In which I say uncharacteristic things about Twilight

Today I went into the bookstore and I found something which I had been hearing about for several months but had never seen in person: Twilight: The Graphic Novel Vol. 1.  After laughing evilly for about 10 seconds in anticipation of how bad it would be, I opened it up to take a look.  

Now what I have to say next may be shocking to some of you, so pregnant women and people with heart conditions should stop reading now.  Basically, I liked it.  For those of you who don't know, this is coming from a person who will tell anyone that will listen that Edward is an embarrassment to vampires (they. do. not. SPARKLE!) and that Edward and Bella have a very bad/stupid/obnoxious relationship.  Now, from the brief view I had of the graphic novel, neither of these problems changed.  However, the context of them did.

A few months ago I decided to sit down and reread Twilight in order to get a fresh perspective.  I got all of four pages in and had to quit.  I hated the writing.  Couldn't stand it.  In the graphic novel, it's different.  All of the pointless writing is re-expressed in drawings, which are remarkably good.  I love the art style in the graphic novel.  It really suits the story.  

There's also the issue of the medium itself.  I read a lot of manga and have done so for years.  Clearly, I love the art form as a whole.  Its real strength is providing a way for overly dramatic and ridiculous stories to be told in a way which makes them seem less ridiculous.  You expect a certain amount of melodrama and crazy situations in manga, and the Twilight graphic novel is very similar in feel to a manga.  Therefore the story, which is pretty melodramatic and somewhat absurd, feels more at home and acceptable in this new format.  I would still have the same basic problems with the story if I actually read the graphic novel version, but from what I saw, the story is probably much easier to swallow this way.  

Essentially, I believe Twilight could have been a decent graphic novel series from the start.  In retrospect, that is clearly a much better medium for the story than a novel ever was.  It's too bad Stephanie Meyer couldn't pull that off.