Jane Advanced Review

Jane Advanced Review

Written by Aline Brosh McKenna
Art by Ramón K. Pérez
Coloured by Irma Kniivila
Lettered by Deron Bennett
Published by Archaia
Inspired by Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brönte

Review by Stephanie Cooke

I’m going to start this review by stating a personal fact: I have never read Jane Eyre. I’ve seen the movie with Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender but I’ve never read the original novel. I’m admittedly not a huge fan of the classics outside of what was mandatory reading in school.

This ties into my review because while the credits say “inspired by”, Jane is simply a modern take on the Charlotte Brönte classic, a.k.a. something for which I have very little context. It definitely seemed to follow the story that I recall from the movie adaptation. But hey, how often do movie adaptations get it right?

This modern retelling features Jane Eyre as she moves from a small town where she saved up every last penny to start over in New York City. She arrives, starts art school and gets a new job as a nanny for the daughter of a rich, mysterious man.

Over time, Jane begins to develop complicated feelings for the man which leads her down a path filled with love, betrayal and danger.

I connected to Jane a lot when reading it. Not in a sense where I saw myself in the characters or anything, but rather I just felt strong emotions while I read. McKenna’s adaptation is wonderful and hits all the notes that it needed to as a new and interesting retelling. It also morphed into something of her own that kept me turning the pages to see what happened next. The dialogue and the story flow extremely well from page to page and there was nothing that took me out of the story or gave me pause.

McKenna’s writing paired with the art of Ramón Pérez left me honestly blown away. There’s a stunning combination art showcased in the book. Pérez uses comic art for the bulk of the story, to get us from Point A to Point B; then, there’s a great use of beautiful sketchbook art.

In making Jane Eyre a NYC art student, the team was able to use sketches to convey what Jane is going through. She sketches what she sees and shows the world her reality. Pérez got to use his style for the character of Jane to provide her with a voice of her own, expressed through her drawings.

Jane’s whole life before New York City is shown through her art – just glimpses of what she saw every day and chronicled. Pérez tells the initial pages in black and white pencils to illustrate this point. The art is much simpler. Not simple as in basic; they’re just pencil drawings without colour.

It was a really effective way to immediately transition the story from a life that Jane doesn’t have a lot of happy memories of or fondness for into a new life that she feels she creates for herself. Her perspective changes and comes to life.

I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on the excellent colours used throughout the story. As mentioned, the initial few pages are in black and white pencils. The rest of the story is told with bold, vivid colours. Irma Kniivila (with Pérez) manages to bring to life the characters that Pérez has so eloquently laid out on the pages. The colour tones evoke so many emotions and help to add to the overall atmosphere of the story.

I felt so genuinely along for the ride as a I read through this story and adored it from start to finish.

I don’t comment on lettering a lot because I don’t always know what to say. Besides, a good friend once told me that a good letterer has done their job if no one notices. I don’t think that’s entirely true, because you notice REALLY good lettering and you also notice bad lettering. Deron Bennett does a great job with the lettering in Jane and laying out where the narration and dialogue will fall. I really liked these sort of “cloud bubbles” that contained some of Jane’s inner monologue. It was just one of those slightly less conventional ways of presenting the story that made me take notice. I want to commend Bennett for his work.

Verdict:
Buy it! I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling of a classic. If more classics were adapted like this, in a respectful but interesting manner, I’d probably know a lot more about classic literature than I do.

Not to say that adaptations should be everywhere, but Jane is one of the good ones. It makes you hope for others like it in the future. Adaptations that help you understand the reasons why others love classics like they do are great.

Jane is available in comic book shops on September 13 and in bookstores on September 15.