The Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel

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You’ve read the book. You’ve seen the movie. Now submerge yourself in the thrilling, stunning, and action-packed graphic novel.
Mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking out of the pages of twelve-year-old Percy Jackson’s textbooks and into his life. And worse, he’s angered a few of them. Zeus’s master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Now, he and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus’s stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus.
Series creator Rick Riordan joins forces with some of the biggest names in the comic book industry to tell the story of a boy who must unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

Eh, this wasn’t quite the graphic novel of Percy Jackson I was looking for. I just thought they would look…not all oddly and like they’re in their 20’s?

I think the biggest issue that I had with this graphic novel was the art. At times, it had some super cool scenes. I especially enjoyed Percy’s dream sequences because the artist took some cool forms of media to create them. There were other scenes that I really enjoyed too, and I liked Percy’s look for the most part. However, the rest of the art was a bit sketchy – especially when it came to Annabeth, Luke, and Clarisse. CLARISSE. Can we just talk about that? That was not at all what I had in my head, and she basically looked like someone took Ares and put a brown wig on her. It was not pleasing. Annabeth didn’t look quite well done at all, and Luke seriously looked like he was going into his 30’s. It got a bit sketchy. Although Ares literally jumped out of my head and onto the page.

I could totally see Percy seeing a little bit of Annabeth in Belle – both smart and strong and like to read.

For the most part, they translated the story nicely. They did take out quite a few important scenes and moments, but I do understand that they did need to take out a few things since it is such a large book. However, some of the things they did take it out were some great parts, so if this wasn’t your first time reading the story, you will feel like you’re missing something that you had loved. However, if this was your first time reading and it was in this format, I think they did a good enough job relaying the most important things and giving enough backstory.

Overall, I thought it was a good adaption, but I definitely expected more from it. I think it did take a lot of the important parts, but it did miss quite a bit of the spunk that Percy had. The pacing was okay, but at times, it did feel like you were reading Percy Jackson but just on speed. The art wasn’t super great but at times it did have cool moments. 3 crowns and a Belle rating!

What do you think? What are some graphic novels of your favorite books that you have read – what did you think of them? Let’s discuss in the comments below!