Writer: Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin

Art: Giovanni Rigano (p)(i), Paolo Lamanna (c)

Pros: A complete story, set up into chapters, with complex characters and enough depth to establish a series of stories.

Cons: Fantastic artwork and storytelling techniques like this should have been applied to an original story.

Overall Rating: ●●●●●●●◦◦

I don’t have time at the moment to write a complete review. However, I just finished reading this book and I enjoyed it so much that I had to write a quick piece on it. The graphic novel that I read is an adaptation of a book.

For people that don’t know, Artemis Fowl is one of the fantasy book series written for young adults that followed the popularity wake that Harry Potter sent through the industry. While the books may share the same genre, the similarities end there. In this series, the protagonist is a villain from a family of corporate criminals. The family has fallen from financial grace, and fourteen-year-old Artemis is a genius who has taken it upon himself to restore his family’s wealth. His plan involves the exploitation of fairies and their age-old culture.

The story is incredibly visual, and it moves fast and frequently. I can understand the appeal of the book (which I have not read), as it must allow the reader plenty of opportunity to apply their imagination to the visual creation of a host of fantasy creatures and their underground world. Fowl’s mansion as well resembles Bruce Wayne and Uncle Scrooge’s residences. Creating a graphic novel of this story is a challenge, as Rigano and Lamanna have the task of at least matching, if not besting, the world created by the readers’ imaginations. The job they do an excellent job of this- the world they create is rich and fanciful, while believable at the same time. Rigano choses to do most of his work within the panels, not utilizing the panels themselves much to express mood and pacing. Even so, the angles within each frame vary significantly, and are detailed enough that they give the reader a cinematic experience. I particularly enjoyed the character designs- I felt as if I was reading a Don Bluth movie. The characters are very consistent- even when wearing different outfits. This was of particular importance when drawing Butler, a key character of the story, as he switches clothing several time during the story.

Lamanna does some amazing work with his colors. Each setting has it’s own pallet, which is particularly effective during the scene shifts and flashbacks used intermittently by Colfer/Donkin. Softer colors are used to flesh out the fairy creatures, and the pages light up like an Anime film. The colors are so smooth, in fact, that many panels look as if they are screen shots taken from an animated feature film. I particularly like the scene where Holly leaves on a magma flare- it is epic in scope.

In adapting the story from a graphic novel, Donkin and Colfer’s biggest challenge was the pacing. In a book, chapters can alter between dialogue heavy scenes and action based sequences- particularly with a book from the fantasy genre. When translated to a visual sequence, those same action sequences which took many pages to describe in the book can be illustrated with a few panels in the graphic novel. Dialogue, on the other hand, requires a lot of tedious panels which often depict little action. Artemis Fowl successfully moves through various settings at a quick, satisfying pace. The action does not move too fast, and allows the reader enough time to familiarize themselves with the places and characters. My favorite storytelling technique is the visual flashback, used a couple of times early on in the story. While it is possible to describe a sequence with words, the simplicity of a single illustrated panel is far more effective. I suspect that this was an addition to the story used exclusively in the GN adaptation.

Each chapter of the story is concluded with a mock “file” of a place or setting from the story, usually featured prominently in the preceding chapter. It is a creative technique of building up character and event history without wasting space in the story itself. Such information can easily be thrown in between chapters using a narrative. However, it greatly slows the pace when telling the story visually.

Overall, Artemis Fowl does an excellent job placing the reader in the middle of events and building the setting and mood. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun story told with solid graphic fundamentals. Even though the story is just an adaption of a book, the story stands on its own and the reader does not need any knowledge of the book series (or even that there is a book). This is an example of what can be achieved with sequential art when creating a true graphic novel.