At first when we were assigned to read The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen I was kind of intimidated by the comic book format. Prior to this assignment, I had never read a graphic novel of any sort. The closest I've gotten is reading a brief comic strip or cartoon. The plot of this novel is very exciting, so I think that may have increased my curiosity about graphic novels. People I know read them and love them, but I have never gotten into them. This book has changed my perception of graphic novels.
I always thought they were for kids. The pictures and text, I thought, had to be very easy to read, so therefore they were meant for kids. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is not aimed at young children, and I actually really enjoyed it. At first it was very difficult because my brain tried to simultaneously read the text and look at the pictures. For the first three issues I was very very frustrated. Do I look at the picture first, then read the text? Or vice versa? How long do I have to look at the picture? How do I follow who's talking? There's so much going on! Basically I had no point of focus and could not organize the pages into a readable form. Because of this frustration, I was pretty turned off by this novel even though I really liked the plot. So last week I found myself wishing it was just in a regular book format.
Until....
today when I had to finish the issues. I put it off all weekend because I knew it was going to strain my brain and was not really looking forward to it. But, I found as soon as I started the sections assigned for tomorrow, it clicked! I easily followed the layout and did not get so anxious about where to look and for how long to look at it. I think not thinking so hard about it made it easier, and much more enjoyable. I'm now reading the last issue and am having no trouble following it.
Originally I was dreading having to read a graphic novel for this class, but now I am grateful that we did because it completely changed my opinion on comic books. I guess this kind of just reiterates the point that I should always keep an open mind, especially when it comes to approaching things that are foreign to me.
Glad to hear that you eventually enjoyed it! Let me know if you'd like an recommendations of other graphic novels to read!
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