Coraline: The Graphic Novel

This review originally appeared on herestohappyendings.com. I really loved the original Coraline - I'll admit that I saw the movie before I read the book, but the movie prompted me to buy and read it, and I guess over the years I have read Coraline so many times it's got to be in the double digits by now. I also didn't realize that a graphic novel adaptation of Coraline existed. I'm not sure how I didn't know this, but I didn't. I managed to come across it on Goodreads one day when I was browsing graphic novels, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it. I purchased it the same day, and waited rather impatiently for my two day shipping from Amazon Prime. When it finally got here, I read it all in one sitting. And then I read it again. "Spiderwebs only have to be big enough to catch flies." Coraline and her family buy part of a big house and move in - in the flat below live two elderly women who used to be actresses, and in the flat above lives an elderly man who is busy training a mouse circus. The flat next to theirs is still empty. Coraline feels bored often - there aren't any other children and school didn't start up yet, so she finds herself wandering the house and the ground, exploring and entertaining herself. When she comes across an old door in her flat, she wonders where it goes, only to find out that it is old and bricked up, going nowhere. Except one day, the door isn't bricked up, and Coraline ventures through - only to find the world quite like her own, but incredibly different. Her parents aren't there, but her Other Mother and Other Father are - and everyone has button eyes. Things seem better there at first, but then Coraline realizes that it's a true nightmare, and she tries to escape from the Other Mother's clutches, only to find that she has kidnapped Coraline's real parents in an effort to make Coraline stay with her forever. Coraline fights for her parents back, because she wants to leave this place with the Other Mother and go back home. The novel Coraline is incredibly different from the movie, and I honestly thought it was much creepier. The graphic novel? Even creepier. The way that the illustrator, P. Craig Russell, has depicted the Other Mother and Other Father, as well as the decaying "other world" that the Other Mother created, is, to be frank, downright terrifying. But I loved it (as did my daughters, who frequently borrow this book). The story is fully laid out, illustrated in a charming and colorful way - it's such a great graphic novel adaptation of one of my all time favorite reads. The illustrations depicting the Other Mother are hair-raising; the way the amount of detail is put into every character in the book is amazing. The story itself is not only gripping, but it's the original story, not just a random adaptation. I love that so much - my favorite quotes and parts of the book were all there. I bought the hardcover format of this book (it's also available in ebook and paperback), and it's so gorgeous. There is a dust jacket with the book, and the cover under the dust jacket features the same art. The inside is just as beautiful, the glossy pages really add to the reading experience. I can't get over how beautiful and detailed the artwork is and how it really complimented the story. I wasn't sure what it would be like, and if it would ruin the way I feel the characters look when I read the original Coraline, but if anything, I believe that it only enhanced the way I saw everything in the book when I read it. It was definitely a great companion to the novel. Here's a bonus: if you haven't read Coraline or saw the movie (which doesn't do the original book or this graphic novel justice, in my opinion, because it's so different), you will definitely be fine with picking this one up, because it follows the novel perfectly. It's essentially the Coraline novel, only fully illustrated. My older daughter, who is about to turn nine, is a bit of a reluctant reader, and I'm trying to get her to read new books. She loves anything with pictures, and she is obsessed with Coraline after seeing the movie, so she loves this book, as well. I have to recommend picking this up if you're a fan of Coraline, or even if you've never heard of the book before and want something that will add a bit of adventure to your bookshelf.

I bought this as a gift! It has nice illustrations where the characters are adapted to all look more human than the cartoon!

Neil Gaiman's terrifying novel "Coraline" makes a seamless and wonderful transition to graphic novel format, thanks to adapter and illustrator Craig Russell. This engrossing story features a young girl named Coraline who lives in an old apartment house with her rather inattentive parents. Coraline loves to explore, and one day, she opens a door, behind which is normally a brick wall, and walks through the door... On the other side, Coraline finds a bizarre world that is an imperfect copy of her own. It is inhabited by two people who are like her parents, except that something is not quite right about them, or any of the other people she encounters. When she returns to her normal world, her parents are gone. And Coraline slowly begins to realize that them back might not be so simple... This is a well-constructed story with a brave little girl as its heroine, wonderfully well illustrated. It is a longer than average graphic novel at 185 pages, but worth every bit of it for creepy excitement. Recommended for children old enough to see the fun and not just the terror.

