This is what happens inside the first chapter that I was working on today. A boy and a girl, inside a car, facing the sea, in a cold january night. Politics, fueled by isolation and intimacy turn into sensual overflow.
The second chapter of today dealt with another of the main character's friends. Here it's the mood enhancers and the momentum of going for a night out that carries a dialogue of quasi stream of consciousness throughout.
But there's also a girl with golden grey eyes.
Very much in need of affection.
Just like the boy.
There was a chapter in between these two but its content actually did not belong to this section and so I transferred it to the section dubbed Amigos (or Friends)
The final chapter was actually broken in two. The first part also belongs to the Friends section. I reworked it so that it could be easily included there and more or less re-wrote the other part so that it fits inside this section: Campa (or Grave)
I also read another comic. Scalped vol. 1 Indian Country. By Jason Aaron and R. M. Guéra. Quite enjoyed it even though I wasn't really in the mood for a gritty crime story... I also wrote a review for it. Also to be published on the GNRG webpage at some point in the future.
I wrote a couple of posts but one is still on draft mode. It's good to pursue one's intuitions and best intentions but, sometimes, they don't seem to take us anywhere after we jump on them...
I also wrote a first draft for another short story for the New Scientist competition. I called this one Legacy. I really like it. It's told from a time far in the future, looking back at the remnants of the 22nd century. In my head this story was amazingly powerful and clear but, as soon as I started typing it, that feeling seemed to dissolve... I guess that's just how it goes sometimes...
or somedays...
In any case, I hope i will be able to look to it more objectively tomorrow or in a couple of days. This might be a good candidate to be sent...
I had the idea last night, while in bed. I lied there, musing if I should get up and write it down or if I could just see it clearly enough to be able to write it the next day.
Eventually I fell asleep...
But since I managed to remember it today that kind of graduates it to the kind of stories that hook me from the beginning. And those are usually the best.
I also read a bit of a book that I'm using to do research for a potential project to this years NaNoWriMo, in November.
Basically there are two ideas floating about.
One is to be written in English and I don't think I'll have to do any research to write it (though I could afterwards, if only to make some aspects a bit more plausible). I've already planned quite a few scenes for it and there's even a sketch of a structure for it.
I'm calling it NUME for the time being.
The other is to be written in Portuguese and there's quite a bit of research needed. So I was thinking of reading those books during NaNoWriMo and, hopefully, write the two books.
It may sound ambitious but I think that it is possible.
I don't want them to be very long. And, in actual fact, the two books are kind of the mirror image of the other.
At least in my head it makes sense for the two to go together...
The second one is called OS ANOS PERDIDOS (The Lost Years)
And, for now, I won't say anything else about them!
peace.
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Teachers and Friends
Just a quick word on today's writing activities.
Like I said yesterday, I worked on the teacher's chapter. It was a difficult one and I realised I had to alter some of the stuff that I had written yesterday. It wasn't realistic enough.
I was suprised to find some eerie but interesting overtones on the teachers ramblings... still don't know if I should make them clearer or simply leave them that way. Suffice to say that it reminded me a bit of what William Golding does on his sea trilogy. Insinuating rather than revealing and leaving words open to interpretation that depends more upon the reader rather than my personal intentions. This was definitely something that I had not planned but it does make a lot of sense. The clues are there, throughout the story. And that I'll perhaps reinforce from now on...
In any case I moved to a chapter where a friend of his, a girl, is confronted with the second birthday of his death. it's almost like, after his death, they grow closer and, to a certain extent, she starts replacing him.
Or him her.
(i'm really enjoying some of the things that are happening here...)
I managed to finish that one and the next. Which is with another girl that's having a somewhat disturbing dream. Disturbing on what happens but, especially on how that makes her feel.
Amidst all this I also read a graphic novel by Brad Meltzer (writer) and Ed Benes (penciller) called JLA The Tornado's Path. Also did the review for that which I will post in the GNRG community webpage at some point in the future... I enjoyed it somehow but not nearly as much as I had anticipated. It didn't really add anything to either the characters or storytelling. I guess I'm getting too old for covers with lots of people in super tights...
(there's the writing and then the revising... and I still need to finish another series first...)
I think all the chapters with his friends are going to have the theme of sex. And of mirrors when it concerns women. I won't venture any interpretations but there sure are a few out there.
The great thing about this is that at the same that i feel I'm closer than ever to this story, I'm finally beginning to feel more distance between myself and this story. It feels good. Somehow I'm getting there.
I'm on page 32. Still have 35 more before I finish this section. Don't know if I can do it tomorrow, even though I think there will be a chapter or two that I'm simply going to eliminate.
But I also have to more or less re-write a whole chapter. This guy just talks about politics and that's more or less out of the loop now...
Now it's sexuality my friends...
peace.
Like I said yesterday, I worked on the teacher's chapter. It was a difficult one and I realised I had to alter some of the stuff that I had written yesterday. It wasn't realistic enough.
I was suprised to find some eerie but interesting overtones on the teachers ramblings... still don't know if I should make them clearer or simply leave them that way. Suffice to say that it reminded me a bit of what William Golding does on his sea trilogy. Insinuating rather than revealing and leaving words open to interpretation that depends more upon the reader rather than my personal intentions. This was definitely something that I had not planned but it does make a lot of sense. The clues are there, throughout the story. And that I'll perhaps reinforce from now on...
In any case I moved to a chapter where a friend of his, a girl, is confronted with the second birthday of his death. it's almost like, after his death, they grow closer and, to a certain extent, she starts replacing him.
Or him her.
(i'm really enjoying some of the things that are happening here...)
I managed to finish that one and the next. Which is with another girl that's having a somewhat disturbing dream. Disturbing on what happens but, especially on how that makes her feel.
Amidst all this I also read a graphic novel by Brad Meltzer (writer) and Ed Benes (penciller) called JLA The Tornado's Path. Also did the review for that which I will post in the GNRG community webpage at some point in the future... I enjoyed it somehow but not nearly as much as I had anticipated. It didn't really add anything to either the characters or storytelling. I guess I'm getting too old for covers with lots of people in super tights...
(there's the writing and then the revising... and I still need to finish another series first...)
I think all the chapters with his friends are going to have the theme of sex. And of mirrors when it concerns women. I won't venture any interpretations but there sure are a few out there.
The great thing about this is that at the same that i feel I'm closer than ever to this story, I'm finally beginning to feel more distance between myself and this story. It feels good. Somehow I'm getting there.
I'm on page 32. Still have 35 more before I finish this section. Don't know if I can do it tomorrow, even though I think there will be a chapter or two that I'm simply going to eliminate.
But I also have to more or less re-write a whole chapter. This guy just talks about politics and that's more or less out of the loop now...
Now it's sexuality my friends...
peace.
Monday, 28 September 2009
Competitions and Revisions
you know, i really want to return to posting stuff more regularly.
this space is now more than one year old and i think it's time to be here more often.
So...
a few days ago i received my weekly New Scientist email. In it there was news of a flash fiction competition.
You can find out more about it here.
But, basically, if you're interested, you've got to write up to a maximum of 350 words under the theme How the world will be in 100 years?
The deadline is 5pm on the 15th of october 2009 and only one entry per person.
They're going to select one of these short stories to publish on their weekly paper edition and then a few other to be published online.
Do read the terms and conditions. It's quite short and to the point.
I've already written 5 short stories.
Resonance
The Moment
Our Tomorrows
Collapse
CloudSquared
The themes vary but my aim has been to insinuate rather than tell.
You see, I read the eight short stories that were posted online and i wasn't that happy with most of them. I liked the ideas but almost all of them lacked either wit or subtlety, or both.
Well... to be honest, I don't know if I've managed to make that happen with mine but that was the goal!
In any case, these are only the first drafts. I've been trying to work on my book and thus haven't been working on them. I know that, if necessary, if not before, I can do those on the 14th of October at midnight...
Today I spent a good deal of my time reading and revising the chapters relating to the father and the brother visiting the main characters grave.
The father chapter was a bit difficult because i didn't want it to sound too emotionally one sided. I don't know if I succeeded but I think it's a deep one and I think it will easily carry the reader through as well as hint at a very different perspective of the story.
The brother chapter had more or less the same problem. It kind of drifted from one side to the other. Halfway through it I was thinking that maybe this isn't cohesive enough but, on a second thought, perhaps that's just what it needs, that floaty emotionality. I feel it's a kind of flash forwarding kind of chapter. For me the brother starts talking in his early teens but finishes in his adult life.
Now I'm facing the teacher chapter. This is another of the guys visiting the dead guys grave, figuring out his own perspective on life, death and, obviously, the incident.
