MILLENNIUM – graphic novel | Looking For a Good Book

GRAPHIC NOVEL WEEK

I may be one of the few people who enjoy science fiction and dark fantasy who has never seen a single episode of the television series X-Files, though of course I am familiar with the main characters and the premise. Had I known ahead of time that this book had a strong connection to the X-Files, I would never have requested it nor would have started reading it. That said, this was a great opportunity to reach out and capture the attention of someone who is not a ‘built-in’ fan.

Though I knew who Mulder was (and fortunately I recognized him quickly in the art), I didn’t have a clue who any of the other people were or what their relationships with one another was. The story didn’t make it particularly clear. I trust that X-File fans knew what was going on, immediately.

In addition to a story that was difficult to follow, there was excessive dialog that slowed down the pace of the book. This should have been written as a novel, or perhaps, with the amount of dialog within, a television episode or film. But as a graphic novel, with a lack of action, this just plodded along.

The art was nice — appropriately dark and moody — and was the only thing that kept me reading through this.

This book is clearly not for someone like me – the casual reader – it is meant for someone already interested in the subject and story line, and is presumably a part of a larger story. But because I can’t just pick this up and understand and enjoy it, even if it is a part of a larger story, then I can not recommend it. I expect a comic book/graphic novel to have an on-going story, but each issue must capture a reader’s attention somehow.

Looking for a good book? Perhaps fans of The X-Files will enjoy the graphic novel Millennium, by Joe Harris, but it’s certainly not a book that will be regarded well by general fans of the graphic novel medium.