Panel to the Screen: Style, American Film, and Comic Books During the Blockbuster Era by Drew MortonMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
I tried. I really did. But this book... is so tedious, it is impossible to get through. You have an exciting, interesting concept about adapting comics to the screen, you have a nice title, and then you write the entire book in extraordinary, dense detail - well done. #NOT
Author Drew Morton certainly has an interesting way of looking at things. While tracing the influence of comics and films on each is not only fascinating, but an integral part of understanding the nuances of modern day cinema, Morton's technique let's the entire concept down. He is unable to capture the magic of the two art forms due to his turgid writing. Pages are packed with blocks of paragraphs - a stark contrast from the vibrant format of the comics and films this book is about. What's worse is that Morton imbues each paragraph with a disconnected, bored tone that is more repetitive than informative. From the very outset, as stated in the introduction, he has a mission; I don't know what the mission is because every second word in the book is REMEDIATION. I mean, most people would talk about transferring the page to screen as an adaptation, not this guy though. Everything is remediation. It came to such a point that I couldn't concentrate on what was being written because of the overwhelming use of this one word.
In his desperate attempt to be different, he alienates the reader and those who are fans of comics. The giant chunks of text are especially hard to follow without any snapshots of the referenced material accompanying it for context. It also doesn't help that most of the text reads like a ball-by-ball commentary on the subject of choice. There's a moment 20 odd pages in that has a couple of pages of panels - they're clean, clear panels, you can make out their peculiarities. But the author takes the time out to dissect each and every unnecessary aspect of these two reference pages. It's pointless and doesn't move the theory forward.
I gladly downloaded this book from NetGalley because the subject matter sounded fascinating; but have struggled through the first 20 odd pages, I no longer know what the book's aim was, nor the point of it.
It reads like an overzealous student's college dissertation. It is good and would have been worth the read had it made itself more accessible and presentable. Even as a text book, this book would be impossible to read. All the jargon borders on the absurd. It's astounding how a pop culture topic such as comic books can become a morass of tedium.
View all my reviews
Comments