The problem is that a good deal of the text I've written doesn't really fit in the sense that it's a dialogue between two teachers, only then moving towards the internal, almost merciless monologue that characterises these chapters (they all belong under the work heading Grave).
So here's what I'm thinking of doing (and only because the stuff contained inside the dialogue is actually useful):
I'm gonna separate the dialogue from the monologue and thus create two different chapters. One to be the prologue of the other.
The first will be about two teachers talking (still don't know the location) about a third one that will end up going the funeral we've seen on the first chapter of the book.
The second will be about him actually being there, again giving us a new perspective on the main character and his predicaments.
Don't know if I'll have time to finish it today but I still have the next two days off so... to work!
It would REALLY be nice if I could finish revising this section by wednesday night...
peace.
this space is now more than one year old and i think it's time to be here more often.
So...
a few days ago i received my weekly New Scientist email. In it there was news of a flash fiction competition.
You can find out more about it here.
But, basically, if you're interested, you've got to write up to a maximum of 350 words under the theme How the world will be in 100 years?
The deadline is 5pm on the 15th of october 2009 and only one entry per person.
They're going to select one of these short stories to publish on their weekly paper edition and then a few other to be published online.
Do read the terms and conditions. It's quite short and to the point.
I've already written 5 short stories.
Resonance
The Moment
Our Tomorrows
Collapse
CloudSquared
The themes vary but my aim has been to insinuate rather than tell.
You see, I read the eight short stories that were posted online and i wasn't that happy with most of them. I liked the ideas but almost all of them lacked either wit or subtlety, or both.
Well... to be honest, I don't know if I've managed to make that happen with mine but that was the goal!
In any case, these are only the first drafts. I've been trying to work on my book and thus haven't been working on them. I know that, if necessary, if not before, I can do those on the 14th of October at midnight...
Today I spent a good deal of my time reading and revising the chapters relating to the father and the brother visiting the main characters grave.
The father chapter was a bit difficult because i didn't want it to sound too emotionally one sided. I don't know if I succeeded but I think it's a deep one and I think it will easily carry the reader through as well as hint at a very different perspective of the story.
The brother chapter had more or less the same problem. It kind of drifted from one side to the other. Halfway through it I was thinking that maybe this isn't cohesive enough but, on a second thought, perhaps that's just what it needs, that floaty emotionality. I feel it's a kind of flash forwarding kind of chapter. For me the brother starts talking in his early teens but finishes in his adult life.
Now I'm facing the teacher chapter. This is another of the guys visiting the dead guys grave, figuring out his own perspective on life, death and, obviously, the incident.
The problem is that a good deal of the text I've written doesn't really fit in the sense that it's a dialogue between two teachers, only then moving towards the internal, almost merciless monologue that characterises these chapters (they all belong under the work heading Grave).
So here's what I'm thinking of doing (and only because the stuff contained inside the dialogue is actually useful):
I'm gonna separate the dialogue from the monologue and thus create two different chapters. One to be the prologue of the other.
The first will be about two teachers talking (still don't know the location) about a third one that will end up going the funeral we've seen on the first chapter of the book.
The second will be about him actually being there, again giving us a new perspective on the main character and his predicaments.
Don't know if I'll have time to finish it today but I still have the next two days off so... to work!
It would REALLY be nice if I could finish revising this section by wednesday night...
peace.
Friday, 25 September 2009
Book revising and writs and blots
You probably thought that i had fallen through the wishing well, into the black void, out into the unexpected and lost from the land of the gnawing wall.
well I didn't.
(so far...)
In fact i've had a few busy months. Working and revision have taken up a good part of my time and I've just been lazy to tell you about it.
In fact, I spent most of august revising Morto and finding out that I needed to write an entire new section.
The thing just keeps getting bigger.
Fortunately I also feel it's getting better!
There's a lot of stuff put into this book. A lot of which is not entirely visible. There are a few experiments (in fact main storyline of the book is such a thing) in relation to plot devices and character construction that I'm curious to see how they work with the readers.
In august I revised most of the book. two thirds of it probably. I had a good rhythm and some discipline.
September however, it has been a different matter...
you see, I wanted to have it ready by the end of august... but i just couldn't do it. Especially when a new section needed to be added. I've got more than 120 pages of notes that I still need to type and there's probably some 30 or 40 more still to come...
Which is what I've been doing... slowly.
In any case, November is drawing dangerously close and i want to have empty headspace so that I can write something else on that month. Maybe even two new somethings... more on that later...
So, until then the plan is to more or less stick to this one, get it ready (come on! only 120 more pages of text to revise and some 10 or 20 more to write...) and get it out of the way.
As soon as the whole thing is typed and compiled I'm gonna print it out once again, read it again (no major revisions allowed just speelling and the odd sentence) along with whatever I deem necessary corrections, print it again and send it out to whatever book competition is running in portugal - as well as sending it to a few publishers.
So, I've got a month to do all that. Not as much as it seems.
Especially because October is going to be quite demanding work wise...
One of the problems that I've been having is this stifling of creativity that I sometimes feel while revising. I mean, for better or for worse, I jumped from revising Land Of Fog to revising Morto. And I miss writing something simple and short that gets out of the way in just a couple of days...
And I miss writing scripts...
So, yesterday, after a talk i had with a good friend of mine in Colombo's FNAC in Lisbon, I decided to write that Hulk story that can serve as a prequel to a larger series i'd envisioned a while ago.
I've called it Strange Ways and it's simply a chase sequence that will begin setting the stage for the Bruce Banner/Hulk relationship.
I envision the series as being a What If? type of story, ie, set outside the normal continuity.
The Incredible Hulk was probably the very first super-hero that I identified with.
Just a few days ago I was holding and showing a friend of mine the very first super-hero comic I ever bought and, you're right, it was an Incredible Hulk one.
I read it once again a couple of years ago and, even though it create an impact as big as that first time, it still retained all it's importance for me.
This is one of the things I've always enjoyed about comics. The ability to talk about the big themes in a perfectly simple and direct way.
I've read many Hulk stories through the years - and a few good ones - but I'm yet to see a series that really brings the character home.
I've liked Jeph Loeb's stories. The late seventies/early eighties (correct me if i'm wrong!) storyline where the Hulk is trapped in a labyrinthic dimension where each road takes him to a particular world, doomed (for a time at least...) to roam possibilities and strange existences.
This was my favourite time of the comic. Each story had some uniqueness to it and, in all of them, it was that crushing feeling of loneliness, of not belonging, of being an outsider that ran underneath everything. Even the episodic humour or the regular strangeness.
There were also a couple of "psychological type" comics that I enjoyed. Can't really remember which, but that's just me...
There have also been some stories that have tried to endow the series with as much realism as possible and, even though I think this is a good approach i think it doesn't fit the character entirely.
The Incredible Hulk is this wonderful bridge for the scientific mind to reach and make contact with the deeply ingrained emotions. In fact, Bruce Banner is the one who is lost, striving to find and regain his identity via the body which the Hulk so admirably represents. His story is pure hero quest. Only that his goal can only be on the inside.
It's also a story about purity. Purity of the mind. and purity of emotions - in their rawness, as expressed by the Hulk.
There are more things to say, of course, but I just don't want to reveal too much at this point.
In closing, I'd just want to say that, even after so many years and so many stories, I still haven't found one that has really filled and sated me. But I know I could write it.
So, what I did yesterday was to write down this short story, with very little dialogue, in hopes that this Portuguese Marvel penciller will read it and be interested and kind enough to want to know more about it.
Peace.
well I didn't.
(so far...)
In fact i've had a few busy months. Working and revision have taken up a good part of my time and I've just been lazy to tell you about it.
In fact, I spent most of august revising Morto and finding out that I needed to write an entire new section.
The thing just keeps getting bigger.
Fortunately I also feel it's getting better!
There's a lot of stuff put into this book. A lot of which is not entirely visible. There are a few experiments (in fact main storyline of the book is such a thing) in relation to plot devices and character construction that I'm curious to see how they work with the readers.
In august I revised most of the book. two thirds of it probably. I had a good rhythm and some discipline.
September however, it has been a different matter...
you see, I wanted to have it ready by the end of august... but i just couldn't do it. Especially when a new section needed to be added. I've got more than 120 pages of notes that I still need to type and there's probably some 30 or 40 more still to come...
Which is what I've been doing... slowly.
In any case, November is drawing dangerously close and i want to have empty headspace so that I can write something else on that month. Maybe even two new somethings... more on that later...
