Agatha Christie

I read a very interesting article about Agatha Christie's books, and some plans for them.

But first, if anyone doubts her influence on the literary world, consider the following:
•In 50 years, she published 66 novels, 154 short stories and 20 plays.
•Her work is translated into more than 70 languages.
•She is out-sold by only the Bible and Shakespeare.

It seems that her publisher is going to release a few of her novels in the graphic novel format. Here's an article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6949913.stm

This is intriguing.

On the surface, the graphic novel format is very popular with plenty of folks, especially young people, so perhaps this is an opportunity to reach a new audience that reads little other than Harry Potter.

I do indeed hope the addition of Mrs. Christie to the graphic novel world does translate into many new readers of conventional novels, but I have one fear.

I think a conventional novel offers so much more, though I'm not that familiar with graphic novels. However, from sheer words and pages, I'd think a graphic novel can offer more in terms of character development, description, plotting, etc. But I could be wrong.

What I do know is that Mrs. Christie was a pioneer. She was one who ploughed the way for female crime writers. Her work has been translated into every medium — novel, stage, television and the big screen. So maybe, just maybe, it is appropriate that she charge into the medium of graphic novels some 31 years after her death.