THE EXILE: First impressions

9/22/2010 08:22:00 AM
So, what did you think? Feel free to post your comments and reactions here. I'll wait to post my own reactions in detail until I read it through a second time, but I really enjoyed both the story and the artwork.

I'll put a spoiler warning here, for those of you who don't want to see the comments until you've read the book:

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Overall, I thought the artwork was very good, but Jamie's face seemed to fluctuate too much. One minute he's just as I pictured him, the next, he's a cartoon character whose face doesn't resemble the Jamie of my mental image at all.

I thought Claire came out quite well. Her hair was just as I pictured, except the color was a little darker than it's described in the books.

Murtagh comes off as a much more likeable character in this book, and I liked the way he was drawn. Sort of scruffy-looking, which seems right. <g>

I liked the backstory of the "nameless girl" very much. Very powerful.

The storyline with Geillis and Kenneth was intriguing, and I will have more to say on this later, I'm sure.

My favorite picture in the whole book is the "wedding kiss" picture in chapter 6. I think it's Just Wonderful, and Hoang did a beautiful job with it.

I loved the landscape pictures in this book. Just gorgeous!

What about the rest of you?

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10 comments

Anonymous said...

I completely agree with you on Jamie's features....varied so much from page to page. I really enjoyed reading Jamie's feelings for Claire, as well as Murtaghs:)
I also agree with DG that Claire may be a bit bustier than I had envisioned.
Overall,I loved the book and can't wait for my husband to read it!!

September 22, 2010 at 9:36 AM
Anonymous said...

I'm sad to say that I was disappointed. Maybe it was the format, as this is the first graphic novel I've ever read (I don't like comic books either). I miss DG's descriptive narration and detailed conversations, which of course, can't be done in this format. I may just have to start at the beginning and reread the entire series. Again :)

September 22, 2010 at 10:26 AM
Alli said...

I totally agree with you about Jamie...but I also feel the same way about Claire as I do about Jamie. In my head her hair looked totally different...it was much curlier (in the novel it looked to flowy...). I also have pictured Claire looking older for so long now thanks to the recent books that it was a shock to go back in time to a young Claire.

Murtaugh was a revelation! I remember him being surly and hardly speaking a word, but he was much more likeable and an actual character in the novel, not just a grunting, wordless background person. His love for Ellen was touching.

I also agree with Annonymous poster #2...I was somewhat disappointed. Of course the art work was beautiful and there were some revelations, and overall I did enjoy the book, but I've never read a graphic novel before so it was different. I found myself wanting WAY more!!!

Karen: What is up with the Geillie/Kenneth story? Am I missing something? I was very confused. Did Kenneth appear in Outlander (I don't think so...) but I kept thinking that I was missing something....

Alli

September 22, 2010 at 11:14 AM
Anonymous said...

Much of the artwork was beautiful, but I couldn't get past Claire's missing wedding rings which were so essential to the story. Also, it was hard to distinguish some of the male characters, especially later in the book as their unique facial characteristics seemed to disappear. Claire also took on an elfish look in some of the later drawings.

September 22, 2010 at 12:51 PM
Alli said...

Good point, I remember reading the last half or so of the book and having to really pay attention to who was speaking or who was in a frame, particularly with the men. That was frustrating.

September 22, 2010 at 2:01 PM
Anonymous said...

Aren't Geillie's eyes supposed to be green?

Overall- it was ok. After picking up the Twilight GN for my 14 yr old, I was hoping for a more sophisticated, adult version of a GN, and was disappointed that while some of the art work was pretty, alot of it was more cartoonish than I had expected.

I am surprised at the missed editing though, rings, hair color, eye color, scars missing, you'd think they would have better editors. Maybe they should hire fans to do proof reading??

September 22, 2010 at 6:47 PM
Purgatory Carol said...

Karen I can't agree more with everything you've said. And that wedding kiss - wow... just...wow. I stopped on that page and just stared. He's so in love with her already at that point - and it shows.

I canna wait to read it again. :) It was definitely worth the wait!!!

September 22, 2010 at 10:43 PM
sc32742 said...

Hi Karen,

I liked it well enough. The "rear view" scene of Jamie was all I expected and more. I'm not too sure about the Kenneth/Geillie storyline. It seemed a bit too forced to me.

I agree with the previous posters that the men's features became similar towards the latter part of the book. I had trouble keeping Colum/Dougal and Murtagh apart. The scenery however, was beautiful.

Jamie and Claire? They were fine I suppose. If that is what Diana has seen the whole time then who am I to question? I've only read one other graphic novel and I can't say I'm a fan.

I look foward to the next book in the Outlander series!

September 23, 2010 at 10:29 AM
Anonymous said...

I was so thrilled to find my copy of THE EXILE stuffed--and I mean stuffed in my mailbox (I had a time getting it loose!) when I got home last night. I had to put it aside till late night to find a quiet time to read. Love the dust cover and color of the book was a nice surprise. I read a few chapters and then finished it up today. (I plan on a re-read soon!)

I loved most of the art work in this grownup comic book. We know that women did not show that much boobage in Scotland in those days (too darn cold!) but hey--it's artist license. (Well, it's not totally like the old comics I used to gobble up as a kid.) There are pages of beautifully done pics of Jamie and Claire but not every panel is done like that. Some pages are less attention to perfect depiction of their faces and settings, but you can still see the emotions on the faces of the characters. The artist could not possibly do beautiful renderings on every page but he did a great job IMO, Overall I loved it! Oh, the whole page the breathtaking wedding scene...

I can get Diana's love for graphic novel from her work with comic books. LOL. I was a comic-a-holic as a teen. I bet I read some of Diana's Scrooge McDuck work back then.

Thanks,

Shamrock

September 23, 2010 at 11:12 PM
Anonymous said...

I didn't love it. I think graphic novels aren't my thing. I found the font too small. I think that if I weren't a huge Outlander fan I wouldn't have found it compelling--too many holes in the story. I agree that Jamie's face especially changed too much from frame to frame. I had planned to have my husband read it in the hope that it would interest him in the novels but have decided that this would not pull him in so I'll just get him to read Outlander one of these days instead. Glad to have seen Diana's visions of their faces and gotten another little piece of anything Outlander. But, overall, wasn't crazy about it.

--Amy in Atlanta

September 29, 2010 at 10:37 PM

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