Graphic Novel Review: Secrets, Monsters and Magic Mirrors

As I’ve mentioned in the last few reviews I’ve done, I’m on a bit of a graphic novel kick as well as I’ve been enjoying some youth stories. I do love to pick up a good book directed at a younger audience to see what they’re coming up with these days, now that I’m old and such. Just kidding… I’m not really that old but you know, old enough. I began a story that intrigued me with its cover – And as a sidenote, I don’t care what anyone else says, I judge a book by its cover… or at least it makes me much more prone to reading a book if it’s cover is awesome (I’ll still read a book even I don’t like the cover!).

Wow, so that was way off-topic. Back on track! I began reading a short story book called Secrets, Monsters and Magic Mirrors Volume 2, which was a collection of revamped fairy tales and such. This volume includes the story of Rapunzel, Snow White, Princess and the Pea, Beauty & The Beast as well as Thumbelina. The stories are rewritten by new authors and are illustrated and put into graphic novel form.

First of all, the art for Rapunzel, Princess and the Pea and Thumbelina completely “WOWED” me. I was absolutely in love with the art for the stories and I love this book, if for no other reason, than the art in it. Brilliantly designed and laid out and they illustrate exactly what they need to illustrate.

Now my next comment will be one that is more about the writing. I found that the way that the writers laid out the stories for the adaptations was a bit off. In Rapunzel, the story jumps around and, since most people know the story I’ll carry on a bit, Rapunzel goes from living in her tower to magically having two kids and living in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Maybe I was missing a page or something, but what the hell? All of the stories were a bit jumpy like that though, so I guess I can’t just say it was the one. Maybe it had something to do with the authors trying to really condense the story for the book, but I was left wanting something more.

As I mentioned, I can’t say that I didn’t fully enjoy this book, because it would be a big fat lie. I really did love what they did with it… especially the beautiful illustrations. Again, my only thing was that I wished that the stories flowed a bit better. Really, other than that, there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. I especially loved that the volume was a collective by various artists and writers. Each story had a different writing style and a different illustration style. Another thing that was pretty awesome was that after each story was finished, there was a brief history of the story and/or the original author.

Secrets, Monsters and Magic Mirrors hit shelves earlier this week on August 1. You can pick it up at your local bookstore or click here to check it out further.