The Graduation of Comics

Back in the 1980s, I went to state with a speech I wrote on comic books and how they were becoming a serious form of storytelling that deserve respect. Due to being hoarse with the flu, I didn't make it further, but the point is that even then, as a grade-school kid, I could see that comic books were far from being "just for kids."

This is now being called "the Golden Age of graphic novels," and to be sure, this is when the new format came to be and many exciting projects were released. Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Maus: A Survivor's Tale, and many more. Marvel began publishing their line of graphic novels featuring original stories. Nowadays, most "graphic novels" are actually collections of formerly-published issues, often first released as mini-series; the technical term for these is "Trade Paperback" or "TPB."

But after this weekend's 2008 Comic-Con, more and more articles are springing-up about how the literary and academic world are starting to take note of the form.

According to NPR, librarians who grew up with the sequential art format are pushing to bring them to the general public. In particular, they are focusing on manga, as it has broad appeal to both boys and girls. And this apparently started back in 2002, when there were panels on the form at the American Library Association Conference. Many say the manga shelves stay empty because the comics are checked-out almost as quickly as they come in!

Many of the libraries in Memphis, TN have been carrying graphic novels, and even games and gaming books, for years. Of course, that is not the case in the rural area I am stuck in presently. I would love to know the real "penetration" of graphic novels and manga in public libraries (no hentai jokes, plese).

But it doesn't stop there.

Apparently, many of this year's Comic-Con attendees were actual scholars, working on such diverse (and relatively obscure) topics as the treatment of the mentally ill, vigilante justice, and more. And they were either turning to comics as comparison or actual sources! Again, these are students who grew-up with the form and format, so to them, comics are as valid a medium as any other.

My personal speech was written in the late-80s when I was in grade school, and the Internet in its present form was at least a decade away. I saw this back then and my speech was persuasive enough to make it to state competition - suggesting that other, older people saw much the same thing. I figure, in another decade, online information will be taken just as seriously by the younger generation, who will have grown-up with the medium, just as the current younger generation did comic books.

And unlike some of the fuddy-duddy "professors" of today, we will be far more gracious about the whole thing.

Right?

© C Harris Lynn, 2008