Book Candy

An Interview with Scott McCloud

The graphic narrative, which plays an important role in contemporary adolescent literature publishing, is featured in this wonderful interview from the open-access, online, peer-reviewed journal Kairos.  Click here for the article. 

Graphic Novel Primers

If you are interested in reading a concise guide to graphic novels, then head over to The Horn Book Magazine's overview.  In addition to providing the obligatory FAQ, the editors feature links to Robin Brenner's amazing No Flying, No Tights graphic novel blog for teachers and to recently published articles on impact that graphic novels are having on children's and YA lit.

Another valuable resource is Yale University Library's Mass Media and Popular Culture page featuring comics books, comic strips, and graphic novels.  In chracteristic librarianesque fashion, the creator of the page begins by listing all of the Library of Congress search terms relevant to the study of the field -- how amazingly useful!  Plus, the page includes lists of key publishers of graphic novels and a research resources guide.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

I've posted Dr. Tom Philion's great mini-lecture on American Born Chinese, but I wanted to add a brief commentary on the controversy that has surrounded one aspect of the novel -- the portrayal of Chin-kee, the embodiment of all of the horribly racist stereotypes that have been attached to persons of Asian descent.  In a recent interview, Yang argues that Chin-kee was designed to call into question those stereotypes; however, Yang has found that some readers adore Chin-kee and do not recognize the intent behind his representation.  Yang has also found that a few of his Asian American readers were conflicted regarding Chin-kee because they feared that by showing the stereotype, Yang might be perpetuating it.
 

 

 

Note the exaggerated depiction of Chin-kee versus the realistic depiction of Jin Wang, the central protagonist in American Born Chinese:

      

Chin-kee appears at the point in American Born Chinese when Jin Wang's assimilation fantasies transform him into "Danny," a Caucasian boy.  Jin's embarrassment and guilt regarding his identity call forth Chin-kee, and it is only through confronting Chin-kee that Jin is able to give a name to his innermost fears and needs.

Like Dr. Philion, I recommend Yang's American Born Chinese as a text that melds the traditional YA literature concern regarding identity formation with a thoughtful meditation on the influence that negative cultural stereotypes can have upon a young person's development.

Jeff Smith, Graphic Novel Artist, Comments on Quality

In 1991, Jeff Smith self-published a YA graphic novel called Out From Boneville.  After enjoying significant "underground" success, the text and its five sequels were put out in glossy color by Scholastic to even greater acclaim.  Last month, the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University sponsored a retrospective exhibition of Smith's artistry, and to mark the event, Smith was interviewed on The Newshour with Jim Lehrer.  The reporter for Newshour, Jeffrey Brown, invited viewers to e-mail questions for Smith and mine was among those chosen.

Here's the part of the transcript where my question is discussed: 

JEFFREY BROWN: Well, you know, on this theme, though, of the development of the graphic novel and comics, here's one from a teacher.

Gwen Tarbox, [a] professor [in] Wyoming, Mich. And she says, "I'm going to be teaching a graduate, undergraduate course in the graphic novel this fall," well there's another sign of the respectability, right?

JEFF SMITH: Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: And she says, "As I've studied the genre, it is clear that the development of the graphic novel divisions in the major publishing houses is a growing trend. What are your hopes and concerns regarding this new development? It is something that I want my students to consider seriously."

So, I think she's asking about this, you know, the hopes of buying that respectability, but are there some current concerns about it, as well?

JEFF SMITH: Well, I'm not too concerned about, you know, somebody launching a book from a major company and them getting respect -- I hope that happens. And it seems to be happening, quite a bit. When you had Allison Bechdel's "Fun Home," which is a beautiful, beautiful graphic novel about her father when she was growing up, and that was actually named Time [magazine]'s Book of the Year last year. Not their graphic novel of the year, but their book of the year. And I think that that's just going to lead to more and more publishing houses to start these divisions.

And my -- I have no real fears, other than -- let me put it this way -- it's hard to make a graphic novel. It is much more work than writing a novel.

JEFFREY BROWN: Why?

JEFF SMITH: You have to draw it.

[Laughter.]

JEFFREY BROWN: I was playing straight-man, because I knew the answer.

JEFF SMITH: Yeah, right, right, right.

JEFFREY BROWN: But I was playing anyway.

JEFF SMITH: And it takes a -- I'm not saying it's, takes -- it doesn't mean you're smarter or more talented, but it takes literally more time. And I used to talk with Art Spiegelman about this all the time, he was like, "We're getting there, we just have to have a dependable library of books that people can go to, you know, to get that shelf built up." You know, he would tell me, you know, "'Bone' took you over 10 years." 'Mouse' took him over 10 years. Christopher's 'Jimmy Corrigan' took him over 10 years.

I mean, it takes a long time to make, you know, graphic novels. And my fear is that in the excitement of this new field opening up, a lot of publishers will not understand that they cannot get a book in six months, from a cartoonist. And I'm afraid some things are going to get rushed out, and people are going to be disappointed and -- so that's my only concern.

Wither Graphic Novels?

