So, when I read the prompt for this post, I was not really
sure what to do considering the books I read these days do not really have any
pictures in them, nor should they. I do not know if I would still want to read Dexter if there were pictures on every page
illustrating the countless number of people he has killed (who am I kidding, I
would still read that). But I would have to say the last book I have read with
pictures in it, besides Captain
Underpants, is the Series of Unfortunate Events. I read the first twelve
and bought the thirteenth once it came out way back when, but never read it. I
think I never actually wanted to know how it ended, or I just forgot about it,
either way I am defiantly looking up the ending on Wikipedia after I post this,
but I digress.
When
reading these books, I specifically remember many of the images due to the fact
that the art style was so unique. If you were to read the book without ever
looking at the pictures, you would probably picture quite normal people and
realistic settings, however, the illustrations provide a sort of wonderfully
dark and twisted, yet childish world, due to the fact that these books were
aimed at a younger audience. The pictures, in this case, are actually what make
the book truly unique. It is almost like a Dr. Seuss book in a way since the
story itself is good, but becomes truly classic when paired with its images.
The illustrations are also a large reason of why I hated the movie version of
this book. Not only are the images too bizarre and structurally unsound (a
skyscraper high, twisting building with a massive telescope on top if memory
serves), but they also attempted to force the first three books into one movie
while mixing the plotlines by still putting the end of the first book at the end
of the movie.
Anyways,
when it comes to pictures, they are not abundant in the books I read today.
However, when it is done well enough, the images are quite capable of becoming
more iconic than the text itself.
-P.S. I read the ending online, made no sense, but then I
remembered I really had no idea what was going on when I was actually reading
them. (400)
The Series of Unfortunate Events were my favorite books when I was younger!
ReplyDeleteI agree here Mike, those Dr. Seuss movies kinda ruined the books for me.
ReplyDelete-Ed
"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?"--Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, I think some adult books would benefit from having pictures in them. And I would LOVE to read the Dexter novels with illustrations or some sort of visual component.