Wicked: The Graphic Novel Part I

Definitely not appropriate for children! I bought this book for my granddaughter, age 10, who had seen the movie, and who loves graphic novels, but I decided it is not for her. You have to remember that the story by Maguire was written for adults. It is dark and gloomy in parts, and there are many references to sex. Elphaba's mother, Melena admits to consorting with a tinker who gave her a "heady brew from a green glass bottle." Later in the book, adult Elphaba has a lusty affair with Fiyero and there are many scenes (and illustrations) in the bedroom. "He ran his hands along her ribs, down the tight plane of her stomach, she always brought his hands to her thin expressive breasts..."

It is also very wordy and uses vocabulary that will even bring the smartest adult running for a dictionary. Sometimes I had to read and re-read a section to understand. As an adult, I don’t mind this, but it would be off-putting to a child. The author, Scott Hampton does a less than adequate job of following the book and if I hadn't read the original book, or seen the recent movie adaptation I would have been totally lost. It skips around and is very choppy. I'm sure it was a difficult task turning the very long book into a graphic novel, but this one really misses the mark. The illustrations are poor throughout and I didn't like the way he portrayed the characters. The tin man looks like a robot in a science fiction book, many of the faces are bony and haggard looking, or downright, bizarre. Most of the pictures are dark, or in shadows, with the primary colors being black or gray. From time to time there is a bit of washed-out blue, light red, yellow, and of course, green (for Elphie). The print is very, very small and difficult to read. Very disappointed with this author/illustrator's interpretation of this book.