The novel 'Silverwing' by Kenneth Oppel has been turned into a graphic novel and it's actually pretty good

Silverwing was a formative part of my childhood

What's up fam? It's yer girl. As you may know, I am a creature enjoyer. My favourite creatures are snenkes and axolotls. But I am also a huge fan of bats. This is because I read the Silverwing saga as a kid, which is a trilogy written by Kenneth Oppel that includes Silverwing, Sunwing, and Firewing. There is also another book by Kenneth Oppel called Darkwing which is also really really good, but it is about pre-historic creatures that are not really bats. They can glide on their skin flaps but they can't fly like birds yet. It's also 10 out of 10 stuff though and I recommend it if you want to read about Paleocene creatures like the miacis and diatryma who interact with the almost-bat creatures. These books were literally the highlight of my childhood, and I'm kind of mad there aren't more books for adults that have creatures as characters. The only exception I can think of is Animal Farm lmao. Great book but the plot depends too much on humans. We need more creature novels for adults. I bet creatures can be just as psychologically complex as Anna from Anna Karenina or Dorothea from Middlemarch if you want them to be. 

The Silverwing saga is also what launched a childhood fascination with the Aztecs and Mayans. This is because the villain in Silverwing, named Goth, is a spectral bat. They are found in central America. Also, Kama Zotz, the Mayan god of bats is literally a character in the book who Goth worships. I read Silverwing when I was 9 and I started this blog when I was 10, and my Aztec obsession lasted long enough for you to see evidence of it on this blog. In fact, if we're being real, I don't think the Aztec obsession ever ended. There are some Nahuatl words I still remember, and I still listen to Aztec-inspired music that has conch shell trumpets. You can see Aztecposting examples in this short story about Tenochtitlan that I posted on this blog or this insane post where I decided to ship Aztec gods with gods from other mythologies. 

Silverwing has an animation based on it. But to be honest, I thought the animation was a bit mid. Goth's character design was great though! Goth is my fave character lol. Here is a drawing I made of him when I was 13, which is based on the animation's design. (Also, hear me out lmao ;) the furries have a point.)

I DREW THIS WHEN I WAS 13 <3 I LOVE GOTH HE IS THE COOLEST VILLAIN EVER

I'm impressed by the graphic novel adaptation 

This is one of those books where the villain is super cool and the protagonist is just some guy (or bat), but if you like the traditional hero's journey type of plot structure then you'll probably still like the protagonist Shade Silverwing. 

Anyway, it turns out the bat books have been adapted to a graphic novel. And it's really good honestly. It made me so nostalgic. The artist is Christopher Steininger. I don't know if he's the same person who did the animation designs. That would explain why Shade and Marina look fairly similar in the graphic novel as they do in the animation. But Goth looks EVEN COOLER. He looks like a real spectral bat! Steininger clearly did research on them. HE LOOKS LIKE IF A SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATION OF A SPECTRAL BAT WENT ABSOLUTELY FERAL AND ACQUIRED AZTEC GOD POWERS. 

Here is the cover, giving making Goth look like the main character lowkey! lmaoo. It's sooo good.

The pacing was so good in this graphic novel adaptation. And honestly it felt like a cinematographic reading experience. Big fan. 

Here is a page of the graphic novel, so you can see the art style:

Incredibly based stuff. 

Anyway Kenneth Oppel if you are reading this, I liked Sunwing and Firewing even more than Silverwing. Probably because it had more of Goth. Give us a standalone ONLY about Goth if you ever feel like writing another book about bats!! That would be awesome.