So, until then the plan is to more or less stick to this one, get it ready (come on! only 120 more pages of text to revise and some 10 or 20 more to write...) and get it out of the way.
As soon as the whole thing is typed and compiled I'm gonna print it out once again, read it again (no major revisions allowed just speelling and the odd sentence) along with whatever I deem necessary corrections, print it again and send it out to whatever book competition is running in portugal - as well as sending it to a few publishers.
So, I've got a month to do all that. Not as much as it seems.
Especially because October is going to be quite demanding work wise...
One of the problems that I've been having is this stifling of creativity that I sometimes feel while revising. I mean, for better or for worse, I jumped from revising Land Of Fog to revising Morto. And I miss writing something simple and short that gets out of the way in just a couple of days...
And I miss writing scripts...
So, yesterday, after a talk i had with a good friend of mine in Colombo's FNAC in Lisbon, I decided to write that Hulk story that can serve as a prequel to a larger series i'd envisioned a while ago.
I've called it Strange Ways and it's simply a chase sequence that will begin setting the stage for the Bruce Banner/Hulk relationship.
I envision the series as being a What If? type of story, ie, set outside the normal continuity.
The Incredible Hulk was probably the very first super-hero that I identified with.
Just a few days ago I was holding and showing a friend of mine the very first super-hero comic I ever bought and, you're right, it was an Incredible Hulk one.
I read it once again a couple of years ago and, even though it create an impact as big as that first time, it still retained all it's importance for me.
This is one of the things I've always enjoyed about comics. The ability to talk about the big themes in a perfectly simple and direct way.
I've read many Hulk stories through the years - and a few good ones - but I'm yet to see a series that really brings the character home.
I've liked Jeph Loeb's stories. The late seventies/early eighties (correct me if i'm wrong!) storyline where the Hulk is trapped in a labyrinthic dimension where each road takes him to a particular world, doomed (for a time at least...) to roam possibilities and strange existences.
This was my favourite time of the comic. Each story had some uniqueness to it and, in all of them, it was that crushing feeling of loneliness, of not belonging, of being an outsider that ran underneath everything. Even the episodic humour or the regular strangeness.
There were also a couple of "psychological type" comics that I enjoyed. Can't really remember which, but that's just me...
There have also been some stories that have tried to endow the series with as much realism as possible and, even though I think this is a good approach i think it doesn't fit the character entirely.
The Incredible Hulk is this wonderful bridge for the scientific mind to reach and make contact with the deeply ingrained emotions. In fact, Bruce Banner is the one who is lost, striving to find and regain his identity via the body which the Hulk so admirably represents. His story is pure hero quest. Only that his goal can only be on the inside.
It's also a story about purity. Purity of the mind. and purity of emotions - in their rawness, as expressed by the Hulk.
There are more things to say, of course, but I just don't want to reveal too much at this point.
In closing, I'd just want to say that, even after so many years and so many stories, I still haven't found one that has really filled and sated me. But I know I could write it.
So, what I did yesterday was to write down this short story, with very little dialogue, in hopes that this Portuguese Marvel penciller will read it and be interested and kind enough to want to know more about it.
Peace.
Thursday, 16 July 2009
So You Want To Buy Some Comics For Your Library Stock Hey?!....
Quite a few weeks ago a very nice librarian asked me for some info about comics buying for her library. She sent me a nice email and, of course, I ended up forgetting about it.
But today I tried to make up for it.
This is the result. This is simply what I sent her, no revision or research apart the one available in the inside of my cranium. There might be quite a few mistakes but, without having read this even once, I'm not really aware of them....
Please bear in mind that these are general considerations in relation to children and teen stock. I would like to do a similar thing for the adult stock but I don't know when I'll get round to do it. Probably when another librarian pops the question.
That I'll end up forgetting.
And then feel I'll have to make up for it...
(sorry Peta!!)
Hope this proves useful for you. Please do let me know what you think.
I work in Lambeth by the way and even though I am not a librarian per se, I do run (for now... another long story...) the Graphic Novels Reading Group and have advised many times librarians on books to buy, went on bookshops visits/buys, organised and hosted quite a few authors events and, alongside Pat (adult fiction librarian in Streatham Library) am generally considered the comics geek of the library staff and the port of call in all matters sequential...
So here we go...
Contrary to popular opinion I do not consider myself an expert on these things. To be honest I know A LOT more about adult material simply because that's what I usually read and have been reading for years.
So this is what I propose to do throughout the next few lines:
1 - considerations on age in relation to comics. My perspective on this. Why is it difficult to draw a line.
2 - a more global perspective on comics. Main areas in the world, different types of stock. what to expect.
3 - the publishers. and a brief breakdown on titles. An overview.
AGE
To be honest, I find it quite difficult to decide which book goes where. I know the whole story about separating young material from adult material but the fact is that the two will always manage to mix. Kids may not be able to take some stuff out of the library but they'll still manage to flick through it in the library.
In relation to comics, physical violence is a much more common thing than sexual content. With the themes themselves... well, that's a whole different ball game. More on that later (and if I forget, remind me - by the way, this is my home email, so i'll be easier to reach here).
When you think about super-heroes stuff you're really worrying (if anything) about the physical violence. Usually the epitome of this is someone having their head sliced off. Usually in a not-that-gruesome manner. It's hard for this to happen in one of the big titles like Batman, Superman, X-Men, Spiderman, etc, but it may happen. Still, if it does it will be in a "soft" manner.
When you're thinking about Manga (japanese, or, more broadly oriental comics, ie, also chinese, korean, etc) it's more the sexual content. But, the big advantage of Manga is that, when it becomes translated into english the publishers themselves rate it. So your job is made considerably easier. Having said that in manga context is really made important. Is it's to be taken seriously the subject will be framed in an appropriate manner. After all we're only getting a TINY fraction of the amount of stuff that is produced in Japan. And these are both the best-sellers and the critics choice and, quite often, the two are hand in hand.
PERSPECTIVE
My perspective is simply that kids are more than able to take care of themselves. It's the parents that may cause any ruckus, though I suspect that's unlikely because, if they're not supervising what kids are picking up, well, then they're probably not watching them read either. To my mind it's more important to be challenging with your stock rather than not. It's important to give the easy thrills that kids want but them also keep other stuff around so that hopefully they pick it up and grow as readers. This has always been one of my objectives with the graphic novels reading group. Debating themes rather than books has been an enormous factor into making this happen.
In any case, if I feel I'm being daring with a title I will let you know...
LINE
I think it's difficult to draw a line especially because of themes and how stories are constructed. Take Asterix for example, a classic kids comic (and a must to buy of european comics) but also a great read for adults. Both audiences will extract different things from it but, it was originally intended to please both. More recently you have Bone (Jeff Smith). It's this grandiose story about an unsuspecting princess trying to save her kingdom from falling into the evil hands of a strange being. It starts off fairly innocently, slow paced and all, with lots of slapstick and one is left unsure where it's all gonna lead (beautiful artwork by the way). But then, a third in, it becomes much darker and gripping, as if the story, even if aimed at a younger audience, had decided to capture the older readers too. And it gets really good. Even though it's scary in a way, Jeff Smith provides more than enough context and, again, his artwork will smooth the edges for us.
Why am I talking about this?
Because I feel that this is one of those stories where the adults will perceive the scary content much more clearly than the kids. For the adults there's a deeper more serious story going on.
And, if anything, kids want to read what the adults read. That's part of being a kid. Being a kid you know, what you're still to figure out is how it is to be an adult...
(and if we can point them in a good direction, great!)
So, I don't think it will be possible to draw a line at all. I mean, some of the stories may visually be very cartoony and fluffy but the content might be fairly different. Apart from what the publishers may say and some very broad lines (more on that later) of what they put out, you'll have to know the authors and books themselves.
GLOBAL
In my head I divide the world in four areas when it comes to comics. Continental Europe (which I just call European), America and UK (which i just call American Comics), Japan and so forth (which I call japanese comics or simply manga), the rest of the world (which i just call world comics). Lately it was brought to my attention Indian comics (though I am still to read one) and, because of their production, I think we should add a fifth one...
But, wherever you may look, one thing is for certain, almost all of them combine words with images, all of them work in sequence and all of them are cherished by people. Sometimes fantastically so (and with such numbers that I do think the phenomenon has a lot to do with the very nature of comics - you will notice that as soon as someone "gets it" with comics they tend to stay with it, quite often trying to drag other people into it too...), as in japan. I think it was paul gravett that has said that 60% (either in volume or money) of japanese book sales (and that includes scientific publications and etc) are comics (manga).
