There's nothing better than having an excuse to spend money on the things you love. Oh, and getting reimbursed for it with your professional development funds. As I get further and further along the road to developing my Graphic Novel as Literature course, I'm getting deeper and deeper into the world of comics. Who would have thought it possible?
First, let me start by saying I'm a traditional superhero comics guy. Tights and flights type of fare, but the world is slowly opening to me and showing me all the types of stories that can be told in this medium. On my desk right now are:
Pride of Baghdad
Persepolis
Blankets
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Understanding Comics
Promethea
Refresh, Refresh
and many others.
I'm swimming in this medium and loving every minute of it. First off, "Understanding Comics" is a revelation. I've been collecting comics for so long, but I've never quite understood the form of them in the same way I do now. The scale of abstraction vs. realistic depiction, the gutter, etc. There's a whole vocabulary out there that is making my experience of the medium that much deeper, richer, and exciting.
I wonder though if it will be like what a former grad school advisor warned me about in diving into reading. "Once you start reading like a writer, it takes a bit of the joy out of it." Well, I still love to read good fiction so I'm hoping that understanding the mechanics of graphic novels will not diminish my love.
Ah, who's kidding who, we're like star-crossed lovers comics and I. I'll drink the poison before I let them go.
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