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Reviewed by Shannon Fay On one level, the concept behind Avalon High is brilliant: take the legend of King Arthur and combine it with the setting of modern American high school. In theory, it’s a good match. After all, the romances, betrayals, rivalries and power plays that make-up Arthur’s legend are the same kind of things that play out in school cafeterias everyday. But this graphic novel, an adaptation of Meg Cabot’s book, doesn’t take really go deep into the similarities between the two worlds. Instead, there’s lots of talk about prophecies and reincarnation, and a lot of superficial high school drama. For example, when we first meet the main character Ellie (who also narrates the book) we get a whole page explaining how “I live in a house with its own pool” and that she can still go swimming even though it’s October because it’s heated. I have no idea why the authors thought that this was important enough to warrant a page to itself. It’s not like Ellie’s heated pool becomes a major plot point later in the book. All this detail does is make her seem a little vain and superficial. While the book dwells on trivial points like the pool, it likewise speeds through scenes that should be covered in more detail. According to Ellie’s history teacher, Mr. Morton (aka Merlin), Ellie’s boyfriend Will is the reincarnation of King Arthur. You would think that the part where Morton tells Ellie’s parents that Will is Arthur reincarnated would be a interesting scene, but in the book it’s covered in a panel (Morton literally says “In my opinion, Will is the reincarnation of King Arthur.” and Ellie’s parents say “Hmm.” I wish my folks had been so gullible when I was a teenager. I could have gotten away with so much). The pacing is all over the place. This is probably a result of the fact that the book is the adaptation of a prose novel. Meg Cabot is credited with creating and writing the series and Jinky Coronado is credited for the art, but it’s not clear who adapted the book from a novel into a script. I haven’t read the original novel, but I think a lot was lost in translation. The book starts out with a huge info dump about both Arthur and the history of the characters. There was so much information being laid out I started to wonder if I was actually reading book one or a later volume in the series. Actually the whole first chapter is a flashback explaining what has gone on before. Maybe a fan of the books would be able to figure out what’s going on, but to someone new to the series like me it’s all too much to sort through. Another thing that bothers me about ‘Avalon High’ is that it presents a vision of high school that seems more based in wish-fulfillment rather than reality. For example, Ellie is a good girl who’s also the new kid at school. However, she’s already the best runner on the women’s track time and going out with Will, the senior class president and football star. Oh, and she’s also the reincarnation of a Celtic priestess. She has no flaws and is basically just someone young female readers can project themselves onto. She’s pretty much a Mary-Sue (a pretty, perfect character who is more of a fantasy than a real person). All the other characters are also one-dimensional. Everyone is either wholesome and good or capital-‘E’ evil. The only character who gets a hint of being more than completely good-or-bad is Jennifer, Will’s ex-girlfriend who cheated on him with his best friend Lance, recreating the Arthur-Gwendolyn-Lancelot love triangle. But that’s just brushed over and now everyone’s still friends. Coronado’s art actually reminds me of another school-set series, the ‘Battle Royale’ manga from Tokyopop. Naturally the stories are completely different (no one gets taken out with a meat cleaver in ‘Avalon High’) but like Masayuki Taguchi’s character designs, the characters here have exaggerated features, full lips and lots of hair. The art’s very expressive and gets across a lot of emotion. I don’t really blame Cabot or Coronado for the flaws in this book, as I think it was a first time for both of them (for Cabot, her first time turning her work into a comic, and for Coronado first time adapting a novel into a manga). It’s also a very short volume, with only 109 pages, making the book seem even more rushed. I didn’t really enjoy this book and I don’t really think I could recommend it. I suppose that young girls might enjoy it, but I’d be uncomfortable with presenting them a preppy, stereotypical view of high school where the most important thing is becoming homecoming queen. Also, I’m a little bit of a King Arthur nut, and while the book was pretty faithful to the legend it also failed to expand or capitalize on it. The book also includes the first chapter from the novel version of the story. It’s interesting to compare them. The main difference is that the novel takes time to set-up the setting and characters while the comic dives right in and never gives you a chance to get to know either. Comment on this review of Avalon High: Coronation v1 on the Manga Life Forums. |
14 May 2008
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