Nice adaptation. Bought for daughter she loves it.

Amazing graphics!

"CORALINE", by NEIL GAIMON, is basically out in three different formats. This GRAPHIC NOVEL version, a novelized, (non-graphic) version -- and the movie version. The regular, novel, book version is definitely great for those whose attention spans are still intact, (unlike mine, which has been blasted to smithereens by a life-time of watching TV -- with commercials ruining my concentration every 10 -15 minutes! A sense of concentration I am TRYING to recover!) That leaves the movie version and the graphic novel version for most people over 21..... This is a story about a young girl who discovers an alternate universe in the strange old house she and her parents share with tenants in two other apartments. These tenants are strange enough -- but the "Other Mother" and "Other Father" that Coraline discovers are distinctly far more weird --and far more frightening --than the dwellers in the other two apartments in the normal, (real?) world. The "Other Mother", and "Other Father", LOOK (more or less) like Coraline's real-world mother and father -- but they have buttons for eyes, and -- especially in the "Other Mother's" case, are definitely up to NO GOOD. The movie version of this novel, sadly, is NOT populated by any live actors. IT IS ACTED ENTIRELY BY STOP MOTION-PUPPETS! While stop-motion puppet movies are amongst my favourites, (LOVED "Chicken Run"!), the heart of the story of "Coraline" is that a normal, real-world girl finds herself face-to-face with evil, "other-world" characters that look ALMOST like their real-world counterparts -- but not exactly enough. IN THE MOVIE, CORALINE, TOO, IS A STOP-MOTION PUPPET! The contrast between her, and her "Other" parents is thus totally lost -- and so is much of the impact of the movie! In this geaphic novel, however, very (VERY!) realistic drawings, (by artist P. CRAIG RUSSELL), show up the difference between real, and "Other" people. These differences are very subtle in the beginning....but are greater and greater as the story continues. By making Coraline look human, and the "Others" increasingly less so, the story gains impact and thrills. The movie -- where ALL the stop-motion puppet characters look far less than human, totally loses impact here. CORALINE is a mesmerizing story of one girl's horrific and scary adventure, and her fight to get back to the real world and her real parents. In the end, she actually rescues them. That kids CAN make a difference is one of the lessons in this by-now clasic book. And the reality-vs-unreality of the situations Coraline finds herself in is far more accurately done in this graphic novel, than in the movie version, which reduces ALL characters to stop-motion puppets! THIS is the version to buy!

My daughter LOVES Coraline. She has all the books, all copies that are different in any way and was so excited to see a graphic novel. Well written and the pictures are so great! Good value too!

Bought it as a gift, love the graphic novel so cute.

This review is for the Coraline graphic novel that is illustrated by P. Craig Russell. I haven't read the other edition of coraline but I can say this edition is very beautiful. I love the way the complete story is drawn. The paper quality of the book is very excellent. The cover page illustration is amazing & the design too. On the cover page the bat ,Coraline and the title (CORALINE) is glossy but the BACKGROUND is of matte finish which is very pleasing to eye and very attractive. I got this during discount at an amazing price of RS 586/-. The story about a girl name Coraline and her journey that begin after she shift to a new place with her parents. The book I got was brand new and was packed securely.

Un cómic muy sencillo de leer y quizá aún mejor que la película (teniendo en cuenta que la peli viene de este cómic). Me ha gustado mucho. Quizá no lo recomendaría para niños de menos de 10-12 años.

Loved the book, it was amazing. It was different from the movie which I loved to start with, but it was so great

Ich liebe das Werk! Zunächst war ich enttäuscht. Ich habe nicht wahrgenommen, dass es sich nicht um eine deutschsprachige Ausgabe handelt. Sprachlich ist es jedoch gut zu verstehen. Ich bin tief in die düstere Handlung eingetaucht. Story und Darstellung verwoben sich wunderbar. Danach wurde ich neugierig auf den Film, der jedoch Schrott ist.

Beautiful Illustrations and story, came just as advertised.