Article published November 16, 2008
Graphic novels come of age
BGSU exhibit reflects the growing popularity of the art form
Russian-born Canadian Svetlana Chmakova gives her take on the writing process via a kitten in a box. Her mangastyle work is in the exhibit Graphic Language: The Art of the ‘Comic Book’ at Bowling Green State University.
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By TAHREE LANE
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Considered the younger, adolescent sibling of sophisticated fine art, cartooning continues its coming of age, gaining footing with a generation of fans.
Stretched beyond comic-book length, graphic novels have amassed substantial real estate in bookstores in recent years, with no foreclosures in sight.
They’re the subject of Graphic Language: The Art of the ‘Comic’ Book, an exhibit through Wednesday in the Bryan Gallery at the Fine Arts Center at Bowling Green State University.
The genre is “... one of the ‘hottest’ and most engaging contemporary art mediums currently stimulating widespread interest and dialogue,” writes Jacqueline S. Nathan, BGSU gallery director.
The exhibit isn’t all capes and fists nor endearing creatures with wide eyes. A variety of protagonists in decades-worth of original drawings by 14 storytellers are represented in these mostly black-and-white images. A copy of each artist’s book is displayed on pedestals adjacent to their drawings.
‘Sad Stephanie’ by Bryan Lee O’Malley is exhibited in the
BGSU show.
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Eight images are by the late Will Eisner, a father of graphic storytelling, including pages from his Fagin the Jew, a look at prejudice, poverty, and anti-Semitism in classic literature.
“Some of these are incredible works of art,” says gallery peruser Dave Conner, 21. A senior specializing in painting, he especially appreciates the drawings of Jessica Abel, whose acclaimed La Perdida is the most classically drawn of the pack. Her 250-page book, heavy on emotion, is a cautionary tale told by Carla, a young American estranged from her Mexican father, who travels south of the border to find herself.
In large panels, Howard Cruse’s character Toland Polk is a Southern white boy, becoming aware of racism and homosexuality in his graphic novel, Stuck Rubber Baby.
American Born Chinese, the first graphic novel nominated for a National Book Award for youth literature, is based on some of California artist Gene Yang’s experiences as a teen.
And British-born Web comic artist Kean Soo’s offerings include rough, medium, and finished drawings from Jellaby: Lost, his book featuring 10-year-old Portia and the huge purple monster living behind her house.
‘My Obsession with Chess’ by Scott McCloud. This autobiographical online comic contains 89 panels. The printed version is 19.5 feet long, and can be viewed at scottmccloud.com/comics/chess/chess.html.
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THE BLADE/HERRAL LONG
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And then there’s Scott McCloud’s “infinite canvas” — a graphic novel, hung high on a wall, draping down like a paper slide, and ending in a pile of accordion-style folds. McCloud experiments with comics produced specifically for the Web, such as one that advances by zooming in on each frame.
His infinite canvas was created in a continuous format that eliminated page restrictions and required scrolling.
“With scrolling there’s no page break,” notes Anthony Fontana, BGSU instructor of art and himself creator of a graphic novel, and faculty adviser for the 25-member campus comic and cartooning club.
Growing demographics
The graphic novel/comic book movement began gaining traction about 15 to 20 years ago, says McCloud, a Southern California cartoonist, author, and theorist.
Japanese comics (manga) were translated into English and found a wide fan base, especially among girls. “It’s introduced a lot of great storytelling,” he says.
As soon as graphic Web browsers made their appearance, about 1993, cartoonists put their work online. Estimates suggest there are tens of thousands of Web comic creators, says McCloud.
| IF YOU GO |
Graphic Language:
The Art of the ‘Comic Book’
• When: Through Wednesday. Gallery
hours are 1 to 4 p.m. today, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; closed Monday.
• Where: Bryan Gallery, Bowling Green State University Fine Arts Center |
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“We’ve seen great growth in diversity, genres, and subjects,” he says. “And we certainly have readership that is used to diversity of content.”
Moreover, the medium’s demographics continues stretching beyond the original late teens to the 30-something range, he notes.
Reaching readers in the 4th to 6th grades is Jeff Kinney’s popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid, initially published online in daily installments. It features as the wimpy kid a rounded stick figure (bearing a resemblance to Olive Oyl, Popeye’s main squeeze). Diary was plucked from the Web for a series of 224-page books.
In the early 1990s, graphic novels and comic compilations filled just a few shelves in bookstores. That’s expanded to eight to 10 book cases at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Toledo, says Jennifer Habrych, the store’s community relations manager.
Subject matter continues to expand, says Habrych, noting new versions of the classics (Wuthering Heights, Moby Dick, Call of the Wild).
The popular subset of graphic novels with stylized art and action is manga, derived from Japanese comics and animation. As with Japanese literature, manga books are read from back to front. Its U.S. audiences range from teens to early 20s, with a mix of females and males, she says.
Movies, televisions shows, and even other books spur graphic versions. Perhaps, Habrych posits, their popularity can be traced to a screen-reliant culture; graphic novels blend a visual element with the traditional book form. Moreover, they tend to boil down words to the essential information, leaving out the extraneous.
Here come the authors
A first wave of authors are finding success with the graphic form.
| ALSO |
| • To see cartoons by students at BGSU and pages from a graphic novel by BGSU instructor Anthony Fontana go to: www.anthonyfontana.com |
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The phenomenal James Patterson has the Maximum Ride series led by a 14-year-old heroine, and Daniel X: Alien Hunter featuring a young male.
Best-selling novelist Jodi Picoult’s 2006 The Tenth Circle enfolds a graphic novel within its pages. And in the last few years, (at the urging of her adolescent children), Picoult has written text for Wonder Woman comics.
Horror-writer Stephen King’s graphic series is based on his Dark Tower books; it’s written not by him but under his supervision and illustrated by several artists. The tales were first published in monthly installments and then collected in a hardcover edition.
Writing in the same genre, Dean Koontz has enjoyed success with his manga-style Odd Thomas series, about a 19-year-old Californian able to see the lingering spirits of the dead.
Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight vampire series went graphic; so did Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake (animator by day, vampish vampire hunter by night), adapted for comic books two years ago. In the same vein are comic series based on the televised cult darling, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the related Angel.
Contact Tahree Lane at: tlane@theblade.com or 419-724-6075.
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