Bingo 8: Camel
So this is both thematic and literal adaptation. Norroway, Book 1: The Black Bull of Norroway is both thematic in that the main character (and maybe at least one other individual) has to adapt to all the new things going on in her world, and also this is a graphic novel adaptation of a Celtic fairy tale.
Sibylla is the heroine, who is pretty standard for a certain kind of fairy tale: she want more out of life than most of her peers. In the beginning of the story when she and two friends go to a witch to have their fortunes told, the first two girls ask about future husbands; Sibylla’s first instinct is to ask “Will I ever get to sail a ship?” After a poke from a friend, she adjusts her request to “What dumb guy am I supposed to marry?” She is told she will marry the Black Bull of Norroway and face a long journey with many trials; fast forward a few years, and everything happens as the witch predicted. A large talking bull shows up to Sibylla’s house to take her as his bride and off they go.
During the first series of adventures in which there are various challenges in getting to visit the Bull’s brother and then sister, all of which apparently has to happen to rid the bull and his family of a curse, Sibylla has no idea what’s going on around her, and when she asks the Bull he either can’t or won’t tell her. They seem to get on each other’s nerves, and on mine too. There’s some interesting mystery behind the origins of the curse and how it might be broken; all the Bull tells Sibylla is that he ‘knows’ he needs her, his sword, and his shield (so they’re going to collect these items).
What I find interesting is more in the art than the story; nearly everyone pictured is a person of color, and this is part of where the adaptation comes in. This is a Western European story, and telling it with characters who live in that sort of world but look different does make things more interesting. This is also more of an old time fairy tale, as in it includes the horror factor pretty openly, mostly in the form of violence.
The big thing that bothered me is that just as a big conflict I about to start Sibylla runs into someone who she knows; apparently we were supposed to know without being told who raised Sibylla. Even if you know the story, how am I supposed to know what the woman looked like or what her name is this version is? I went back and checked, and no, this information is not previously mentioned. It seems like this reveal should be more important but since it is presented just before the Bull begins the fight that might win him back his humanity and Sibylla is given the proverbial rule she must never break or else, and she does the typical fairy tale thing in this regard which results in further trials to be continued in the next volume.
Sibylla seems like she is trying to adjust but all she seems to be able to do is ask questions and get upset when people can’t or don’t answer them directly, or else be horrified at the answer. I suspect there might be some potential results in volume 2, but we’ll have to see on this. Overall, this is a pretty decent adaptation of a less common these days fairy tale.