Slaughterhouse-Five is a novel that can seem hard to approach; I certainly have trouble with nonlinear stories. Luckily, the graphic novel adaptation by Ryan North and Albert Monteys may be the best way to get into it. It takes a more visually appealing approach to the storytelling. How? Better yet, isn’t there a movie about this novel? Well congratulations on finding that cult classic, because I found out about it way later. Even then I still prefer this adaptation.
The Original Slaughterhouse-Five
Slaughterhouse-Five is Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-war novel focusing on a fellow prisoner-of-war at the title location. Billy Pilgrim is a fallible human apparently unstuck in time, traveling back and forth on an impulse. It’s best to not take the premise seriously other than the point-of-view of post-war trauma in its effects. Hey after seeing the firebombing of Dresden from the front row, who wouldn’t see the world differently? Besides Billy’s probably imaginary with how events fall into place.
You see, one moment Billy is an optometrist in the 1960s, the next he’s a chaplain’s assistant in WWII. He believes he first became unstuck in time due to surviving Dresden. But also due to meeting aliens called Tralfamadorians whose way of life has Billy experience time like they do. These hands on stilt-like creatures know about their coming extinction and don’t even try to prevent it. Not out of laziness or apathy, but because there’s more worth in controlling dignity. A fact that Billy takes with him back-and-forth through time giving weight to each death he experiences. It’s what makes being an alien zoo exhibit more bearable… along with sharing a bed with an adult entertainer. Hey come on, Billy’s wife died trying to visit him in the hospital.
Why Comics Have An Adaptive Advantage
Unlike the movie adaptation, the graphic novel sticks closer to the book. This includes some of Vonnegut’s anecdotes like a small introduction of assuring the anti-war theme. It’s just that the writer of this adaptation, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl‘s Ryan North added a spin.
In the book Vonnegut uses these bits to ease himself into Billy’s mindset. Because being in a nonlinear story tends to create unreliable narrators; hey it helps the readers too. But North decides to remove Vonnegut as the narrator. This allows the reader to guess who the narrator is: North or Billy. The latter of which definitely gives him a little more agency than an extension of Vonnegut. Especially since Vonnegut comes across as a bit stuck-up in the novel. He called Billy’s loving wife ugly, something that neither Billy or North see.
Art Doesn’t Need Hollywood Actors
Frankly neither would the readers thanks to the art by Albert Montez. Again unlike the movie who practically need good looking actors to sell the film, the characters look like regular people. No shortcuts by giving them all the same body shape, no caricatures, but they still have distinct outlines. Billy’s wife Valencia Merble may not be everybody’s type but the presentation shows that she and her husband still love one another. This is despite the distance between them physically and Billy’s trips back and forth through time. Hey at least Billy doesn’t compare her to Billy’s zoo-mate Montana Wildhack.
As a matter of fact, the way North works with Montez perfectly shows how to make Slaughterhouse-Five more digestible. North’s already unconventional storytelling allows him to translate sections of the novel for Montez’s art to portray.
Plus there’s one instance where comics have an advantage over movies I can’t show on here. It’s an infographic showing the bully soldier Roland Weary with all of his equipment on display. All of that shows him in contrast to Billy who’s barely got the shirt on his back. Bringing this together is the anti-war theme where Roland is looking for glory only to be stripped of his belongings. Whereas Billy is also a prisoner of war not only survives but is happy to have nothing to show for it.
Slaughterhouse-Five: An Anti-Action Graphic Novel
To really bring home the anti-war themes, there’s hardly any action. This is a controversial move as plot-driven narratives usually need actions for their crises and climaxes. It’s almost like nobody has any agency. But Slaughterhouse-Five is an anti-narrative, a story that confronts how it’s being told. Or more specifically how brains process it; the mind of a man with post-war PTSD can be hard to follow. But with the right pace, readers can find themselves hooked in.
You see our brains don’t recall our life stories linearly. Frankly my earliest memory is a bit disorienting, crying from my first booster shot as a baby. I think that’s why I still get tense around vaccinations, a minor trauma I learned to live with. This is why Billy’s story is told out of order and why jumps in time happen on a whim. Certain stimuli bring him to a certain point because that’s how memory tends to work. As the Tralfamadorians say: “So it goes”.
Slaughterhouse-Five Graphic Novel Version Is The Best
With how comics apply people’s perception of time in different forms, the graphic novel is a good medium. For example, a splash page captures a big and eventful. Or a blank space between panels is for events that the reader fills in after reading ahead. It’s makes interacting with Slaughterhouse-Five even easier, especially for a more contemporary audience.
Of course, maybe animation’s use of time can be better applied in its context. Video editing’s transitions tend to have a smoother effect, just ask FMV game Immortality. So it goes.
Thanks for coming to the end. As always remember to look between the panels.