality, and plumbs the depths of the human heart. Taking us through love affairs, betrayals and exiles, struggles against conformity and poetry through the ages, Orlando is a fantastical adventure filled with satirical wit.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Transgender, Queer, Fantasy

144 pages, Paperback

Published August 4, 2026

Reviews

[Owen Hatherley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A major exception to the usually dull-witted 'comic book adaptation of famous novel' norm - absolutely kaleidoscopic visually but also extremely clever in the ways it both condenses and expands the source material, and leagues away from the usually very boring and polite way Woolf gets interpreted nowadays - this is so much ruder, sexier and richer than all that drab essayistic stuff, with a genuinely surrealist sense of place and geography. The best thing published in 2026 I've read this year.

[Hari Conner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was SO excited when I heard about this creator taking on Orlando, and it was even better than I expected.

It seems a really tall order to adapt the original - an iconic, gender-exploratory, and as the introduction says, camp and often surreally modernist book of the 1920s. So it’s endlessly impressive that Scheele has not only managed to adapt it into a 2020s graphic novel, but one that in itself feels VISUALLY so iconic, fun, sexy, camp, modernist and gender-exploratory.

It’s a gorgeous, large-format colour print, and the art makes the past feel busy, varied, vibrant and real. The comics medium is used to bend reality in a deft and playful way, while preserving lots of brilliant and funny text from the original. It’s so rare for comic-adapted-classics to really capture the tone and themes of their source material so well - but here they’re infused skillfully into the new medium to make a comic that’s exploratory and inventive on its own merit, with occasional references out beyond Woolf’s lifespan into the queer present.

From a start as a young writer whose legs look great in hose, Orlando gives head to the queen of England, gets romantically entranced and involved with a series of lovers, has his heart broken, his writing trashed, is generally tormented by the art-making process, lives through hundreds of years of literary (and fashion) history, turns into a woman, is in love with nature, laments over the changing times, ponders on the point of art and life etc, tongue often in cheek and various other people’s as well.

Thoughtfully updated in a few smart places, abstract, hot, lush, Romantic, poetic, historic, trans - what more could you want in a book, really.

[Emily Kolach]

beautiful art, i have literally no idea what was going on

[tillie hellman · Rating 4.25 out of 5]

this was a fever dream. i liked the art a lot. i enjoyed orlando just having the most sex ever. could not tell u what happened at all tho

[j3n · Rating 4 out of 5]

“What has praise and fame to do with poetry? Is writing poetry not a secret transaction?”

[Lizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is insane (compliment) but I think the beauty of the art does not make up for how all over the place the text/story beats felt. Maybe if I’d have read the original book first I would’ve liked it more? I did think it was odd male bodies weren’t as nude/sexualized as the female bodies. A lot of the sex felt like something from an oglaf comic.

However, I think some of the things I disliked with the story are likely inherent to the original text. IDK, sometimes I struggle with books about gender and sexuality since I find them hard to relate to and I find a lot of the discussion starts to lean back to enforcing a gender/sex binary. I had no idea what was going on with Orlando’s millionth fling and the significance of each, including the confusing marriage. I think the original book placed in its original historic context would be impressive but in this modernized context, it was like yeah OK, these aren’t revelations?

I can understand the struggle to find identity when societal imposes one on you, but Orlando is privileged and I didn’t feel that imposition. Orlando is just accepted and changes aren’t a big deal for the rest of the world in this. That’s awesome, and I can see the appeal of that in a story. So then a lot of the drama is about Orlando’s writing career which I do not care about- I am sick to death of writers moaning about writing. Orlando has a baby and it’s barely a blip. Orlando never gets old and the commentary on changes in culture/society are minimal. Thus lacks much for me to mull over, over than how gorgeous the art is.

[Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is fantastic.
Reading this story in this medium helped me understand why I’d never been able to finish the original text (despite how short it is). The story is a poetic and metaphorical meandering of Virginia and Vita’s own personal lives. Having read the letters to one another, it helped me understand the structure of the story more. Knowing that trips to the Middle East dressed as men was something Virginia did in real life. If I hadn’t read those non-fiction letters; this story wouldn’t work for me. But having read them; this is such a fun way to reinterpret your own life into a camp mystically magical romantic comedy.
Ultimately, it’s one of the most important now-historic texts for trans / drag lives. I’m grateful this graphic novel version was able to help me understand the story more than I ever have done. (I lasted tried reading it six years ago when I was a late teen, it may read easier now)

[Renske Janssen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely, vivid drawings telling the story of Virginia Woolf's novel. I was wondering how the artist was going to capture the dreamy, descriptive quality of the book in a different medium, and it did not disappoint - loads of interesting, creative illustrations of the fact that we are hearing *about* Orlando, but rarely *from* them directly. People who haven't read the novel might find this version a bit more difficult to follow, but I think it would be really interesting to read them side by side.

[Leah Rachel von Essen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful, strange adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s classic genderbending text, this graphic novel of Orlando has lush, colorful art that connects the many eras of the original novel to the gendered and feminist questions of the modern day. It’s an excellent bridge from Woolf’s radical text to today’s radical queer fiction. Some might find the shifting dialogue hard to adapt to, but I adored it. The surrealist art choices and deliberate visuals create a daring and sometimes outrageous or funny rendition without deviating from Woolf’s original text.

[Raven Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slightly easier take on the story than Susanne Kuhlendahl's adaptation, but it still keeps the tone and wording of the original story. Bold images advance the story and aiding the understanding of the theme. Moderate to graphic sexuality or sexual scenes included. Adding modern queer icons to the images makes this adaptation different from others

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunningly beautiful.

[Angelina · Rating 2 out of 5]

No shade to Jules Scheele, who did a lovely job, but this book--Woolf's original concept--is just not for me.

[Karianne Giard · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is gorgeous but the narration is kinda all over the place.