Charles Forsham: The End of the F*****g World & Sharon E McKay & Daniel Lefrance: War Brothers & Brian Selznick: Wonder Struck

I have put these three works together to illustrate the remarkable range of work and ideas that is possible under the somewhat inadequate heading ‘graphic novel’ (or even worse, ‘comics’ with that words connotations of triviality and childishness. None of the works here can be remotely called that - or indeed other graphic works that I have commented elsewhere on this site.

The End…is a work that, unusually I first came across through the acclaimed Netflix adaptation, having not been aware of the existence of the graphic novel and then, having loved and been greatly impressed by the series, wanted to find and compare with the source. The source is actually bleaker than the series - partly due to it very spare visual style with the absolute minimum being shown in each frame, this being a superb visual parallel for the bleak nihilism of the story. the other element that I was much more aware of in the Netflix series was the humour which, while it IS here in the original, is not nearly such a central and important part of the effectiveness of the series. Could I be edging towards thinking that the adaptation is, in some ways, superior to the source material…?

War Brothers is equally powerful in its content, particularly as it is based on real-life events, personalising an appalling feature of today;’s world - the existence and abuse of child soldiers. if anyone needs convincing that graphic novels can be as if not more powerful then the written word (and perhaps the media) then this work should get rid of this naive assumption once and for all.

Wonder Struck is very different.. Firstly it is squarely aimed at a young audience just as the author did with his first sensationally succesful novel in this format, The Invention of Hugo Cabret (like End of…also a wonderful film by Scorsese). Secondly it seems to me to straddle two forms - a graphic novel and a ‘traditional’ novel as the written text is interspersed, frequently, with sequences of detailed and vivid double-page, black and white drawings. These are not mere illustrations but rather a continuation of the story by visual means. One has to ‘read’ these pictures carefully as every detail can count and develops the story- they are not merely illustrations of what we have just read.

Its wonderfully effective and evocative (not least as the drawings are black and white, this connecting it with the black words on the white page.

Great reads, all of these.