This Book Contains Graphic Language, Good Morning

The Katzenjammer Kids 1901

Good Morning

I read some more of This book Contains Graphic Language Comics As Literature by Rocco Versaci. Chapter 4 was about comics as a medium for journalism. My favorite comic book journalist is Joe Sacco who wrote Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde. Chapter 5 is on war comics. It was a a learning experience. I do not know a whole lot on World War II comics. I am vaguely familiar with Fighting Combat, Unknown Soldier, and Sergeant Rock, but not much else. I like my comics to be closer to fantasy than reality a lot of the time.

The final chapter, Chapter 6 is on comics as literature. He talks quite a bit about Classics Illustrated, a comic which I do not like at all. It tends to be poorly done and flat in my opinion. I prefer original works focused on literature. Rocco Versaci does mention Peter Kuper's interpretation of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and Robert Crumb's Introducing Kafka which is a morosely funny interpretation of Kafka's life.

Shakespeare seems to be the standard which many comics aspire to. Mr. Versaci praises the series of Puffin Graphics Shakespeare comics. Quite frankly, I think the best theater comics are P. Craig Russell's opera adaptations including Bluebeard, The Magic Flute, The Ring of the Nibelung and Parsifal.

Later in the book, he identifies who he considers to be the most literary comic book writers, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Robert Sikoryak. I have never read Robert Sikoryak, so I really can't comment on him. I would add Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and Bill Willingham's Fables.

This book taught me quite a bit and it is worth reading if you want to learn about comics as a literary medium.

I spent some time looking through the McGraw Hill Professional books website this morning. I looked through the construction, medical, and engineering books sections. It is a useful website.
http://www.mhprofessional.com/

I think I am going to read Ice Haven by Daniel Clowes on the train home tonight. There is something about Clowes graphic novels which somehow combines absolute nerdiness with absolute coolness.

Good Morning

A Short History of America by Robert Crumb, Joni Mitchell

I read some more of This Book Contains Graphic Language Comics As Literature by Rocco Versaci. The second chapter is about comics memoirs. There are a lot of very interesting books mentioned in this chapter, One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry, The Quitter by Harvey Pekar, The Playboy by Chester Brown, and Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. Alison Bechdel's story is quite interesting.

This is a short movie of Alison Bechdel drawing.

The third chapter of the book is about Maus by Art Spiegelman. The original drawings of Maus that appeared in RAW magazine are very different than the current graphic novel. The current graphic novel which won the Pulitzer Prize and the Harvey Award is much more minimalist. Art Spiegelman said he would not make Maus into a movie. The story is about Vladech, Art Spiegelman's father who is a Jewish holocaust survivor. It both tells the story of Vladech's experience of the holocaust and his relationships with his family. The book is very interesting to read. It is not an easy story.

Today has been very busy. They passed on most of the mail from the collection development librarians to me. I sorted through a number of catalogs and made recommendations from; Oxford University Press, Modern Language Association, and Baker and Taylor.

Along with lots of minor things to take care of, I have been very busy. This morning, I arranged to have some old law books discarded, talked to someone about the movie licensing agreement, checked in the business office about my healthcare coverage, and took care of a number of minor activities.

I really like Oxford University Press. Their reference books are surprisingly affordable compared to many other publishers. You can get a number of reference books for under $50 which is cheap for reference books. This is true of many of their dictionaries across a variety of subjects. Libraries are always looking for things which they can afford. Budgets are soon going to tighten if the economy gets worse.

Recently the Oxford English Dictionary celebrated its 80th Anniversary. Their blog has a number of special articles on this subject currently http://blog.oup.com/

Daily Thoughts

Mary Shelley A Miniature Portrait by Reginald Easton.

Daily Thoughts

I've started reading This Book Contains Graphic Language Comics as Literature by Rocco Versaci. Rocco Versaci teaches the Comics As Literature course at Palomar college. I've just started reading the book. It has a quote from Dan Clowes on the cover, "Big-Hearted And Clear-Minded".

One of the first characters that Rocco Versaci recognizes is Krazy Kat by George Herriman. Krazy seems to be a favorite of cartoonists. This is a short video of an early Herriman cartoon.

Rocco Versaci also mentions Daniel Clowes and the Brothers Hernandez as being very literary. I am partial to Love and Rockets. Fantragraphics maintains a page the Brothers Hernandez. http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=69&Itemid=82

Los Brothers Hernandez are one of the few artisits that have as many female readers as male readers. They are very accessible. Another popular artist who has an equal number of male and female readers is Neil Gaiman. But, then Neil Gaiman is a fantastic all around writer of fantasy.

This Book Contains Graphic Language Comics As Literature is a fairly complex book. It is not the kind of book which I can sit down and finish in a single evening. The language is dense and contains critical interpretations you would find in academia, as well as very carefully thought out arguments about why and how comics are a literary form. There are a lot of different artists and types of comics being covered.

This morning I went to the doctor. I lost five pounds. I am planning on systematically losing five pounds every two weeks. I was told I had to cut back on carbohydrates, no bread, no pasta, no sugar, no rice, and eat less, focusing on eating five small meals a day instead of three large ones. I still have a little bit of reactive airways from the illness from a week ago, it should clear up in a few weeks. I have to change my lifestyle. I'm going for a walk in a little bit.