Graphic Novels...?

I've never been the biggest fan of Graphic Novels, but as Judith Butler would say, it's probably because I don't understand them. And its true...yes, Judith, you're right. I didn't understand them, and I certainly don't claim to now, but I will say that I've found them to be pretty cool. After studying Jane Eyre as a graphic novel in the context of the BBC miniseries I found that a new lens was put on the story - not where you found a person who could fill the pre-existing character like the miniseries, but one in which the artist got to create the characters to be whatever he wished them to be (which turned out to be fairly unfortunate for Bertha..). Nonetheless, this new dimension was fascinating to me, one in which I could both watch the moments pass as I do in the film, and read the words of Ms. Bronte. Reading the novel and studying the pictures, I felt a connection with the artist, as if he had let me into his mind, to see what the story was to him, what their faces looked like, who they would become - it was moving. One of the most striking aspects of the novel was the fact that the novel was adapted in length, but the phrases remained identical to those written by Charlotte Bronte. So, when the novel seemed to be so drastically different in tone than the story Bronte had created, I discovered that it was the power of illustration - it changed the way I viewed each character and determined my impressions of each of them. The graphic novelists have kept Bronte's work but stolen her power, predetermining the audience-character relationship from page one.