The power of Potter (7/25/05)

The article linked above is about the new Harry Potter novel, but contains some good press for comics as well, including a swell quote from yours truly:

If Harry Potter doesn’t lure kids in, maybe comic books will. That’s what librarians are finding, as they reel in book-wary students with comics, graphic novels, and manga, the genre of Japanese comics. “Kids exist in a visual world, and comic books are a natural mode of text for them,” says Ben Towle, cofounder of the National Association of Comics Art Educators, which is promoting the use of these works in literacy programs as well as other school subjects.

Skeptics may still think of comics as trash lit. But Michele Gorman, an Austin librarian, is a believer. “They’re fun, but they’re not always easy to read. The vocabulary can be advanced, as can the imagery,” she says. That’s why she’s focusing on the library’s comics collection. After all, Maus by Art Spiegelman, the graphic novel telling of his father’s story of survival during the Holocaust, is as powerful as (if not more than) any plain-prose volume, and Jeff Smith’s Bone series, about three cousins who get separated in a weird world, is often compared with The Lord of the Rings .

Wide Awake Press: INDIE ISLAND AT THE 2005 HEROES CONVENTION

The link above is a report on the recent Charlotte con, via J. Chris Campbell of Wide Awake Press, along with some pictures from the event. Regarding me, Chris relates the rarely told tale of my introduction to the facinating world of mini-comics:

Ben Towle tells Rob and me about the time he met old man Haversham up in the hills of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He showed Ben how to make mini-comics out of tree bark, twine and a pocket knife. Said he drew his comics in his own blood and kept them in mason jars buried in his yard. He even showed Ben a map he made pointing out the spots of all the jars. Thankfully Ben has a photographic memory and made a copy of the map when he got home. One day he says he’s gonna go back up there and dig up everyone of them mini-comics. That Ole Ben is such a crazy fella.