Book-It 'o13! Book #23
The Fifty Books Challenge, year four! (Years one, two, three, and four just in case you're curious.) This was a library request.
Title: Steve Jobs: Genius by Design written Jason Quinn and illustrated by Amit Tayal
Details: Copyright 2012, Campfire Graphic Novels
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Steve Jobs changed the way we work, the way we play, and the world we live in-- and this is the story of how he did it. Adopted at birth, ousted from the company he created, Steve triumphed over failure and opposition as he set about revolutionizing the world of computers, movies, music, and telecommunications. His is a story of passion, innovation, and creative genius. With this graphic biography, Campfire pays tribute to a man who dared to think different."
Why I Wanted to Read It: While rummaging hopefully through my library's selection of graphic novels, this popped up. While I've never been particularly interested one way or another about Steve Jobs, I wondered if this might give me some insight into the hagiography that surrounds the man.
How I Liked It: This book is presumably aimed at the "young adult" market, although it's not strictly labeled as such.
I draw that conclusion from the fact the storytelling and dialog are so ridiculously simple as to be the stuff of parody (or base translation). An example: Jobs is talked down after bellowing at his staff by Steve "Woz" Wozniak ("Steve, why do you have to be so mean? They're just kids. They look up to you.") and admits
"I guess it's just the way I'm wired. I want perfection, that's all. Nothing else is good enough."
Jobs's apparent proclivity for emotional temper tantrums laced with profanity (that's attempted to be included but censored ala "#*%") in the work place makes this frequently an unintentionally humorous book.
Admittedly, the state-your-feelings/intentions style of dialog and storytelling does come in handy, since the illustration style is so frequently flat and lacking facial expression. It's not unlikely that the illustrator was uncomfortable in sketching famous figures in anything other than stilted photographs, as that's frequently the way they come across. Jobs himself, the main character of the biography, is run through a gamut of emotions, and his face barely changes. One of the more jarring features is the fact Jobs is shown sorrow through crying in such a format, and the artist's rendering of Jobs's crying is his tired/angry face, but with some tears drawn on his cheeks. This may seem harsh, but given the vividness of the colors and the stiltedness of the storytelling, the line drawings' flaws stand out even more.
This probably isn't too bad a primer to give to a kid interested in learning about Steve Jobs. It might be a decent stepping stone to the better biographies that have to exist out there.
Then again, the rudimentary and flat way his story is told may put the kid off the idea for good.
Notable: Jobs's renegotiation of Pixar's deal with Disney is depicted. Michael Eisner is essentially a thumb with a face on it.
I mean, you can cartoon the guy, it's fairly easy, just do it properly.
Title: Steve Jobs: Genius by Design written Jason Quinn and illustrated by Amit Tayal
Details: Copyright 2012, Campfire Graphic Novels
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Steve Jobs changed the way we work, the way we play, and the world we live in-- and this is the story of how he did it. Adopted at birth, ousted from the company he created, Steve triumphed over failure and opposition as he set about revolutionizing the world of computers, movies, music, and telecommunications. His is a story of passion, innovation, and creative genius. With this graphic biography, Campfire pays tribute to a man who dared to think different."
Why I Wanted to Read It: While rummaging hopefully through my library's selection of graphic novels, this popped up. While I've never been particularly interested one way or another about Steve Jobs, I wondered if this might give me some insight into the hagiography that surrounds the man.
How I Liked It: This book is presumably aimed at the "young adult" market, although it's not strictly labeled as such.
I draw that conclusion from the fact the storytelling and dialog are so ridiculously simple as to be the stuff of parody (or base translation). An example: Jobs is talked down after bellowing at his staff by Steve "Woz" Wozniak ("Steve, why do you have to be so mean? They're just kids. They look up to you.") and admits
"I guess it's just the way I'm wired. I want perfection, that's all. Nothing else is good enough."
Jobs's apparent proclivity for emotional temper tantrums laced with profanity (that's attempted to be included but censored ala "#*%") in the work place makes this frequently an unintentionally humorous book.
Admittedly, the state-your-feelings/intentions style of dialog and storytelling does come in handy, since the illustration style is so frequently flat and lacking facial expression. It's not unlikely that the illustrator was uncomfortable in sketching famous figures in anything other than stilted photographs, as that's frequently the way they come across. Jobs himself, the main character of the biography, is run through a gamut of emotions, and his face barely changes. One of the more jarring features is the fact Jobs is shown sorrow through crying in such a format, and the artist's rendering of Jobs's crying is his tired/angry face, but with some tears drawn on his cheeks. This may seem harsh, but given the vividness of the colors and the stiltedness of the storytelling, the line drawings' flaws stand out even more.
This probably isn't too bad a primer to give to a kid interested in learning about Steve Jobs. It might be a decent stepping stone to the better biographies that have to exist out there.
Then again, the rudimentary and flat way his story is told may put the kid off the idea for good.
Notable: Jobs's renegotiation of Pixar's deal with Disney is depicted. Michael Eisner is essentially a thumb with a face on it.
I mean, you can cartoon the guy, it's fairly easy, just do it properly.