Comics are easily absorbed. Comics are simply a more "elaborate" form of picture books and we all know those are the first we give to children to teach them how to read and communicate better.
So what can you hope from these 4 regions?
Things have changed a lot in the last 10 or 20 years. Cultures are mixing so much that identifying the region where something might've originated is no longer possible just by the way it looks. But if I wanted to create some stereotypes this is what I would say:
AREAS
EUROPE
In terms of children stuff, a lot of slapstick and humour. Interjecting sequences of action with humour, quite often both at the same time. Think Asterix, Tintin, Spirou, Lucky Luke, Iznogoud, Leonard, etc. These are the classics and I think they still work quite well today. They're totally harmless and the drawings are particularly expressive when it comes to faces and body posture.
These titles often come out as an Album, which is a big format in comparison to your average Marvel or DC comic, about 54 pages in length. Usually one album per year is published in a particular series. Series usually last only for as long as the creators last.
AMERICA
Here is superhero territory. There's no other way around it. This is Marvel and DC Comics land with a few other small players thrown into this continuous battle for comics market rule by these two companies.
There's not that much humour in american comics. The emphasis is really men and women in spandex... so we can say that there's an undercover sexual trait in these... the busty heroine that saves the day, keeping the boys levels of interest understandably high. The violence is not something to worry about in the ongoing series.
(and this is also another feature of american comics... superman is over seventy and is still in his thirties... characters don't age and series continuously change writers and artists. whilst in european - and japanese - you might have only one or two people working on a comic, in america there's a production line of 5 or more people, without going into editors, advertisers and the rest of it)
American comics are aimed at little boys on the brink of puberty. It claims for a type of fantasy that they (the publishers) try to make sound as real as possible to heighten reader identification and thus hook kids even more. To my mind they're quite old fashioned even though, with the recent ressurgence via action films, they're now quite popular once more. So, I think it's important for you to buy the Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk, Spiderman, X-Men and the rest of it from Marvel, Batman and Superman and JLA and Green Lantern and Flash and whatever from DC Comics but, bear in mind that in terms of content these comics don't add much. There are exceptions of course but, more often than not, these are adult comics. The children stuff tends to be pretty bland overall, which is a shame for kids, perhaps more than adults, would profit more from good stories being told to them.
JAPAN
Japanese make life easy for us. And then you have Tokyopop and Viz making the job even easier by rating all the stuff for you.
Japanese tend to use black and white in contrast with, perhaps, the more traditional colouring of European comics and the often CGI type special effects and colours that are becoming increasingly common with american comics (think action films and you pretty much have comics theses days - great effects, not so much with the stories or the acting...)
Japanese also tend to take time with their stories.
And they always finish them up. Think soap operas. Mad, clever ones. japanese have every single idea you might've have conceived already turned into a comic. There's a lot of scifi and fantasy in the genre but also an incredible amount of "real life" stuff. No powers, just people.
Japanese take sexuality seriously and they consciously explore puberty quite often in their comics. You don't have to worry about explicit images in teen comics but be conscious that there will be a lot of talking and insinuating about. japanese are masters at keeping readers hooked up by placing the intention over and over again but never really delivering the action. This is why you have series with two characters madly in love with one another but failing at each turn of the way to actually interact in their heart's desire. They might bump accidentally into one another in a very suggestive manner but they'll both be terribly ashamed and thus be even more apart. This is definitely a recurrent theme in manga and, I suspect, is not only a tribute to shy bookish fans but has also to do with the way japanese view themselves and how their culture still is. One with a great degree of emphasis on roles and subservience and respect.
And, for this reason, not all of japanese content actually translates into the "european" experience.
To my mind this is not a weakness but rather a strength. People can say whatever they want about japanese comics but I have greater faith in them than in almost any other. They've taken them to the level of established culture. Something that is yet to happen on this side of the world. And, if it happens, it will probably be with their help. Surely indirectly but, almost certainly, directly too.
Just think that all the non-fiction you have in your library, all those wonderful dewey numbers also have a comics correspondent in japan. Cook books, bicycle repair guides, politics, history, computers, all with sequences of images and text wrapped around each other.
WORLD
The rest of the world is a great big mess and I don't know enough to give you a clear image. So, expect the unexpected.
And, quite possibly, you won't have to worry about Ghanese comics because (unfortunately, to my mind at least) you won't find any for sale...
INDIA
Again, no comment here. The only thing I know is that they tend to focus a lot on their culture and have a lot of baroque imagery and quite explicit action sequences. Think teh Mahabharat or the Baghvad Gita illustrated.
(at least this was the classical indian comic for many years)
STOCK/EXPECT
In terms of adventure stuff you can look anywhere. In america you easily find the movie tie ins and I strongly suggest you take that as a starting point (more on this when I get to the publishers themselves). In europe you have the adventure stuff but either with more humour or with more contemplation attached to it. A slower pace in certain respects. In japan not only this but also a huge emphasis on sport and, especially, relationships. You will find comics suitable for every kind of age group but also every kind of romantic interest. boys with girls, girls with girls and boys with boys. Many of these are beautifully done and are not invasive in any way. You will also notice that whilst boys will prefer the boys with girls thing, many girls will veer also towards the boys with boys or even girls with girls. And I don't think this has as much to do with the fact that its same sex love interest but rather that it is love interest, plain and simple, with all its hurts and joys.
PUBLISHERS
America is easy. You only have to look at Marvel and DC Comics (and all their subsidiaries...) with a hint of Image Comics and Fantagraphics and a few other small publishers.
MARVEL
This is the home of the:
Avengers
Incredible Hulk
Daredevil
Captain America
X-Men
Spiderman
Fantastic Four
and many others
These are the core titles I can remember from the top of my head (like this text...). There are a couple of things you need to know about this.
1- most of the stuff you can buy even without looking.
2- it's impossible to keep continuity because the Marvel Universe (or DC for that matter) doesn't have it.
3- it's important to follow a series if it spans more than one volume. Usually you'll have the same writer (or team) working on it, thus creating one of more story arcs for that particular series.
Here's how things work in the american super-hero market. Every month a particular title (and, for instance, the X-Men have several spin-offs or secondary titles attached to them) puts out in the market 22 or 24 pages of comic. Every few months, after a story arc is completed, these get 4 or 5 times 24 pages get collected into a single volume and called a graphic novel. Why is this important? Because there are also other graphic novels that are already released in the paperback (or hardback) format. These are usually contain ADULT material. So, if you open up a graphic novel and look at the bit where all the logo and trademark, isbn, addresses of offices and so on are placed, you will see, at some point something like
Originally published in single magazine form as Avengers #456-460.
This means that the book was part of the ongoing Avengers series. And because you now know that this is one of the "safe" series you can simply buy it.
Marvel has a subsidiary that they called MAX. This has more adult material. As a rule, if Marvel has another imprint then it's because it wants to do something that escapes the scope of their regular line of comics and that you won't probably be interested.
My advice in buying marvel would be in buying the Marvel Ultimates line. Pretty much everything apart from the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy which is a terrible comic. The idea behind this line was to recreate the marvel universe for a contemporary young audience. There's a lot of violence in some of the books but i don't think it's too bad. In any case, for what I've read, Ultimate Spiderman and Ultimate X-Men are very much safe. Ultimate fantastic Four has its ups and downs. Starts not so well but them becomes excellent after the 3rd volume. But, in these ones, is crucial that you start from volume one.
Another thing you might want to consider is to buy the hardback. Hardbacks are more expensive but they'll last longer and represent 2 volumes of the paperback.
then again, they might just get stolen and then, there goes your investment...
I think this is a simple and easy way to test your audience.
But by all means buy HULK stuff if you want to appeal to boys and all the rest of spiderman, x-men stuff that lies about. Especially spiderman that kids seem to love. the story of a brainy kids without any friends that saves the world in disguise, loved by the crowd, hated by the establishment. I think it tells a lot about the crowd that reads it if we think on the readers identification.
Again, the only thing you have to worry about is if the book you're getting is not the third part in a 5 volume epic written by this guy or other. Usually people try to make each volume a stand alone. Then again, if you have a kid pestering you saying
Where's the other two before this?!
is probably a good sign...
DC COMICS
DC is the home of Batman and Superman, but also of Robin, Catwoman, Justice League America (JLA), Flash. Green Lantern, Wonder Woman etc.
With all of these the only one you need to worry about is Batman. Again, is the graphic novel is a compilation of Detective Comics #566 to 571 you don't have anything to worry about. But if it has the same title as the compilation then it might be a more adult one. Batman is one of those characters that is not always easy to judge if you don't know the books/authors themselves.
