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.