From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 05:55:44 -0400

Karen L. Simonetti" writes:

 From my lowly 4th grade classroom perch (and I'm absolutely no expert or collector at all;), I have to say I'm uncomfortable with the idea of separating the two terms. I think there is a wonderful trajectory moving from "traditional" picture books to picture stories (like the German Petzi books I mentioned before, Asterix, and other European comics as well as Archie, Classic Comics, Disney, and so forth) that are so inviting to young readers to books that meld the comic form with text for middle grade readers (those wonderful Pullman books I mentioned before and also the Horrible History books) on to the Little Lit books so beloved by my students and still on till you get to Maus, Persepolis, Sandman, The Dark Knight Returns (was that, those-that-know-more, the beginning of the beginning of the high-quality super hero graphic novel?) and others appropriate for older readers. In fact, I don't understand exactly how they would be separated. What would make something a graphic novel as compared to a comic? The soft cover? The level of sophistication? I think they should all be called comics proudly! Otherwise, there is the possibility that comics will be relegated to the back as "not of quality" while graphic novels (which seem to be largely written about in terms of older readers) become part of the literary canon. I'd like to see more done to make the term "comic" accepted rather than using "graphic novel" to convince those not in the known that these are good things to read.

I am not at all knowledgable about the world of comics and graphic novels, but my sense is that there are many who create them who are very proud of the term "comic." One of whom, I seem to recall, is Art Spiegelman. Another (who, unfortunately, is mostly too R-rated for our audience) is R. Crumb. I came of age along with the "underground comic" and it seems to me that some of the most wonderful creators of today are coming out of that tradition which seems closer to the funny pages tradition than the superhero tradition. Then there are manga and those soap opera stories from Latin America (anyone know more about those?) and those fabulous European works (of which only Tin Tin and Asterix seem known here). I am so intrigued by this sort of publication worldwide! (For one thing, as a Peace Corps Volunteer long ago in Sierra Leone, I worked as an illustrator of educational materials and much of what I did was very much in this picture story mode as it was for people who were minimally or not at all literate.)

The other day, coming home on the bus, I watched two little boys reading a comic. The older was probably around 7 and he was sweetly reading the comic to the younger boy who was totally riveted --- I just wish we would do more to pick up on that sort of reading delight! While I currently see it more in my classroom with boys and girls I have no doubt that the right comic would grab girls as well. (I also grew up with geeks compulsively collecting comics instead of baseball cards from the 60s into now. Was almost totally a guy thing --- which is why I did it too. I was always a bit contrary on that score and now have a stash of Supermans to prove it!)

Hollis suggested that there was a whole different way of reading these works. Perhaps that is so for older readers, but I still think that they can be a natural bridge for younger readers between picture books and books without illustrations. Of course, not only that, but the clearly offers something like that for kids of a certain age. In the way that I'm uncomfortable with naming as a way to elevate (graphic novels are "better" than comics) so I am with the idea that there is such a specialized and different way of reading them. I guess I'd just like to see them more accepted overall as people are slowly becoming more accepting of other media for young people (notably video/DVD/film. music, and the Internet) and, especially, as something as valuable for classroom use as more traditional media.

Monica (who will not be online probably for a couple of days as she is off shortly to Plimoth Plantation with 90 4th graders for an overnight. No, we do not sleep in the 1627 Village, thank goodness.)

PS I was trying to find more about comic history in the world (not just the US) and found these two sites:

Good history up to 1980s http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/5537/hist.htm

Links assembled by Yale Library http://www.library.yale.edu/humanities/media/comics.html


Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Thu 15 Apr 2004 04:55:44 AM CDT