Comments on: Helping New Graphic Novel Readers Understand Comics

By: Angelica Brenner

Angelica Brenner — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:47:57 +0000

As someone (slowly but surely) getting her mother into the comics-reading game, yes, a lot of beginners do have trouble understanding the importance of examining the images along with the words. Anything to help reinforce the concept that “less text doesn’t mean less story” is a good move, especially for those skeptical about the medium.

One thing I do wonder – where is this ad going to show up? Looks like a magazine ad. Entertainment Weekly?

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 22:08:35 +0000

Oh, Caroline, I don’t know, I enjoyed reading the first one. It was escapism, of course, but I’m a big fan of Joelle Jones’ art.

By: JRB

JRB — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 20:59:05 +0000

If you look at Amazon reviews for pretty much any popular author adapted into a comic/manga for the first time (Troublemaker being a prime example), there's a lot (lot!) of readers who complain about the books being a quick read, or not having enough words, or having silent pages (the cheats!), etc. (Not to mention the zillions of "OMG it's a comic book! I wouldn't have bought it if I knew it was going to be a child's comic book!" people.) Personally, I get a kick out of those reviews, but I could see how a publisher would not want that...

By: Caroline

Caroline — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 20:36:10 +0000

Oh, I think answering the ‘this goes way too fast for the money it cost’ is exactly the point. And I think there’s some value in this (I wish there was more writing aimed at beginning GN readers to help them realize it’s an acquired skill) but condescending stuff like ‘Don’t be surprised they are not talking about what happens in the pictures!’ is not the answer. Of course, I understand that these are pretty lousy books in the first place. ..