The Great Gatsby: The Essential Graphic Novel is a comic written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, adapted by Ted Adams with art by Jorge Coelho. Drama, romance, and secrets surround the well-to-do in New York during the Roaring Twenties. This is an adaptation of a legendary novel that is centered around social intrigue and fleshed-out characters full of feats and faults. Though not the title character, the man we’ll follow throughout this tale is Nick Carraway, a man dealing in bonds who narrates this story. The character who this tale revolves is Jay Gatsby, a wealthy man with an air of mystery about him and some odd behavior. Also starring is Nick’s cousin Daisy, her husband Tom Buchanan, and Daisy’s friend Jordan Baker. The plot begins with Nick moving next door to Gatsby and things pick up form there. There are parties, seemingly cordial conversations with thick subtext, more parties, and plenty of drinking. There are quite a few themes here, some of them are about wealth and how it affects those around them, while others are about love lost, running from the past, and just plain old unhappiness. There is almost no action here and what is shown has been tastefully done but there is some blood. The pace is slow and steady which makes sense as this is graphic novel based on a novel. The tone is very fancy and rich with wealth being flung around and everything seeming high-class and out of reach for most people. The intensity picks up more than a few times but it tends to be more subtle with snide and snarky remarks. The dialogue is from a hundred years ago and I was regularly Googling words and phrases to understand what they meant, but after the first few chapters you should be alright. There are many wordy pages which is normal for a novel adaptation. This is a comic about wealthy people and their wants and woes both socially and romantically, and the affects of their desires on those around them.

            The art style here will bring to mind some of the earliest comics and the color palette is realistic. Just about everything here is grand. For the scenery we have wide open shots of beaches and forests filled with trees. The atmosphere seems so clear and chilled until the sun comes out and the humidity kicks in. The locations are full of personality and character from the Buchanan’s Georgian Colonial mansion to Gatsby’s mansion complete with towers and a swimming pool. The backgrounds here are near-perfect with the scene persisting even in close-ups which helps keep the reader grounded in the story. The expression level here is hard to determine because some of the characters’ resting face is stale and emotionless but that may be due to the “keeping up appearances” vibe of their world. The range of emotions is vast from deep hurt to panic and muted joy to calm anger. The looks come across very well as the faces are full of details and the different looks are a break from their default. Being that the lack of facial hair during this era was prominent you will confuse some of the fellas and with the ladies you’ll experience this less but maybe a couple of times. The action is very rare and a scene won’t usually last more than a page. The outfits here are very sharp with the men wearing double-breasted suits and Easter colors and the women in the flapper style with flowy dresses with pearls and hats as accessories.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like stories about the wealthy dealing with romance, secrets, and other problems with long conversations full of subtext you have to catch and taking place in the 1920’s with different morals and expectations than this is for you. Also if you liked the book and wanted to add some visuals to it.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

PG-13. Subject matter, implications and depictions of violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“I hope I never will. I hate careless people. That’s why I like you.”

 

Purchase Link: https://cloverpress.us/products/the-great-gatsby-the-essential-graphic-novel-adaptation

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cloverpress/the-great-gatsby-the-essential-graphic-novel-adaptation/description

Unboxing Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmy_oHQYS7k

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 139

Violent Pages: 5, for 4% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 2

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 2

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”