[Phsstpok]

It was a horribly dumbed down version of the graphic novel.

My 15 year old daughter, who got almost all of the literary references (I'm an obsessive educator of my children and have passed on lots of eclectic knowledge to them) was really bugged by the audience of her peers who didn't have a clue what any of the references were.

The thing that bugged her the most, however, was the credit alluding to the movie being based on the "graphic novel." She heard others muttering "what the heck is a graphic novel?" She wanted to stand up and scream "It's a comic book, you morons!" She restrained herself and kept peace with her friends and classmates.

[discostu]

Well it's a little more than a comic book, but yeah.

If she's well versed she'd probably really enjoy the graphic novel, it's a little grownup but at 15 she can probably cope (Quatermane is a junkie, the Invisible Man is a rapist, you should thumb through a copy and decide, everybody in Alan Moore comics is nuts that's part of why he's a great writer). It's a lot less spoonfed, they actually NEVER explain the vampire you simply need to know your Stoker to understand who and what she is. There's a lot more references and they're much more subtle, and it's actually a better more intricate story.

[IYAS9YAS]

The thing that bugged her the most, however, was the credit alluding to the movie being based on the "graphic novel." She heard others muttering "what the heck is a graphic novel?" She wanted to stand up and scream "It's a comic book, you morons!" She restrained herself and kept peace with her friends and classmates.

My wife had never heard the term "graphic novel". Last time I was reading any of them, they were called "Comic Books." I did know the reference only because I know people who insist on calling "Comic Books" "Graphic Novels."

As an aside, I'd just finished rereading four of H.G. Wells' novels (The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man and The War of The Worlds). All good reads, entertaining and refreshed my memories. I will have all the classics waiting for my son.