Random Blog of Random Blogginess

When it’s still a tree? When it’s just some sheets of paper stuck together? Well for some people the answer is actually “When it’s a graphic novel”. Now I’m not going to get into a rant about the difference between comics and graphic novels but before we start let me just make a quick distinction between the two by showing you some pictures to explain the difference.

If you already know the difference, please feel free to skip this paragraph. Here are some pictures of comic books: All Star Batman and Robin and The Walking Dead. And now some graphic novels, Watchmen and Freddie and Me. And just to confuse everything there always the compilation which is a lot of comic strips thrown together in a book, which is technically a graphic novel but is closer to a collection of stories, like Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes, or the compilation of the Clerks comics. Hopefully that has cleared it up a bit. A comic book is one of those little regular books which you get to read every so often and only get part of a bigger story. These compilations put them all together, normally in chronological order, so you have a nice bound copy of the story lines without needing to worry about reading lots of the comics put together. Now technically Watchmen is a compilation of comics, however they all tell one continuous story, unlike Clerks or Calvin and Hobbes which tell a set of stories. Freddie and Me is a true graphic novel in the sense that it is a novel, an autobiography to be exact, in picture board form. So there’s your difference, on with the purpose of this rant.

Many people seem to feel that because a book isn’t all large chunks of text thrown together then it doesn’t constitute a worth while text and so they have the attitude that it isn’t a real book, made entirely for kids and anyone who is over 12 and still reading these comics clearly has no concept of great works by ‘real’ authors. OK so maybe the content of these books doesn’t contain the high standard of writing from the literary greats, but if we look at these books some actually convey a meaning that people fail to understand. Let’s take Watchmen. If you have never read a graphic novel before this is the one to start with.

Originally from DC comics with a 12 issue, monthly run, this re defined the industry in ways that were unimaginable. With the question of who watches the watchmen Moore, who also wrote V for Vendetta, and Dave Gibbons, Art Director of 2000AD, took the idea of ‘normal people’ who become costumed adventurers despite not having any super powers, well save one. But Watchmen changed everything, the dialogue, the symbolism  and the way we look at those strange masked people.

The story is one of people facing ethical and personal problems, whilst they also happen to be masked adventurers. The differences in people’s morality is also explored within the novel. And all this set against beautifully drawn artwork. This is far from a book aimed at kids, the subject matter is clearly for a more mature audience, so why do people simply see it as a child’s book?

The same can be said of Wanted, or of V for Vendetta, but how about Freddie and Me? It is something that to me seems like an interesting idea, an autobiography, in graphic novel form. As the author states, the format lends itself perfectly to autobiographies. People’s memories are often made of those fuzzy images you can see in the corner of your eye, still frames, so why not just draw them and put the words over the top. Freddie and me tells the life of Mike Dawson who grew up, and indeed remains, a Queen fan, and he relats how Queen’s music has been with him throughout his life.

It is a wonderful book, well illustrated, and far from a children’s book, why would a 12 year old want to read about an American Cartoonist and his obsession with some old band? Then of course you look at a novel like Tales from the Clerks and, just like the films, this book is not for the kids. OK so Calvin and Hobbes is a comic strip that appeals to kids and grown ups. Whether Calvin grows to take the lead in Fight Club or not we all know, deep down, we were that kid once, sort of.

So there you have it, a look at some of the graphic novels. There are so many out there it is impossible to list them all. Wikipedia has a list of the award winning ones, and they are a good place to start. If you’re new to this whole thing and think, maybe I should take a look at some of these things, or if you still aren’t convinced grown-ups can read and enjoy them I suggest you start with Watchmen. Yes, OK the film’s coming out some time soon, but don’t do this how you did your book reports, read the book, you won’t regret it. Following that go and pick up 300, Compilations of Peanuts, or Calvin and Hobbes are always good for a laugh, Freddie and Me may interest you, I would also suggest Cages and there is always Maus infact the list goes on, but that should start you off. If after that you still don’t think these are real books, then oh well, at least I tried.