A Circuitous Path to Graphic Novels

I am somewhat obsessed, at the moment, with graphic novels. But, before I just blurt out all the reasons why I think this medium is important I want to explain how I got here. After all, this blog is supposed to provide some insight into being an academic. And the ways in which I stumble around intellectually, finding good ideas along the way, is certainly part of that.

This story begins last summer on a walk I was taking with my walking meetup group. We were chit chatting as we walked and sharing information about television series shows that we found worth watching. One of the shows that came up was The Walking Dead, a show about an apocalyptic world in which people were constantly defending themselves against zombies. I was intrigued by this show for some reason. I am not normally a fan of zombie shows but several people claimed that it was way more than a zombie show. I asked around after the walk and found that a lot of people felt the show had some dramatic value. So, I watched a couple episodes and couldn't decide whether or not I liked it.

Several weeks later, I happened to be in a local used book store. As I was checking out, I saw a thick volume on display at the checkout counter, with the title The Walking Dead. I asked if it had anything to do with the TV show and landing up spending the next half hour coming up to speed. I absolutely love these kinds of encounters. The guys working at the used book store were excited to be asked about something they knew a lot about. And I was excited to get answers to all my questions. Usually, I just wear people down with questions and leave with more questions unanswered than answered. But, sometimes you encounter people who love to talk about what they know and know a lot. When this happens on a topic I am interested in, it is sublime.

It turns out that The Walking Dead was a graphic novel series from the mid 1990's. And the thick volume I was looking at was one of two compendium volumes. I don't know this for a fact, but my guess would be that the compendium was published due to the increased interest created by the TV show. But, for me, it was evidence of a huge gap in my knowledge. I knew next to nothing about graphic novels. And finding the hole I began to wonder what else I was unaware of.

So, I began pulling the thread as I always do. I randomly bought a few graphic novels and read them. I looked up 'graphic novels' on Amazon. I perused the Graphic Novels section at the library. Slowly I began stumbling on something very interesting. Although there are lots comics out there of varying quality, there was also a strain of profound artistic and literary thinking. I came across some authors such as Will Eisner and Scott McCloud who not only created comics but whose level of critical depth approached the depth found in more conventional forms of art and literature.

I realized (largely thanks to Scott McCloud's work) that the graphic novel paradigm had potential far beyond what had been realized thus far. Not only was there as yet untapped potential, but that potential looked very much like the future. And then, BANG! BOOM! KAPOW! I saw the light.