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Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Jane Eyre Graphic novels? Or "Up, up, and away!"


As promised, here are a few scans of some of the Jane Eyre comic books I have. Most of them are questionable, as I said. This is the first page of the Classics Illustrated edition- which is by far the most widely known and appreciated one. However, I hope that something seems amiss to you, dear reader... Never fear, this edition I have comes with a brief 'notes' section in the back where it explains that, yes, Jane and Mr Rochester are a little glamorised. It doesn't explain Jane's super powers though:

To the right we see Jane- barefoot on the beach with St. John Rivers. Clearly seen is her super Jane cape and she is apparently leaping into flight. It isn't a very good illustration, none of the Classics Illustrated illustrations are very skillful or interesting, but it is one of my favourites just because of how silly it looks.

The runner up for most silly Jane Eyre illustration is, I think, the Mr Rochester doing a Grinch Who Stole Christmas impersonation, from a brief French introduction to the novel:


Above: Mr Rochester (left), Grinch (right).

My own adaptation of the novel was interesting in that the characters all had minimal facial features. Mr Rochester's large black eyes were tiny indeed, and yet people still remarked on how large and black they were! Also, very very early on someone noticed that my drawings of Mr Rochester all seemed to take on the appearance of actors who had played him in productions I had seen! I was even able to take illustrations and match them up to photographs. It was eerie... I do have a visual sort of memory, being an artist. So I must have stored them all in my head! ;) I am still trying to find it, but here, in any case is what Mr Rochester and Jane ended up looking like:

4 comments:

mysticgypsy said...

OMG!!!! That grinch one was so funny!!!...and creepy at the same time.

As for Jane barefoot, that was really interesting! How/why did she happen to be barefoot I wonder? (on a random note.. I was thinking about the scene in the new Pride and Prejudice movie where Elizabeth Bennett is barefoot in the stables ;)

And that sketch of yours is adorable :)

Brontëana said...

Not fashionable to wear shoes on the beach? ;) St.John looks funny as well. Not at all like a 'graceful Apollo'!

Several of the scenes are amusing in themselves. The scene after the fire has Mr Rochester holding his hand more or less flat, palm up, with Jane just touching the palm with one finger. The proposal makes me smile to. It takes half a page. Mr Rochester just runs in out of nowhere "Jane, I have something to tell you." blah blah, so marry me, huh? What? But what about Blanche, and your bride? Ppft! Nevermind that, I said marry me! Okay.

Well, it seems funny to me ;)

She was barefoot? Ugh. That is wrong on so many levels... As much as I do like walking barefoot, a stable is one of the last places for that!

mysticgypsy said...

hahaah I didn't notice the beach in the background LOL!

OMG that proposal scene u described sounds funny ..I can picture it in my head! And with a funny (grinch) looking Rochester!! running out of nowhere indeed :P

aahh dear old Charlotte..I am sure she would have laughed heaps if she could have seen this!!

Brontëana said...

ah, do you remember the 'Wierd Circle' version of Jane Eyre? That had some hilarious scenes in it. I think the dialogue in the first interview between Jane and Mr Rochester goes something like this:

Well, Miss Eyre. I've learned quite a bit about you.

Have you, sir?

Yes, yes. Well, you're an orphan, you like children, you're very clever, and I love you.

Let's pretend that didn't happen- because everything sure goes on as if it didn't! Bertha sounding like a t-rex is simply beautiful, too...

I often wonder what Charlotte would say- I'm sure it would be something hilarious. She was an artist when it came to snarky comments!