For instance:
The Killing Joke, Arkham Asylum, Black & White, Year One, Gothic are all mature titles. The rest of the stuff from the continuity is pretty much alright.
But Batman truly has a darker side to it and it has often been the vehicle of some great storytelling. Not only those of the above but other stuff like The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (and, by the way, both of them collaborated on the first season of Heroes, Tim Sale did the drawings for the comics artist in the tv show) and the almost endless number of "one-shots" that regularly hit the stands/bookshops.
The Long Halloween is truly a detective story. It's dark and moody, extremely clever, and fantastically well told, both visually and storytelling wise. It is a mature book - in terms of content - and yet everything is suggested rather than shown. There might be the odd image of a bullet in the head or something but it is not without context or setting. And, in a way, that's why it is a more mature experience. It's one of those titles that can go either way. I don't mind it to be in the adult section at all, but for me it's one of those comics that simply should be inside libraries. Again, because it deals with violence head on but goes far beyond the surface.
With Superman you're safe. To my mind there isn't a single superman book that I have read that is mature. Unfortunately this also means that most of them are terribly bare comics.
A great exception is Grant Morrison's All Star Superman. It's two volumes and an amazing piece of work. Lots of sci-fi and humour and a great read. probably one of the most mature books I've read from superman is both Superman For Tomorrow (2 vols) by Brian Azzarello and Jim Lee and Lex Luthor: Man Of Steel (also written by Azzarello) and Red Son by Mark Millar. These throw in a lot of reflection about the nature of being different and the consequences of power, religion and politics. To my mind, the smartest of the super books...
If you go on to the DC Comics website you see that they have lots of little publishers attached to them. Don't pay attention to Vertigo because that's all mature stuff. With Wildstorm you're looking at stuff on the verge between mature and younguish. ie, superheroes more overtly violent, sometimes reckless, sometimes political, others, simply trying to be smart comics but failing at doing so. Still, if you want to risk a couple of volumes from this, I'd suggest the Authority. The first 3 volumes are excellent, even if graphically a bit strong at points. But, I'm sure kids would love them...
DC also has a lot of reprints of old Batman and Superman stuff (and others) and this is the Archives section. Stuff there is pretty safe and you'll get a good chunk for a fairly cheap price (per page). They're usually hardbacks. Then again, it's not contemporary stuff.
you might also want to look at some of Will Eisner stuff. He is often named as the person that created graphic novels in the first place and he is an admirable storyteller. Most of his stuff (apart from The Spirit, which is a great detective story from the 30's and 40's) reflects on his own experiences as a jewish immigrant and is absolutely full to the brim with human content. He is a reference to anyone in the genre. Again, even though his drawings are very cartoony, some of the stories have mature content. Not that there is any explicit violence but there is some implicit (domestic violence, alcoholism, deceit, greed, all the raw human emotions. And so, also a lot of love, determination compassion, etc. It's actually the mixture of so much emotional content backed up and framed in the story that make him such an important storyteller - to my mind he escapes well beyond comics. the problem is most of the world ignores this...)
With Image comics you might be looking at stuff like Invincible, Wild C.A.T.S or Godland. All of these are pretty much interesting. Actually, with Wild CATS look only for the stuff written by Joe Casey. Those are the smart ones. The rest is more for the action and the over the top drawings. Joe also writes Godland which is this incredible modern tribute to one of the great american comics creators of all times: Jack Kirby. This is the guy that, with Stan Lee, more or less created everything that Marvel owns today. And still a bit more for DC...
FANTAGRAPHICS
Does mostly adult stuff but, if you want to find Peanuts (Charlie Brown and co.) that's the place to look. And also some others. I believe Dennis the Menace and so forth. Again, this is better suited on a title by title thing.
Don't be deluded by Chris Ware's childish looking drawings. He's an amazing artist (and he will go down on comics history books, trust me) but he's a deceiver. This is for adults only. The content is a highly disguised analysis of contemporary society with a great deal of depression and cynicism thrown into it. Fantagraphics is the "artists" big publishing company. Fringe stuff mostly but also a great resource for some really clever and innovative comics. ie, get your adult fiction librarian buying some if you want to raise the cultural profile.
The rest is pretty much title by title. You've got to dig. I can't remember anything else useful to say about it really.
In the UK there isn't that much stuff apart from the 2000AD/Judge Dredd/Beano/Viz stuff. There is some new stuff happening but this is mostly to do with manga. New comics creators prefer to do manga rather than more american or european style comics. (go figure...) Plus, most of UK creators work for the americans anyway... (and they tend to be the best ones, I have to say)
EUROPE
I've pretty much stated in the beginning what I know. I know the classics that I enumerated in the beginning but not much of more contemporary stuff. Then again, there isn't that much stuff translated. The larger volume of translations these days is japanese into english. (go figure...)
JAPAN
Go on to tokyopop and Viz (another Viz, not the british slapstick, cheeky monthly comic) and browse through the list of titles. You'll see how many volumes. Ages. and a brief synopsis of the content. It will only be difficult because of the amount of stuff already available. I'd add Dragonball and Full Metal Alchemistand Pokemon and Digimon and all these series with kids playing cards and spawning creatures out of them. I'd also say for you to buy some of Osamu Tezuka stuff. He's the godfather of manga and to tell you what I think about the man would take at least another email like this (and, even if I want to, I still want to go to bed and sleep...). Astro Boy is a series from the sixties about a robot kid that is trying to fit in with the humans. A kind of more modern Pinnochio. Patricia Dunne in Streatham has told me that even though this series is 40 years old it's still extremely popular with the kids. So much so that she keeps buying books to replace.
manga is smaller in size than american comics and european ones. The paper isn't lush but it holds pretty well considering. They're also cheaper (since they're black and white) but here continuity is crucial. Don't buy volume 6 and 7 of One Piece or Fruits Basket and expect them to issue well. It's all about context. And context starts with page one, volume one.
BINDINGS
They're improving. Beware that some of the comics will be used so often (and bear in mind that, in my opinion, comics are probably read more inside the library than taken home, even if their issuing is high) that they'll just collapse. Especially with manga, partly i suspect because they're so portable. Also some kids will love them so much that they'll tear the odd page of artwork out ruining the experience for everybody else... so be prepared to keep checking them.
The worst bindings I've come across are the ones of animation films turned into comics. These are the worst. I think they issue well but they separate from the cover sometimes the first time you open them.
You'll know them easily from the rest of the manga if they're in full colour (and based on a film).
The same can be said with quite a few of american animation turned into manga format comics.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
I think a library can only benefit from having both an adult and a teen graphic novels section. one will enhance the other in my opinion. And you'll see that many adults will read the kids stuff as well.
(and that some kids will want to take the older stuff as well... or simply read it in the library...)
Reading comics is fun! So, don't just buy them. Read them. Get the flavour. Without it I don't think one can really get around buying them efficiently and, most important, to truly provide for your readers. ie, not only want they want but also what can help them. And by all means buy a copy of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis if you want to tackle some important issues with young people. Ultimately it's a story about growing up in troubled times and learning that growing upis not always easy but it is as important as unavoidable.
Go to comics shops and look at the books. If you like the way they look other people will like them too. And if you know your own tendencies you will know also what things you might be leaving out.
Talk to the guys and gals at the shop. Comics geeks can be a bit annoying in their fandom but also extremely nice and down to earth people.
Think of genres more than titles. The titles come later.
Ask kids what they want to read next. Ask them what they read and why.
Even if a series is not initially successful doesn't mean you've made the wrong buy. Maybe you need to build an audience first. And that will take time.
Keep your collection complete. This is especially important in terms of manga. Japanese put a lot of emphasis in the role the story has on the reader. As the characters mature so does the reader. This is crucial to them and one of the reasons why I love japanese stuff so much.
But today I tried to make up for it.
This is the result. This is simply what I sent her, no revision or research apart the one available in the inside of my cranium. There might be quite a few mistakes but, without having read this even once, I'm not really aware of them....
Please bear in mind that these are general considerations in relation to children and teen stock. I would like to do a similar thing for the adult stock but I don't know when I'll get round to do it. Probably when another librarian pops the question.
That I'll end up forgetting.
And then feel I'll have to make up for it...
(sorry Peta!!)
Hope this proves useful for you. Please do let me know what you think.
I work in Lambeth by the way and even though I am not a librarian per se, I do run (for now... another long story...) the Graphic Novels Reading Group and have advised many times librarians on books to buy, went on bookshops visits/buys, organised and hosted quite a few authors events and, alongside Pat (adult fiction librarian in Streatham Library) am generally considered the comics geek of the library staff and the port of call in all matters sequential...