Now that the major publishing houses have finally shown some interest in the graphic novel by setting up imprints and hiring in-house artists, I wonder what it will mean for the genre.  When I began studying the graphic novel in 2003, I learned very quickly that the popularity of series such as Jeff Smith’s Bone and the Hernandez brothers’ Love and Rockets was based, in part, upon the authors’ willingness to confront pressing social issues. Moreover, it was clear that the author/artists’ unique styles were a major factor in the series’ popularity.

For awhile there, it was fatigue-wearing teen boys and I hanging out under the Manja/Graphic Novels sign at Schuler Books or Barnes and Noble.  When we struck up conversations, these guys almost always revealed an intense interest in art and a devotion to storylines that dealt with “serious ideas.”  Today, when I head over to the graphic novels section, I’m just as likely to make room for preteen girls and jocks and…well, just about anyone else under the age of 18.  The traditional YA literature section isn’t a ghost town, but I never have to jostle a “youth” aside in order to get at a book there as I do in the graphic novel section.

Publishers’ desperation to tap into the graphic novel market was reflected a few years ago when Simon and Schuster began to publish graphic novel companions to the Nancy Drew Mystery series under an imprint called “Papercutz.”  Here’s what Terry Nantier, founder of Papercutz, had to say about his company: “We're living in a very visual age and kids have a lot of different distractions — from the Internet, to videos, to video games, to TV and DVDs….  We're using a point of view and a style that kids know and understand.”  Okay, I know this probably isn’t fair of me, but doesn’t it sound as if Terry Nantier is calling graphic novels “a distraction,” right up there with video games?  Later on in the article that includes this comment, Nantier reminds us of the “TRUE” value of the graphic novel: “The Japanese comics are doing very well with tweens and teens. It's getting them hooked on reading. Graphic novels and comics are looking to be a wonderful bridge to get them into books.”  Yes, it’s the old “gateway ploy,” to paraphrase Inspector Clouseau – those graphic novels are so easy to read that heck, they can “trick” kids into reading.  Except that graphic novels are not “easy” to read or to interpret.  They ask readers to develop NEW skills, some of which are intuitive, but others of which are certainly not.  For instance, the disjunction between text and picture, which is often designed to express irony, is a phenomenon that requires a great deal of interpretative sensitivity – oh, but don’t get me started!

Here’s the funny thing.  While the text for a Papercutz version of the Nancy Drew text remains the same as the print original, the illustrations could have come right out of Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket or any other popular manja series.  It’s a bit disjunctive (in a completely non-ironic way) to see tame, sweater-wearing, Hybrid-car driving Nancy from the traditional text, geared up like a sex kitten but talking like her "old" self.  (In a USA Today review of the series, journalist Carol Memmott expresses her shock at the attention paid to the depiction of Nancy’s best friend Bess Marvin, whose cleavage is forever stealing the show.)

The entire Papercutz ensemble of graphic novels has the feel of a rushed project – a rush to profit.  But Simon and Schuster’s interest in the medium extends, as well, to the newly formed imprint MIX (or ALADDIN MIX), a division devoted to producing graphic novels for teen girls.  The MIX logo reads, “Real Life.  Real You.”  I’m very tempted to add “Real Boring” (okay, “Really Boring”). 

I just finished reading one of the best selling MIX books, Hope Larson’s Chiggers, a novel set at a co-ed camp in Larson’s native North Carolina.  Larson is no slouch – she’s the winner of an Eisner Award for Special Recognition, one of the comic industry’s highest honors, and she’s a very talented artist.  So far, so good.  However, compared to Larson’s work for an adult audience such as Salamander Dream and Gray Horses, Chiggers seems to lack some of the emotional depth one has come to expect from her work. The story is focalized through Abby, a self-conscious girl, who experiences a number of friendship ups-and-downs, especially when she defends Shasta, a supposedly non-conformist girl who…well, she just doesn’t seem very non-conformist.  The feeling of a rushed production lingers over the imprint, setting Larson into a different category from some of the independently published innovators in the genre of YA graphic novels, such as Gene Luen Yang (author of American Born Chinese) or Bryan Talbot (author of The Tale of One Bad Rat).  To be fair, there are some compelling moments in Chiggers, especially when Abby responds to her first love -- and compared to the Nancy Drew texts, Chiggers reflects Larson's impressive and very unique artistic talent.  However, her portrayal of teenage emotions and behaviors seems circumscribed -- keep in mind, this is an artist who wrote for the graphic novel compilation True Porn 2 -- so she may feel constrained by the YA genre.  I suppose one could say that Larson has been "Hallmarkized."

I’m currently writing an article on this aspect of the graphic novel marketplace, so forgive the rant.  For those of you who have studied the graphic novel with me, you know how passionate I am about the genre – I would hate to see such texts written for a YA audience diminshed by a rush to profit.  More on this later.

Memmott, Carol.  “’Nancy Drew’ Finds Clues in Graphic Novel.”  USA Today.  April 18, 2004.  http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2005-04-18-nancy-drew_x.htm.