Comics
To prove that it takes no expert subject knowledge, I'm writing a short paper involving collection development and graphic novels and comic books. professional resources on these are slim. While I can google as well as the next guy, I was hoping that someone would have suggestions on resources for me, web or not. top 10, top 100, what every comic collector should own/know about etc. also, if i haven't filled my quota of 4 pages, i'll stick in manga too.
Navagating through this all myself makes me queasier than seeing man faye. so please, geek your heart out.
6 Comments:
At July 11, 2005 12:57 PM,
Kenny said…
Hard to know where to start here…
Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, itself in comic form, is an excellent analysis of the workings and potential of the comic form, or “sequential art.” His follow-up, Reinventing Comics, veers more into futurist speculation, some of which is panning out, some of which is not. Some creators, like the Penny Arcade guys, despise and ridicule it, while others respect it. McCloud continues to espouse his theories on his website, probably scottmccloud.com. In any case, Reinventing also offers a nice history of the comics industry and the reasons for its collapse.
You can’t talk about the rise of “graphic novels” without discussing Frank Miller and Alan Moore, especially their serious-minded works in the ‘80s that gave rise to that term. Together, they are largely responsible for the movement to get comics for older audiences taken seriously.
In the ‘80s, Miller was responsible for the acclaimed Batman story The Dark Knight Returns, an excellent and very dark story about Batman coming out of retirement, as well as the gritty and realistic Batman: Year One, which strongly influenced Batman Begins. Miller also did memorable work on Marvel’s Daredevil. He went on to create many other lesser-known properties held in high regard by his fans. Most notably, he created the Sin City series, which everyone has heard on now that it’s a movie. A few years ago, he also did a subpar follow-up to Dark Knight Returns called The Dark Knight Strikes Again, which combined superheroes and heavy-handed social commentary to incoherent effect. Miller usually writes and illustrates, but sometimes only writes. Back in the Daredevil days he also spent some time as the artist. He’s currently working on another Batman project with Jim Lee handling art.
Alan Moore wrote Watchmen, a story about superheroes in a world where they’d been outlawed. It’s often considered one of the best graphic novels ever. Moore tends to be less mainstream (although every comic fan knows who he is). He did a memorable Batman/Joker story called The Killing Joke in which one possible tragic origin story for the Joker is explored, and in which former Batgirl Barbara Gordon is paralyzed by the Joker, a development that has left her confined to a wheelchair to this day. Moore has done a lot of “serious” stories, but he also seems to do a lot of weirdly postmodern stories that wink at the reader while still investing the stories with an uncommon earnestness. Other well-known Moore creations include V for Vendetta (Natalie Portman shaved her head for the upcoming movie version), From Hell (about Jack the Ripper, already a movie), and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (movie versions of Moore’s work have not always fared well).
Neil Gaiman was possibly the major force in graphic novels in the ‘90s. He’s the writer of the popular Sandman series. If you know any Goths or self-consciously freaky/artsy people, they probably like Sandman. And if they don’t, they haven’t read it yet. In spite of this, it’s an excellent series, smartly weaving together the mythologies of many cultures to create a sweeping fantasy that, thankfully, intersects with the real world enough to keep it grounded. The Sandman gave a whole new generation their justification for calling comics literature. Girls like this series, which is rare in comics. Gaiman ended the series after a certain number of volumes (8 or 9? I have them all, so I really should know), so this is a collection you could buy and be done with. A spinoff series, The Dreaming, ran for awhile after that but is not important. Gaiman occasionally returns to the Sandman world for one-shot stories, but mostly has gone on to the more “legitimate” business of writing novels.
Vertigo is the DC comics “adult” label, borne out of the Sandman series. They deal with more mature subject matter, like foul language, extreme violence, nudity, and casual fucking. Sometimes their stories are also more sophisticated, too. On the other hand, sometimes their stories are just more foul. The movie Constantine was based on the Vertigo series “Hellblazer.” Another popular Vertigo title was Preacher. I never read it, but it seemed to be about a preacher who cussed a lot and did violence. People said it was great.
Superhero comics mostly come from either Marvel or DC.
Marvel: Spider-Man, X-Men, Daredevil, Punisher, Fantastic Four, etc.
DC: Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, etc.
In libraries, Batman graphic novels tend to be pretty popular. I’d assume you’d want some Superman, too. As for Marvel, they put out “Essential” collections for all of their different popular characters, and I see a lot of those at the library too. You’ll want plenty of this stuff for the kids, who ought to be the main patrons of the graphic novel section. And the Vertigo stuff really shouldn’t be put right next to it, for the kids’ sake, but it probably will be because libraries will assume they’re all the same.
Does that help?
At July 11, 2005 2:16 PM,
C said…
you certainly did write a lot. and it'll give me some good background, but what i'm mostly looking for are people/things/organizations with enough authority to make halfway decent lists of things to acquire.
my other job is to figure out the difference between the stuff shelved in YA/ adult/ childrens. i can see why YA is YA, edge and all. but what the difference is between the squeaky clean other 2 sections is beyond me.
any why they heck does Torrance shelve mangas in adult.
I'll just make stuff up, i guess.
also, mostly everything you've written, i've heard of. is that the thing with comics? everything good is known by the common folk? are the indie presses too indie? are there indie presses?
At July 11, 2005 2:26 PM,
Kenny said…
My guess is that you know more than a lot of common folk. Also, I'm not hardcore enough to know a lot of obscure stuff any more, but I don't know that a library would be interested in the more obscure stuff.
There are indie presses but I don't know enough about them to say anything. Maybe you should call a comic book shop.
It probably would be good to talk about manga because that's driving the resurgence in printed comics more than anything at this point.
At July 11, 2005 2:55 PM,
Anonymous said…
Phoebe Gloeckner is an incredibly talented and controversial graphic novelist. She is now a professor at the University of Michigan's design school, and you could probably e-mail her there. She's a professionally trained anatomical illustrator and has also worked as a sex manual illustrator. Check out Diary of a Teenaged Girl or A Child's Life on Amazon.
At July 11, 2005 7:40 PM,
Zack said…
Kenny covered most everything. Problem with the Marvel Essentials is that they're black and white, or at least they were when I looked at them. Personally, I'm not okay with that.
The best Marvel graphic novel is the X-Men's Dark Phoenix Saga. I can vouch for Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. I can also vouch for Dark Knight Strikes Again being crap, Jesus Christ.
At July 11, 2005 8:15 PM,
Zack said…
Okay, I just meant to preview that comment and keep writing.
You will need Maus. I've never read it, because mice aren't very interesting. I'm sure if they were robots it would be my favorite holocaust survivor allegory ever.
Beyond that, however, it should be pretty clear that Kenny and I do not keep in our bookmarks an "AFI of comics" sort of site. Suck it up, walk into your local comic book store, and ask the proprietor.
Or just try Google. I don't feel like doing your work anymore, now that you've declared yourself to be as good as the next guy with Google.
For manga, I don't even know if his stuff is available in the US, but Osamu Tezuka is the king. His manga are high on cuteness and low on tentacle cocks. The best of his characters is Astro Boy, because Astro Boy is a robot.
Back to comics, although his stories aren't as sophisticated as Miller or Moore or Gaiman, I am given to understand that Jack Kirby is the most influential superhero comic artist, and that's pretty crucial in a visual medium.
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