So here we go...
Contrary to popular opinion I do not consider myself an expert on these things. To be honest I know A LOT more about adult material simply because that's what I usually read and have been reading for years.
So this is what I propose to do throughout the next few lines:
1 - considerations on age in relation to comics. My perspective on this. Why is it difficult to draw a line.
2 - a more global perspective on comics. Main areas in the world, different types of stock. what to expect.
3 - the publishers. and a brief breakdown on titles. An overview.
AGE
To be honest, I find it quite difficult to decide which book goes where. I know the whole story about separating young material from adult material but the fact is that the two will always manage to mix. Kids may not be able to take some stuff out of the library but they'll still manage to flick through it in the library.
In relation to comics, physical violence is a much more common thing than sexual content. With the themes themselves... well, that's a whole different ball game. More on that later (and if I forget, remind me - by the way, this is my home email, so i'll be easier to reach here).
When you think about super-heroes stuff you're really worrying (if anything) about the physical violence. Usually the epitome of this is someone having their head sliced off. Usually in a not-that-gruesome manner. It's hard for this to happen in one of the big titles like Batman, Superman, X-Men, Spiderman, etc, but it may happen. Still, if it does it will be in a "soft" manner.
When you're thinking about Manga (japanese, or, more broadly oriental comics, ie, also chinese, korean, etc) it's more the sexual content. But, the big advantage of Manga is that, when it becomes translated into english the publishers themselves rate it. So your job is made considerably easier. Having said that in manga context is really made important. Is it's to be taken seriously the subject will be framed in an appropriate manner. After all we're only getting a TINY fraction of the amount of stuff that is produced in Japan. And these are both the best-sellers and the critics choice and, quite often, the two are hand in hand.
PERSPECTIVE
My perspective is simply that kids are more than able to take care of themselves. It's the parents that may cause any ruckus, though I suspect that's unlikely because, if they're not supervising what kids are picking up, well, then they're probably not watching them read either. To my mind it's more important to be challenging with your stock rather than not. It's important to give the easy thrills that kids want but them also keep other stuff around so that hopefully they pick it up and grow as readers. This has always been one of my objectives with the graphic novels reading group. Debating themes rather than books has been an enormous factor into making this happen.
In any case, if I feel I'm being daring with a title I will let you know...
LINE
I think it's difficult to draw a line especially because of themes and how stories are constructed. Take Asterix for example, a classic kids comic (and a must to buy of european comics) but also a great read for adults. Both audiences will extract different things from it but, it was originally intended to please both. More recently you have Bone (Jeff Smith). It's this grandiose story about an unsuspecting princess trying to save her kingdom from falling into the evil hands of a strange being. It starts off fairly innocently, slow paced and all, with lots of slapstick and one is left unsure where it's all gonna lead (beautiful artwork by the way). But then, a third in, it becomes much darker and gripping, as if the story, even if aimed at a younger audience, had decided to capture the older readers too. And it gets really good. Even though it's scary in a way, Jeff Smith provides more than enough context and, again, his artwork will smooth the edges for us.
Why am I talking about this?
Because I feel that this is one of those stories where the adults will perceive the scary content much more clearly than the kids. For the adults there's a deeper more serious story going on.
And, if anything, kids want to read what the adults read. That's part of being a kid. Being a kid you know, what you're still to figure out is how it is to be an adult...
(and if we can point them in a good direction, great!)
So, I don't think it will be possible to draw a line at all. I mean, some of the stories may visually be very cartoony and fluffy but the content might be fairly different. Apart from what the publishers may say and some very broad lines (more on that later) of what they put out, you'll have to know the authors and books themselves.
GLOBAL
In my head I divide the world in four areas when it comes to comics. Continental Europe (which I just call European), America and UK (which i just call American Comics), Japan and so forth (which I call japanese comics or simply manga), the rest of the world (which i just call world comics). Lately it was brought to my attention Indian comics (though I am still to read one) and, because of their production, I think we should add a fifth one...
But, wherever you may look, one thing is for certain, almost all of them combine words with images, all of them work in sequence and all of them are cherished by people. Sometimes fantastically so (and with such numbers that I do think the phenomenon has a lot to do with the very nature of comics - you will notice that as soon as someone "gets it" with comics they tend to stay with it, quite often trying to drag other people into it too...), as in japan. I think it was paul gravett that has said that 60% (either in volume or money) of japanese book sales (and that includes scientific publications and etc) are comics (manga).
Comics are easily absorbed. Comics are simply a more "elaborate" form of picture books and we all know those are the first we give to children to teach them how to read and communicate better.
So what can you hope from these 4 regions?
Things have changed a lot in the last 10 or 20 years. Cultures are mixing so much that identifying the region where something might've originated is no longer possible just by the way it looks. But if I wanted to create some stereotypes this is what I would say:
AREAS
EUROPE
In terms of children stuff, a lot of slapstick and humour. Interjecting sequences of action with humour, quite often both at the same time. Think Asterix, Tintin, Spirou, Lucky Luke, Iznogoud, Leonard, etc. These are the classics and I think they still work quite well today. They're totally harmless and the drawings are particularly expressive when it comes to faces and body posture.
These titles often come out as an Album, which is a big format in comparison to your average Marvel or DC comic, about 54 pages in length. Usually one album per year is published in a particular series. Series usually last only for as long as the creators last.
AMERICA
Here is superhero territory. There's no other way around it. This is Marvel and DC Comics land with a few other small players thrown into this continuous battle for comics market rule by these two companies.
There's not that much humour in american comics. The emphasis is really men and women in spandex... so we can say that there's an undercover sexual trait in these... the busty heroine that saves the day, keeping the boys levels of interest understandably high. The violence is not something to worry about in the ongoing series.
(and this is also another feature of american comics... superman is over seventy and is still in his thirties... characters don't age and series continuously change writers and artists. whilst in european - and japanese - you might have only one or two people working on a comic, in america there's a production line of 5 or more people, without going into editors, advertisers and the rest of it)
American comics are aimed at little boys on the brink of puberty. It claims for a type of fantasy that they (the publishers) try to make sound as real as possible to heighten reader identification and thus hook kids even more. To my mind they're quite old fashioned even though, with the recent ressurgence via action films, they're now quite popular once more. So, I think it's important for you to buy the Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk, Spiderman, X-Men and the rest of it from Marvel, Batman and Superman and JLA and Green Lantern and Flash and whatever from DC Comics but, bear in mind that in terms of content these comics don't add much. There are exceptions of course but, more often than not, these are adult comics. The children stuff tends to be pretty bland overall, which is a shame for kids, perhaps more than adults, would profit more from good stories being told to them.
JAPAN
Japanese make life easy for us. And then you have Tokyopop and Viz making the job even easier by rating all the stuff for you.
Japanese tend to use black and white in contrast with, perhaps, the more traditional colouring of European comics and the often CGI type special effects and colours that are becoming increasingly common with american comics (think action films and you pretty much have comics theses days - great effects, not so much with the stories or the acting...)
Japanese also tend to take time with their stories.
And they always finish them up. Think soap operas. Mad, clever ones. japanese have every single idea you might've have conceived already turned into a comic. There's a lot of scifi and fantasy in the genre but also an incredible amount of "real life" stuff. No powers, just people.
Japanese take sexuality seriously and they consciously explore puberty quite often in their comics. You don't have to worry about explicit images in teen comics but be conscious that there will be a lot of talking and insinuating about. japanese are masters at keeping readers hooked up by placing the intention over and over again but never really delivering the action. This is why you have series with two characters madly in love with one another but failing at each turn of the way to actually interact in their heart's desire. They might bump accidentally into one another in a very suggestive manner but they'll both be terribly ashamed and thus be even more apart. This is definitely a recurrent theme in manga and, I suspect, is not only a tribute to shy bookish fans but has also to do with the way japanese view themselves and how their culture still is. One with a great degree of emphasis on roles and subservience and respect.
And, for this reason, not all of japanese content actually translates into the "european" experience.
To my mind this is not a weakness but rather a strength. People can say whatever they want about japanese comics but I have greater faith in them than in almost any other. They've taken them to the level of established culture. Something that is yet to happen on this side of the world. And, if it happens, it will probably be with their help. Surely indirectly but, almost certainly, directly too.
Just think that all the non-fiction you have in your library, all those wonderful dewey numbers also have a comics correspondent in japan. Cook books, bicycle repair guides, politics, history, computers, all with sequences of images and text wrapped around each other.
WORLD
The rest of the world is a great big mess and I don't know enough to give you a clear image. So, expect the unexpected.
