Graeme McMillan has an excellent post over at CBR concerning the reputation of literary comics, and how readers may be unwilling to approach certain graphic novels because of the notoriety that surrounds them.
It's more than a little embarrassing to admit, but up until a couple of years ago, I'd pretty much successfully gone out of my way to avoid reading anything by the Hernandez Bros., and it was almost entirely because of the reputation of their work. Surely, I thought, nothing could stand up to the probably-hyperbolic praise thrown in their direction!
Which is an aspect that I believe most regular comics readers have sensed before. Certainly, price and availability are a huge factor in whether or not I buy a comic, or even if I'll try flipping through it at the bookstore café, but there are definitely books that have been bumped down on my "must-read" list based on hear-say or prejudices formed through other peoples' readings of a comic. A big one for me is The Dark Knight Returns. I feel like I've missed its moment of temporal poignancy, that I can't appreciate it after reading from a comics industry that's already taken so much from it. I'm not much of a Frank Miller fan anyway, with its dirty cops and neon cityscapes, but it's the weight of the book's name that keeps me from reading it. But Graeme concludes, correctly, that this self-restriction is a folly:
I was an idiot every single time I got scared of a book because of its reputation. For one thing, it's comics - You read it and it clicks or it doesn't, and that's the end of it
I wholly believe that we learn by taking in things from outside our established comfort zone, and I'm really impressed by this point. Guess I'll be picking up TDKR sometime soon, then. Anyone else avoiding the top shelf out of a silly fear?
Geoff Johns and Jim Lee flexed their publicity muscles this Wednesday when they conducted an open twitter discussion on FIRST WAVE #1 by Brian Azzarello and Rags Morales.
In case you didn't hear the announcements from him, or him, or them, DC's new creative chief officer, along with its newest copublisher would be reading and replying in real time to the new release. Under the hashtag #DCReader, tweeters could share their thoughts as they flip through the pages and receive creative commentary from other readers, including Johns and Lee. The end result proved to be a mostly insightful forum that generally avoided all-too-common twitter trash, like a fast-moving Oprah's book club with an insane audience member rambling in the seats.
Highlights of the discussion follow, so you would do well to finish the issue before reading on.
Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey, the team behind the comic book series Action Philosophers!, unveiled this month the first issue of their example of a medium exposing itself in the most self-reflective way possible: Comic Book Comics! is, in fact, a comic book series illuminating the intricate history of the comic book itself. The first issue, out earlier this month, highlights the birth and innovation that led to the invention of the modern comic book; the relationship between comic and animation and the subsequent cartoon war waged between Max Fleischer and Walt Disney; the influence of pulp fiction on early comics' popularity; the early careers of many comic book pioneers, including one Jack Kirby; and the true origin of the Man of Steel as envisioned by his creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster.
The premise of the series is easily imaginable and not an altogether outlandish concept, but the execution is brilliant and the content can be utterly surprising. Van Lente and Dunlavey thoroughly and literally illustrate the origin of the comic strip as an invention not imagined on a whim but rather borne by an intricate balance of visual art, sequential dialogue, and vaudeville-style comedy. The pair also illuminate the often-unnoticed relationship between comics and animation, a relationship that would probably be more obvious if you laid the frames of an animated film side by side and noticed what it happens to look exactly like. The veritable arms race between animation pioneers Disney and Fleischer is laid bare, and the cover illustration of the two battling as famous cartoon mice is at least enough to pique anyone's curiosity, avid comic book historian and bored Barnes & Noble peruser alike.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of Comic Book Comics! #1 is the most descriptive illustration ever of the myriad concepts and ideals behind the creation of the world's first comic-book superhero. Van Lente and Dunlavey successfully tell the tale of how Zorro, Friedrich Nietzsche's "übermensch" ideal, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and even Popeye the Sailor himself joined together in the minds of Cleveland comic-book artists Siegel and Schuster to ultimately yield Superman in the pages of Action Comics #1.
This week we're going to try something different for The Higher Bookshelf. This week's selection is Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic and I invite you, the readers, to read it as well so that we can have your opinions when we publish the review later this week.
Fun Home was picked by Time Magazine as the #1 book of the year in 2006, along with garnering critical praise from the New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, The Advocate, People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly and many other publications.
It is the graphic memoir of gay author Alison Bechdel and her life as she discovers that her father is gay as well. The aftermath of this revelation affects her life dramatically as she copes with the mysteries of her past and examines her new relationship with her father.
Expect a review on Saturday (that gives you the whole week to read). Be prepared with comments and your opinions!
