Ask The A.V. Club: December 18, 2006 | The A.V. Club on what sorts of graphic novels they’d like to see:
I’d … like to see more graphic novels that aspire to be literary, and not mere post-adolescent soap operas and melodramas. Too many of the non-fantastic “mature” graphic novels rely on disease, abuse, cultural identity crises, or just a generalized youthful ennui. All of these are fair subjects for literature—graphic or not—but it’s starting to seem like cartoonists don’t think a story is worthy unless it’s either about some really heavy topic, or panders to an audience of romantically challenged undergrads by obsessing over the minutiae of modern relationships.
I agree with this sentiment 100%. While I’m genuinely happy for the amazing amount of mainstream press that comics have been getting lately, it’s important to keep in mind that the books accorded this interest are very very few, and not of much breadth topic-wise.
Of the six graphic novels that come to mind that have enjoyed the most mainstream success—Jimmy Corrigan, Fun Home, Blankets, Maus, Persepolis and American Born Chinese—all but one are memoir, and all but one of those deal with some sort of ethno/political/gender subject matter.
Being a cartoonist myself, I’d be pleased as punch if the supposed mainstream American readership were genuinely becoming interested in the comics art form, but as of right now, all I’m seeing is a bit of novelty interest among some of the hipper literati, focused specifically on a particular variety of comics memoir. I’d certainly love to be convinced otherwise, though. Perhaps if more graphic novel publishers were as forthcoming with their sales figures as First Second, one could better evaluate.
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