And, quite possibly, you won't have to worry about Ghanese comics because (unfortunately, to my mind at least) you won't find any for sale...
INDIA
Again, no comment here. The only thing I know is that they tend to focus a lot on their culture and have a lot of baroque imagery and quite explicit action sequences. Think teh Mahabharat or the Baghvad Gita illustrated.
(at least this was the classical indian comic for many years)
STOCK/EXPECT
In terms of adventure stuff you can look anywhere. In america you easily find the movie tie ins and I strongly suggest you take that as a starting point (more on this when I get to the publishers themselves). In europe you have the adventure stuff but either with more humour or with more contemplation attached to it. A slower pace in certain respects. In japan not only this but also a huge emphasis on sport and, especially, relationships. You will find comics suitable for every kind of age group but also every kind of romantic interest. boys with girls, girls with girls and boys with boys. Many of these are beautifully done and are not invasive in any way. You will also notice that whilst boys will prefer the boys with girls thing, many girls will veer also towards the boys with boys or even girls with girls. And I don't think this has as much to do with the fact that its same sex love interest but rather that it is love interest, plain and simple, with all its hurts and joys.
PUBLISHERS
America is easy. You only have to look at Marvel and DC Comics (and all their subsidiaries...) with a hint of Image Comics and Fantagraphics and a few other small publishers.
MARVEL
This is the home of the:
Avengers
Incredible Hulk
Daredevil
Captain America
X-Men
Spiderman
Fantastic Four
and many others
These are the core titles I can remember from the top of my head (like this text...). There are a couple of things you need to know about this.
1- most of the stuff you can buy even without looking.
2- it's impossible to keep continuity because the Marvel Universe (or DC for that matter) doesn't have it.
3- it's important to follow a series if it spans more than one volume. Usually you'll have the same writer (or team) working on it, thus creating one of more story arcs for that particular series.
Here's how things work in the american super-hero market. Every month a particular title (and, for instance, the X-Men have several spin-offs or secondary titles attached to them) puts out in the market 22 or 24 pages of comic. Every few months, after a story arc is completed, these get 4 or 5 times 24 pages get collected into a single volume and called a graphic novel. Why is this important? Because there are also other graphic novels that are already released in the paperback (or hardback) format. These are usually contain ADULT material. So, if you open up a graphic novel and look at the bit where all the logo and trademark, isbn, addresses of offices and so on are placed, you will see, at some point something like
Originally published in single magazine form as Avengers #456-460.
This means that the book was part of the ongoing Avengers series. And because you now know that this is one of the "safe" series you can simply buy it.
Marvel has a subsidiary that they called MAX. This has more adult material. As a rule, if Marvel has another imprint then it's because it wants to do something that escapes the scope of their regular line of comics and that you won't probably be interested.
My advice in buying marvel would be in buying the Marvel Ultimates line. Pretty much everything apart from the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy which is a terrible comic. The idea behind this line was to recreate the marvel universe for a contemporary young audience. There's a lot of violence in some of the books but i don't think it's too bad. In any case, for what I've read, Ultimate Spiderman and Ultimate X-Men are very much safe. Ultimate fantastic Four has its ups and downs. Starts not so well but them becomes excellent after the 3rd volume. But, in these ones, is crucial that you start from volume one.
Another thing you might want to consider is to buy the hardback. Hardbacks are more expensive but they'll last longer and represent 2 volumes of the paperback.
then again, they might just get stolen and then, there goes your investment...
I think this is a simple and easy way to test your audience.
But by all means buy HULK stuff if you want to appeal to boys and all the rest of spiderman, x-men stuff that lies about. Especially spiderman that kids seem to love. the story of a brainy kids without any friends that saves the world in disguise, loved by the crowd, hated by the establishment. I think it tells a lot about the crowd that reads it if we think on the readers identification.
Again, the only thing you have to worry about is if the book you're getting is not the third part in a 5 volume epic written by this guy or other. Usually people try to make each volume a stand alone. Then again, if you have a kid pestering you saying
Where's the other two before this?!
is probably a good sign...
DC COMICS
DC is the home of Batman and Superman, but also of Robin, Catwoman, Justice League America (JLA), Flash. Green Lantern, Wonder Woman etc.
With all of these the only one you need to worry about is Batman. Again, is the graphic novel is a compilation of Detective Comics #566 to 571 you don't have anything to worry about. But if it has the same title as the compilation then it might be a more adult one. Batman is one of those characters that is not always easy to judge if you don't know the books/authors themselves.
For instance:
The Killing Joke, Arkham Asylum, Black & White, Year One, Gothic are all mature titles. The rest of the stuff from the continuity is pretty much alright.
But Batman truly has a darker side to it and it has often been the vehicle of some great storytelling. Not only those of the above but other stuff like The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (and, by the way, both of them collaborated on the first season of Heroes, Tim Sale did the drawings for the comics artist in the tv show) and the almost endless number of "one-shots" that regularly hit the stands/bookshops.
The Long Halloween is truly a detective story. It's dark and moody, extremely clever, and fantastically well told, both visually and storytelling wise. It is a mature book - in terms of content - and yet everything is suggested rather than shown. There might be the odd image of a bullet in the head or something but it is not without context or setting. And, in a way, that's why it is a more mature experience. It's one of those titles that can go either way. I don't mind it to be in the adult section at all, but for me it's one of those comics that simply should be inside libraries. Again, because it deals with violence head on but goes far beyond the surface.
With Superman you're safe. To my mind there isn't a single superman book that I have read that is mature. Unfortunately this also means that most of them are terribly bare comics.
A great exception is Grant Morrison's All Star Superman. It's two volumes and an amazing piece of work. Lots of sci-fi and humour and a great read. probably one of the most mature books I've read from superman is both Superman For Tomorrow (2 vols) by Brian Azzarello and Jim Lee and Lex Luthor: Man Of Steel (also written by Azzarello) and Red Son by Mark Millar. These throw in a lot of reflection about the nature of being different and the consequences of power, religion and politics. To my mind, the smartest of the super books...
If you go on to the DC Comics website you see that they have lots of little publishers attached to them. Don't pay attention to Vertigo because that's all mature stuff. With Wildstorm you're looking at stuff on the verge between mature and younguish. ie, superheroes more overtly violent, sometimes reckless, sometimes political, others, simply trying to be smart comics but failing at doing so. Still, if you want to risk a couple of volumes from this, I'd suggest the Authority. The first 3 volumes are excellent, even if graphically a bit strong at points. But, I'm sure kids would love them...
DC also has a lot of reprints of old Batman and Superman stuff (and others) and this is the Archives section. Stuff there is pretty safe and you'll get a good chunk for a fairly cheap price (per page). They're usually hardbacks. Then again, it's not contemporary stuff.
you might also want to look at some of Will Eisner stuff. He is often named as the person that created graphic novels in the first place and he is an admirable storyteller. Most of his stuff (apart from The Spirit, which is a great detective story from the 30's and 40's) reflects on his own experiences as a jewish immigrant and is absolutely full to the brim with human content. He is a reference to anyone in the genre. Again, even though his drawings are very cartoony, some of the stories have mature content. Not that there is any explicit violence but there is some implicit (domestic violence, alcoholism, deceit, greed, all the raw human emotions. And so, also a lot of love, determination compassion, etc. It's actually the mixture of so much emotional content backed up and framed in the story that make him such an important storyteller - to my mind he escapes well beyond comics. the problem is most of the world ignores this...)
With Image comics you might be looking at stuff like Invincible, Wild C.A.T.S or Godland. All of these are pretty much interesting. Actually, with Wild CATS look only for the stuff written by Joe Casey. Those are the smart ones. The rest is more for the action and the over the top drawings. Joe also writes Godland which is this incredible modern tribute to one of the great american comics creators of all times: Jack Kirby. This is the guy that, with Stan Lee, more or less created everything that Marvel owns today. And still a bit more for DC...
FANTAGRAPHICS
Does mostly adult stuff but, if you want to find Peanuts (Charlie Brown and co.) that's the place to look. And also some others. I believe Dennis the Menace and so forth. Again, this is better suited on a title by title thing.
Don't be deluded by Chris Ware's childish looking drawings. He's an amazing artist (and he will go down on comics history books, trust me) but he's a deceiver. This is for adults only. The content is a highly disguised analysis of contemporary society with a great deal of depression and cynicism thrown into it. Fantagraphics is the "artists" big publishing company. Fringe stuff mostly but also a great resource for some really clever and innovative comics. ie, get your adult fiction librarian buying some if you want to raise the cultural profile.
