To Kill a Mockingbird: Why would it be a sin to shoot down its Graphic Novel adaptation?

Abstract

In 2018, Harper Lee’s (1926-2016) Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) was adapted to a graphic novel by the English artist Fred Fordham. Heir to the Franco-Belgian bande-dessinée tradition, the artist shows panels filled with delicate and pastel-colored illustrations that move at a proper pace, focusing on the younger characters’ perspective. The artist keeps important dialogues from Lee’s novel, while also offering his view.
 Any revision of a classic represents a challenge, especially because of the possible comparisons to the original. At the same time, an adaptation can bring new light and freshness to stories that deserve to be revisited. Far from intending to compare the graphic novel with the original, this analysis aims to comment on some essential matters concerning the new version. What are the unique formal –visual and written– aspects that the graphic novel provides? What are the new experiences it offers to the reader? What is the artist’s innovative approach and input? Why it is important to bring this story back during these times of reemergence of nationalist governments, xenophobic and antifeminist movements and policies? In a few words, what is the merit of this adaptation in this millennium?