Comic Books ARE a Medium

American Born Chinese, a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang, was recently released to outstanding kudos from both the comic book and literary world. Even being honored as the first graphic novel to ever be nominated for a National Book Award. I picked it up last week and have just started into it. Yes, it's Asian. And, yes, it rocks. However, some "journalist", Tony Long of Wired News, takes umbrage to the nomination.

"Let me slip into my moldiest Andy Rooney sweater here, because I know how much you guys love it when I whine about the Age of Mediocrity. (We're in the midst of it now, in case you're new to this bimonthly screed.)

Gene Luen Yang is a teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area who also happens to be a fine illustrator. He produced a graphic novel (or "comic book," as we used to call them), American Born Chinese, which has been nominated for a National Book Award in the young people's literature category.

I have not read this particular "novel" but I'm familiar with the genre so I'm going to go out on a limb here. First, I'll bet for what it is, it's pretty good. Probably damned good. But it's a comic book. And comic books should not be nominated for National Book Awards, in any category. That should be reserved for books that are, well, all words.

This is not about denigrating the comic book, or graphic novel, or whatever you want to call it. This is not to say that illustrated stories don't constitute an art form or that you can't get tremendous satisfaction from them. This is simply to say that, as literature, the comic book does not deserve equal status with real novels, or short stories. It's apples and oranges.

If you've ever tried writing a real novel, you'll know where I'm coming from. To do it, and especially to do it well enough to be nominated for this award, the American equivalent of France's Prix Goncourt or Britain's Booker Prize, is exceedingly difficult.

Juvenile literature is a fairly new category (1996) to the NBAs, which have been around since 1950. It's possible that no author wrote a great book aimed at that audience in the past year, but I doubt it. Juvenile literature attracts a lot of first-rate authors. Always has.

Sorry, but no comic book, regardless of how cleverly executed, belongs in that class."

Wow. What an idiot. This has caused a huge uproar in the community, as you can imagine. My first thought was how Neil Gaiman won a World Fantasy Award for a Sandman story. Literally, the next morning, the committee for the WFA made a rule that comic books or graphic novels could not be considered in the future. Then, of course, I thought of the Pulitzer Prize winning Maus. PULITZER PRIZE! Neil Gaiman himself had this to say about it.

"I suppose if he builds a time machine he could do something about Maus's 1992 Pulitzer, or Sandman's 1991 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story, or Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan winning the 2001 Guardian First Book Award, or even Watchmen's appearance on Time's Hundred Best Novels of the 20th Century list. Lacking a Time Machine, it seems a rather silly and antiquated argument, like hearing someone complain that women have the vote or that be-bop music and crooners are turning up in the pop charts.

I like the bit where he says that he hasn't read the comic in question, but he just knows what things like that are like. It's always best to be offended by things you haven't read. That way you keep your mind uncluttered by things that might change it."

Can't say it better than that. I have friends who have made fun of me for reading comics. Some very intelligent ones who look down upon the medium as childish and immature. It has pictures, so it must be for kids! And, yes, I read a lot of the superhero fluff. But, I also read comics that are just about people. Good stories. Y: The Last Man is one of my current favorite comics around. It's about the last man on earth. No super powers. Just a guy trying to survive. Queen and Country is a great spy thriller. Fell, a dark crime noir series is suspenseful and exciting. All comic books.

Some literacy groups use comic books to help kids learn to read. I've been reading them since I was a kid and I'm a freakin' genius. And, just because I don't like to read things that don't have pictures doesn't make me childish or stupid. It just makes me more well rounded. I'm using more parts of my brain. Analyzing the pictures that help tell the story instead of just reading words. So, in a sense, comic book readers are much more intelligent than people in Oprah's Book Club.

Do yourself a favor. Pick up a comic book. If you don't read them regularly, I could give you a list that I bet you would enjoy. You'll be converted soon enough!

Comments

[mike.]

"I have not read this particular 'novel' but I'm familiar with the genre...." That says it all right there. First of all, read the effing book before deciding whether or not it is worthy (duh). Second of all, comics/graphic novels are (as you astutely point out, Jimmy), a MEDIUM, NOT a genre. Just like font-size, or even language. To say that a book "does not deserve equal status with real novels" just because it is illustrated is to me conceptually no different than saying that you didn't like a book because it wouldn't fit in your backpack. "If you've ever tried writing a real novel, you'll know where I'm coming from." Yeah, and tell us about all of the comics that you've tried to write. If I were to write a syllabus for a course in modern American literature, there is no way that I would not include Art Spiegelman's "Maus", Craig Thompson's "Blankets", even Adrian Tomine's collection "Summer Blonde" on the list.

[Felicity]

ALICE IN WONDERLAND
CHAPTER I
DOWN THE RABBIT-HOLE

"ALICE was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?'
So she was considering, in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies... "

Apparently Mr Long is also feeling sleepy and stupid, since his perspective is as overtly simplistic and immature as Alice's. I hope that he is distracted from writing such reviews in future, possibly by a white rabbit (or at least by a daisy chain), but ideally by actually reading the material in question.

Hello, Jimmy...
--F.