The rest is pretty much title by title. You've got to dig. I can't remember anything else useful to say about it really.
In the UK there isn't that much stuff apart from the 2000AD/Judge Dredd/Beano/Viz stuff. There is some new stuff happening but this is mostly to do with manga. New comics creators prefer to do manga rather than more american or european style comics. (go figure...) Plus, most of UK creators work for the americans anyway... (and they tend to be the best ones, I have to say)
EUROPE
I've pretty much stated in the beginning what I know. I know the classics that I enumerated in the beginning but not much of more contemporary stuff. Then again, there isn't that much stuff translated. The larger volume of translations these days is japanese into english. (go figure...)
JAPAN
Go on to tokyopop and Viz (another Viz, not the british slapstick, cheeky monthly comic) and browse through the list of titles. You'll see how many volumes. Ages. and a brief synopsis of the content. It will only be difficult because of the amount of stuff already available. I'd add Dragonball and Full Metal Alchemistand Pokemon and Digimon and all these series with kids playing cards and spawning creatures out of them. I'd also say for you to buy some of Osamu Tezuka stuff. He's the godfather of manga and to tell you what I think about the man would take at least another email like this (and, even if I want to, I still want to go to bed and sleep...). Astro Boy is a series from the sixties about a robot kid that is trying to fit in with the humans. A kind of more modern Pinnochio. Patricia Dunne in Streatham has told me that even though this series is 40 years old it's still extremely popular with the kids. So much so that she keeps buying books to replace.
manga is smaller in size than american comics and european ones. The paper isn't lush but it holds pretty well considering. They're also cheaper (since they're black and white) but here continuity is crucial. Don't buy volume 6 and 7 of One Piece or Fruits Basket and expect them to issue well. It's all about context. And context starts with page one, volume one.
BINDINGS
They're improving. Beware that some of the comics will be used so often (and bear in mind that, in my opinion, comics are probably read more inside the library than taken home, even if their issuing is high) that they'll just collapse. Especially with manga, partly i suspect because they're so portable. Also some kids will love them so much that they'll tear the odd page of artwork out ruining the experience for everybody else... so be prepared to keep checking them.
The worst bindings I've come across are the ones of animation films turned into comics. These are the worst. I think they issue well but they separate from the cover sometimes the first time you open them.
You'll know them easily from the rest of the manga if they're in full colour (and based on a film).
The same can be said with quite a few of american animation turned into manga format comics.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
I think a library can only benefit from having both an adult and a teen graphic novels section. one will enhance the other in my opinion. And you'll see that many adults will read the kids stuff as well.
(and that some kids will want to take the older stuff as well... or simply read it in the library...)
Reading comics is fun! So, don't just buy them. Read them. Get the flavour. Without it I don't think one can really get around buying them efficiently and, most important, to truly provide for your readers. ie, not only want they want but also what can help them. And by all means buy a copy of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis if you want to tackle some important issues with young people. Ultimately it's a story about growing up in troubled times and learning that growing upis not always easy but it is as important as unavoidable.
Go to comics shops and look at the books. If you like the way they look other people will like them too. And if you know your own tendencies you will know also what things you might be leaving out.
Talk to the guys and gals at the shop. Comics geeks can be a bit annoying in their fandom but also extremely nice and down to earth people.
Think of genres more than titles. The titles come later.
Ask kids what they want to read next. Ask them what they read and why.
Even if a series is not initially successful doesn't mean you've made the wrong buy. Maybe you need to build an audience first. And that will take time.
Keep your collection complete. This is especially important in terms of manga. Japanese put a lot of emphasis in the role the story has on the reader. As the characters mature so does the reader. This is crucial to them and one of the reasons why I love japanese stuff so much.
Friday, 12 June 2009
Two AM
It's 2am, Friday morning, small hours.
Been spending most of this night around my only manuscript in Portuguese. It's called Morto. And it's giving me more trouble editing than I had anticipated.
I think it's because of some of the characters. They're still not clear in my head. And whilst that doesn't happen, I'll have to struggle some more.
The rest will be easier I'm sure.
But I spent 5 or 6 hours today around a scene in a bar.
Ended up writing a short one, just with 4 characters in order to define them a bit better.
Also realizing that this scene will have to be moved around a bit. I'm in the beginning of this story but this scene will probably be better placed closer to the middle of the story. The reader will need to know some of the characters fairly well before we get to it.
The main problem is that there's 8 people talking. The talk shifts back and forth around this dead guy and the inability of some of dealing with it.
And I still don't know the characters well enough to have them interacting so fully.
Yet, at the same time, I feel I need to do this scene in the order it was placed. I know that when I finish this version of it all the characters will be much clearer in my head and this will help me a lot throughout the rest of the book.
This is what I have been doing during the last few days.
This and some comics reviews.
I want to have a second draft of this book ready before the end of the month so that I can try and send it to a publisher in Portugal. They're called Objectiva and are looking for new writers and ideas.
At least I think that the first chapter is already quite good.
But I want to have the whole thing ready before that.
I want to have a clearer picture of this book and its quality before July comes.
Peace.
Been spending most of this night around my only manuscript in Portuguese. It's called Morto. And it's giving me more trouble editing than I had anticipated.
I think it's because of some of the characters. They're still not clear in my head. And whilst that doesn't happen, I'll have to struggle some more.
The rest will be easier I'm sure.
But I spent 5 or 6 hours today around a scene in a bar.
Ended up writing a short one, just with 4 characters in order to define them a bit better.
Also realizing that this scene will have to be moved around a bit. I'm in the beginning of this story but this scene will probably be better placed closer to the middle of the story. The reader will need to know some of the characters fairly well before we get to it.
The main problem is that there's 8 people talking. The talk shifts back and forth around this dead guy and the inability of some of dealing with it.
And I still don't know the characters well enough to have them interacting so fully.
Yet, at the same time, I feel I need to do this scene in the order it was placed. I know that when I finish this version of it all the characters will be much clearer in my head and this will help me a lot throughout the rest of the book.
This is what I have been doing during the last few days.
This and some comics reviews.
I want to have a second draft of this book ready before the end of the month so that I can try and send it to a publisher in Portugal. They're called Objectiva and are looking for new writers and ideas.
At least I think that the first chapter is already quite good.
But I want to have the whole thing ready before that.
I want to have a clearer picture of this book and its quality before July comes.
Peace.
Friday, 5 June 2009
May Days
May is gone...
And after April's rush it feels like I haven't done anything for a month...
Truth is, I can't even remember what I did. It does seems like I didn't produce a single completed piece of writing.
But I lie.
The only thing I did do throughout this month were a few comics reviews and some poems/lyrics/spoken word for a pet project of mine with my cousin Pietro Casella.
I did scribble down a few more ideas for other projects but nothing more than this. It was work mostly during this month and I have to admit that I kind of got carried away by it (too much to do) putting almost everything else aside.
It had been a while since I had felt that. Getting home and not being able to switch off the mind from what had happened during the day.
Suffice to say that I was quite stressed during most of the time.
And eager for my mini-break in portugal just last week.
I was eager for it because I knew that as soon as I had it, I could step out and come back with a different approach.
Which is what I did.
I read quite a bit while I was away (The Plato Papers by Peter Ackroyd and The Player Of Games by Iain M. Banks) and that really helped me get some focus for what I want to do (mainly) this next month and a half.
Which is to revise Land Of Fog and Morto (dead).
Easy, innit?!
Let's just see how it goes and if I can actually write more than a post a month...
peace
And after April's rush it feels like I haven't done anything for a month...
Truth is, I can't even remember what I did. It does seems like I didn't produce a single completed piece of writing.
But I lie.
The only thing I did do throughout this month were a few comics reviews and some poems/lyrics/spoken word for a pet project of mine with my cousin Pietro Casella.
I did scribble down a few more ideas for other projects but nothing more than this. It was work mostly during this month and I have to admit that I kind of got carried away by it (too much to do) putting almost everything else aside.
It had been a while since I had felt that. Getting home and not being able to switch off the mind from what had happened during the day.
Suffice to say that I was quite stressed during most of the time.
And eager for my mini-break in portugal just last week.
I was eager for it because I knew that as soon as I had it, I could step out and come back with a different approach.
Which is what I did.
I read quite a bit while I was away (The Plato Papers by Peter Ackroyd and The Player Of Games by Iain M. Banks) and that really helped me get some focus for what I want to do (mainly) this next month and a half.
Which is to revise Land Of Fog and Morto (dead).
Easy, innit?!
Let's just see how it goes and if I can actually write more than a post a month...
peace
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