Stuff that isn't Reviews

Dorian's Lessons the Internet Has Taught Me is must reading.

I've been having some fun on AOL's Favorite Fiction message board. Seems folks there have discovered that a favorite author, Jodi Picoult, is writing Wonder Woman. This post is one of the thread that entertained me. It is interesting to be reminded that graphic novels have only recently come into the consciousness of the general population of readers. But I did resent seeing comments such as this one:

"There are some graphic novels that are more sophisticated than one usually finds in the genre."

That just irritates me. The whole if it isn't high art or "sophisticated," it's not worth the attention of anyone with taste. Comics and graphic novels might be gaining some ground and aren't automatically viewed with suspicion, especially GNs which are now sold in actual bookstores, but they still have a long way to go toward universal acceptance. Stories with pictures are still considered childish by too many people and are viewed as being inferior by many people.

We want to see comics grow, and many of us who don't enjoy reading comics online want to see print comics continue. Growing readership is behind DC's Minx line, a push to bring in teen girls. But how far can DC and Marvel and the rest go when there still is this resistance to the format?

Sure, a lot of comics are crap. So are a lot of books, including ones that end up on the bestseller lists. So what. They must be entertaining someone, many someones. Quality is a subjective thing, anyway.

Earning Respect

No matter how much they get mainstreamed, graphic novels still have a long way to go when it comes to being respected by the general public. Sara Nelson's "Foreword" aka editorial in Publishers Weekly's August 28, 2006 issue made that point.

The graphic work in question is Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon's The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation and it hasn't been without controversy. In Nelson's words, re: the creators's appearance on the Today Show:

"...A setup to their interview showed a relative of a WTC victim declaring the book 'inappropriate." The comcic-book format, she and others went on to say, was just too flimsy or silly or unserious to cover this ultra-serious and very tragic event."

Nelson goes on to mention the ultra-seriousness of another topic, the Holocaust, that formed the basis for Art Spiegelman's Maus which won the Pulitzer Prize.

I didn't see the Today Show with Jacobson and Colon (I don't ever watch the show as I need to travel to work while it's on), but Nelson tells us that they explained their purpose was to make the 9/11 Commission Report, a rather weighty report, accessible to younger people and anyone else put off by the sheer size of the thing. She can't argue with that thinking and neither can I.

Why does it remain a part of the public psyche that if it has pictures and is on paper, it's less than serious, less than important, less than meaningful? Why do people persist in the old way of thinking that comic books are for kids, mainly kids who haven't "graduated" to picture-less text?

Nelson calls the graphic adaptation "bold, factual and extraordinarily creative," saying "It's a step forward in an industry that should welcome all the newthink it can get." I say, I agree. And I hope it continues the work Maus did in bringing the graphic format to a wider audience.

Comics already have to battle for an audience. With so much competition from online entertainments, movies, DVDs, gaming, and the like, comics -- the ones still printed on paper -- have to find new readers. There are two good ways to do that. Get younger readers hooked for life and hook the older reader who either used to read comics or never cared for them to try a more adult title and hope they like what they read and see enough to keep buying.

I never outgrew comics because I've always loved visual media. TV and movies and comics fit that description. I'll always love text only books, but there is nothing quite so thrilling as a story told in a perfect blend of words and pictures. If only more people can come to see their beauty, too.