The Ghost Script
Year: 2018
Author: Jules Feiffer
Length: 160 pages
***THIS BOOK WAS RECEIVED FROM A GOODREADS GIVEAWAY***
When I received this book in the mail, I opened it up and was suddenly surprised. First, I suppose I didn’t realize this was the third book in a series. Second, I thought the rough sketching of the cover was an aesthetic choice, but it seemed to permeate the entirety of this graphic novel. Since these first impressions took me for a loop, I had to warm up to the idea of this book before I sat down to read it. Even despite my initial misgivings, The Ghost Script is an enjoyable and quick read with a visual style that somehow works, even despite its “rough” characteristics.
Part of me almost wished the book was a little longer, but I suppose if I read all three pieces together, I’d get the length of a book I usually look for in a graphic novel. As it was, I sat down and cranked through this book in a little over an hour. At the very least, the action and intrigue made me keep reading, and seeing how close I was to the end made me finish in a single sitting. Even without the background of the two previous books in this trilogy, I was able to quickly comprehend what was happening and why the characters acted the way they did.
While the visual style almost seems like a first draft that would be polished later, the “roughness” of the illustrations actually kind of work for the noir setting. The subtle gray shadings and loose line drawings convey all the information they need to. No more. No less. There’s almost a natural talent in creating “messy” drawings that still succinctly get the point across at a glance. Perhaps because I wasn’t focused on super-detailed illustrations, I was pulled into the story more. I could also enjoy the art at a glance, which made reading it that much faster as well.
A quick read about a “messy” Hollywood noir, I give The Ghost Script 4.0 stars out of 5.
