Comics
by Shannon on Tuesday, 20 of February, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Well I have finally done it, I have finally hit a new dork level. Really it didn’t take much, just a pure whim, to push me into this new, strange realm.
Sure, it started innocently enough, I was at my public library (for those of you who thought the internet did away with such arcane forms of information gathering they are still around) and I happened to notice a nice collection of graphic novels that is new to my library. Of course, I had to stop and look.
I must admit I’m not much of a comics reader. Not because I consider myself above them, mostly because my brain has gotten used to reading novels and making my own pretty pictures to play in my head. I’ve tried, I truly have. Last year a dear friend gave me the complete Elfquest Archives Volume One in a beautiful hard bound book. I love it, but I’ve never really been able to read it.
But for some reason at the library yesterday I decided to pick up one of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels. I couldn’t find the first so I got the second volume, The Doll’s House.
I wasn’t planning on being able to really get into it, I just wanted to see the artwork and get a feel for the comic in general. But, when I actually sat down to read through it I discovered that if I forced myself to slow way down and keep my eyes trained only on one panel at a time I could actually start to get into the story and the art at the same time without feeling too overwhelmed.
Imagine my surprise when I realized that the trick to reading a comic isn’t slap dashing through it just brushing the surface, but really concentrating. Noticing the slump in a characters shoulders, the subtle body language conveyed in the art as well as the words.
Now, I had never really considered myself a comic snob before this, but little did I know I was carrying a few prejudices about comics. I think I assumed they were easy, mindless reads with only the smallest of intellectual value. And I don’t know if it’s the comic I decided to start out with or if there’s a whole world of very well done graphic novels I have yet to discover, but there was more depth there then I had imagined. As weird as it is, in some ways I had to work harder for the story then I do in a novel. Sometimes novel writers just say too much. Some announce every emotion the characters are experiencing on loud speaker, or their motivations are dissected for pages and pages, until the reader grows so bored we never actually get to the point where the action occurs.
Of course not all novels are written like this, I know that, but the comic seems to force a writer to be a little more subtle, to leave a bit more to the reader’s imagination even if the “mental pictures” are being supplied. There are certain things that there is simply no room to delve into in a comic and it forces you to get to your point, and not to forget it. Ah, if only I could cultivate that skill myself.
Now, I realize some of this is due to the fact that this is a new medium to me, maybe partially my past inability to read a comic was because of my dyslexia, I’m not sure. Either way though, I’m kind of thrilled to have gotten through my first one. I feel like I’ve been initiated into some level of fandom I’ve never been able to obtain before. And yes, that sounded as pathetic to me as I’m sure it did to you, but oh well I’m just happy I’m no longer a comic virgin.
Category: Uncategorized, Reviews
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