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Graphic Audio White Sand Volume 1 Comparison


TruthlessofNalthis

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Hey guys, I've been gone for a bit but with Graphic Audio releasing version 1.5 of White Sand (I'll explain that in a moment :wink:) and me getting my tax return, I decided to grab them. 

So first off: Version 1.5. This may confuse some people but this is just the number I've decided to use between Brandon's Draft of White Sand and what we got in the Graphic Novel. On the page for the first Volume of the GA version of White Sand it confirms that a lot was cut in order to make the GN, whether this stuff is still canon or not someone should definitely ask Brandon one day. The Script used in the Graphic Audio version IS the original edited script for the Graphic Novel before things started having to be chopped. I decided to record some of the difference just to see how different they are. 

Now for the Differences, I'll try and be thorough but I probably will end up missing some things here and there. 

Volume 1: 

Kenton is shown running the whole gauntlet from beginning to end instead of picking up around the forth sphere. Unlike the Graphic Novel which makes it very hard to tell there are indeed both men and women in the Diem and they comment about Kenton throughout his trial. 

Khriss's story begin with her on the ship from Darkside and seeing the sun and port for the first time. We get to see some of the hostility between Baon and the soldiers due to Boan being in charge. 

Most of the Ceremony is the same for Kenton's sash, with the exception that after he blacks out, we cut to Khriss and company attempting to buy supplies in port as well as a guide. They discover that the language they'd been taught as Daysider is the Holy Language of the Priests.

The Story matches up quite well from here up to the ambush after the marketplace. The assassin's attack and Baon's acquires one of their casters. Kenton then explains how it works to him. 

Before they reach the city, We see that the area around it is very lush with life surprising Khriss.

Then the story switches to our favorite, Ais, who is planning to raid to capture Sherizane or their conspirators. It switches to Lokmlen who is trying to persuade his cohorts into a job. He's wanting to sneak into the Diem and steal what's there since the Sand Masters are no more. After get the others to agree, Ais and her team, with expert timing, enter and their operation. Lokmlen escapes much to Ais annoyance. The back wall then opens up and a kill squad begins to pick off the tracts.  Ais rushes the wall and grabbing the arm of the of men, then proceeds to use him as a battering ram to bring down the wall. She then picks off the shocked men and takes off after Lokmlen. 

The GN picks up with their chase and is completely the same except for one small detail: Aarik has sheath not a sword, as he had thrown the sword away years ago. 

Speaking of Airik, his introduction is actually a bit different in the GA version. We meet him on a boat heading towards Kezare to mourn his friend Kenton, whom he believes was killed. He talks to himself and the Gondolier driver questions whether he should have ferried him. 

From here the graphic novel and Graphic audio play continue the same, right up til Kenton reaches the diem, which is confirmed to be on it's own little island seperated from the rest of Kezare. Kenton enters the Diem and spends a good while searching. Every room that he could reached, screaming at the top of his lungs before he collapses at the entrances and Dirin Finds him. Things continue the same until we reach the Judgement hall. Where we see our musician friend for the first time, singing about the current situation to no one in particular. It is noted that he has long hair similiar to Aarik and that he reminds Kenton of him. 

The only other remarkable difference is that Ais has a bad habit of Digging her nails into her skin as a skin of frustration which is shown in the GN version, but is very hard to pick out.

The rest of the volume is the same with Kenton fighting it out with Drile, Aarik Arriving at the Diem, and  Khriss paying N'teese, going to meet people and eventually learning that Kenton is a Sand Master which she is none too happy about 

Edited by TruthlessofNalthis
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Thank you so much for this - I didn't know there were so many additions, and it's oddly satisfying to see things from the prose version that didn't make the cut find a way out of that one's obscurity. The first Khriss chapter, for instance, is one of my favorites of the book and its omission really hurt the story's flow at the beginning, in my opinion - in the GN, she's just a random character showing up with the panel size trying very hard to make sure the reader knows she's important for some reason, while the prose introduces both as parallel stories and has you wondering when and how they will start to interact. Ah, well. Maybe this will eventually replace/expand the GN as canon?

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I hope the sand jumper creature doesn't get... retconned? un-canon-ified? I liked that thing a lot. (It's another beast-of-burden like the one that Kenton and Khriss rode in part 1)

The GN didn't do a good job of showing the world. Khriss' description of sailing into Dayside (the stormbelt really should have been at least mentioned), the flora and fauna (such as farming between Kerzta and Lossand) of Dayside as well as some from Darkside that Khriss mentions or encounters in the Darkside quarters (like the glowing fish)

Edited by Dreamer
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There's a lot of world building in the Graphic Audio version that was basically replaced by pictures in the graphic novel version. I understand why, but this was the first graphic novel/comic book that I've ever read that wasn't set on Earth, and I never realized how much you don't have to lay out when you're familiar with the setting like we are with our own planet.

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I do plan on eventually making writeups for Parts 2 and 3 so hopefully i'll be able to answer some questions there. That said, I'll spoil a few things - The sand hopper is in the Graphic audio version, a certain magic system from Brandon's draft is confirmed to still exist, and last but not least - Our Aarik looking Musician shares the same voice actor as Hoid from the Other Cosmere Graphic Audio plays...so chances are very high on that being him. 

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  • 1 year later...

I wouldn't say there are any major discrepancies between the two. The actual discrepencies seem to be minor details that don't impact much, or are just clear errors that made their way into the graphic novel due to poor workmanship(the boombox being a prime example). I'd say the Graphic Audio version is more of a directors cut where a bunch of stuff that got cut for the graphic novel version were added back into the story. It's mostly notable in the first graphic novel where a lot of the worldbuilding occurred in the prose, but was cut because it just wasn't feasible to convey the information in that medium.  

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  • 1 year later...
On 6/16/2021 at 5:46 PM, Harrycrapper said:

I wouldn't say there are any major discrepancies between the two. The actual discrepencies seem to be minor details that don't impact much, or are just clear errors that made their way into the graphic novel due to poor workmanship(the boombox being a prime example). I'd say the Graphic Audio version is more of a directors cut where a bunch of stuff that got cut for the graphic novel version were added back into the story. It's mostly notable in the first graphic novel where a lot of the worldbuilding occurred in the prose, but was cut because it just wasn't feasible to convey the information in that medium.  

 There are mostly minor changes - Delius blackmails the admirals not with the blockade threat, but with winding up the prices for Zaidon which he has been buying out (which is the way it was in the unpublished prose), for example. But also slatrification now definitely does not exist, as Brandon said it wouldn't. I also noticed something exciting: Aarik's POV mentions his Autonomy. I'm pretty sure it's a capital A Autonomy. I think him being influenced by her is a popular theory, but now it's even more suggested. I really want that sequel now.

And, that's not a change from the graphic novels but from the prose, but

Spoiler

No pining after Kenton from Khriss, and vice versa; Kenton wants to visit the Darkside to reconnect with his mother's heritage, not for her. I guess that means this ship has sunk. Too bad, it's one of my Cosmere favorites, they had great chemistry (the lack of Khriss's insecurity is a fix though) and I had this whole tragic lovers-separated-by-god story in my head. 

 

 

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