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It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a comic book!

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a comic book!. Graphic Novels and Manga for Young Adults. Corrina McGill LIS 9364. Outline. Intro Definitions History Genres Manga Appeal Promotion Controversy Conclusion & Questions. What is a Graphic Novel?.

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It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a comic book!

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  1. It’s a bird, it’s a plane,it’s a comic book! Graphic Novels and Manga for Young Adults Corrina McGill LIS 9364

  2. Outline • Intro • Definitions • History • Genres • Manga • Appeal • Promotion • Controversy • Conclusion & Questions

  3. What is a Graphic Novel? • Sequential art, or telling a story through pictures- combines text & images • Not comic strips- graphic novels tell a story, not a joke • Graphic novels are a format, NOT a genre- they are like books or movies, and can cover the same range of subjects, age ranges, reading levels, genres • Can be published in a variety of formats: floppies, trades, digests, etc.

  4. Myth #1: Comic books are for kids • NO THEY AREN’T • Graphic novels & manga are made for almost every age range, from beginning to expert reader • Pay close attention to the suggested age range

  5. Golden Age1930s-early 1950s • 1938: Superman is created by Siegel & Schuster • Superheroes are born: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Green Lantern, Justice Society of America • Heroes based on magic and myth dominate the field • Very popular during WW2 with soldiers as cheap & portable entertainment • Also romance, humour, horror, crime, Westerns, jungle, Disney characters, science fiction

  6. Silver Age of Comics1956-1970 • Heroes based on science are popular • Many Golden Age superheroes are reborn; they get new origin stories, names, costumes, powers • Characters became more flawed and self-doubting • Superheroes born: Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Daredevil, Martian Manhunter, Justice League of America, Archie, X-Men

  7. Bronze Age1970-1985 • Darker stories with real-world problems, ex. drug use, alcoholism, pollution, poverty, racism, feminism, death • Rise of minority superheroes, team-up stories & crossovers • Experimentation with other genres • 1971 “Green Goblin Reborn” story arc of Amazing Spiderman led to the end of the CCA

  8. Modern Age1985-current • Stories become darker & more violent • Characters are more complex & have deep psychological motivations • Many more independent publishers

  9. Seduction of the Innocent • Published in 1954 by Dr. Fredric Wertham, a psychiatrist who worked with troubled youth • Blamed juvenile delinquency on crime & horror comics • Comic book violence begets social violence • Claimed there were erotic images hidden in the artwork that were suggestive & harmful to young readers • Went against published studies & claimed that comics cause severe reading difficulties

  10. Sterling North • Literary critic and Newbery Honor book writer • “sex horror serials…graphic insanity…the bulk of these lurid publications depend for their appeal upon mayhem, murder, torture, and abduction—often with a child as the victim. Superman heroics, voluptuous females in scanty attire, blazing machine guns, hooded ‘justice,’ and cheap political propaganda are to be found on almost every page…badly drawn, badly written, and badly printed, a strain on young eyes and young nervous systems—the affect of these pulp-paper nightmares is that of a violent stimulant…the parent who does not acquire that antidote [bookstores and libraries] for his child is guilty of criminal negligence.”

  11. Stanley Kunitz • Pulitzer Prize winner & US Poet Laureate • “a child conditioned by the jerky, jiggling, inflamed world of the comics is a damaged child, incapacitated for enjoyment of the more serene pleasures of the imagination” • Wanted libraries to prevent children from reading comics

  12. Comics Code of Authority • Created in 1954 by the Comics Magazine Association of America to • self-regulate the industry • Comics approved by the CCA would • get a stamp on the cover • Not mandatory, but highly • encouraged since many newsstand owners would only carry CCA-approved comics • Banned graphic violence & gore & sexual innuendo

  13. Comics Code of Authority • “Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals” • “Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority” • “In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds” • “No comic magazine shall use the word ‘horror’ or ‘terror’ in its title” • No vampires, zombies, ghouls, werewolves, or other horror creatures, no blasphemy, no sex, seduction, nudity, no obscenity or profanity

  14. Genres: Superheroes • Peter Coogan lists 3 pivotal criteria: • Mission • Powers • Identity • Superman, Supergirl, Superboy, Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Oracle, Spiderman, Spidergirl, Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, X-Men, Green Lantern, Thor, Martian Manhunter, Captain America, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Hulk, She-Hulk, Black Canary, Daredevil, Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Flash, Black Widow, Silver Surfer, Catwoman, Power Girl, JLA, JSA, Teen Titans, Alpha Flight, Excalibur, Runaways…

  15. Genres: Literary Adaptations • Both classic literature and current novels illustrated and shortened into comics form • Popular with schools & libraries because it is thought these are of better quality

  16. Original Graphic Novels • An original story told in graphic novel form

  17. Genres: Fairy Tales • Folk tales, fairy tales, myths, legends

  18. Genres: Biographies

  19. Genres: Licensed Properties • Uses characters from television, film, toys, literature, etc.

  20. Genres: Science Fiction

  21. Genres: Horror • Not usually child friendly

  22. Genres: Romance

  23. Genres: Juvenile

  24. Manga • Chinese “man”=involuntary + “ga”=picture • Also translated as “crazy drawings”, “irresponsible pictures” or “whimsical pictures” • General term used to cover Japanese, Chinese & Korean-style sequential art • Books are traditionally read back to front and right to left- often English translations include a guide for those unused to the format • Changing the books to read front to back, left to right is called flopping- makes it more expensive to translate & publish. Unflopped books have beg=come more popular in recent years

  25. Manga • Manga is highly popular in Asian countries with both males and females in all age ranges, and accounts for 40% of all material printed in Japan • Covers the same genres and ages as graphic novels • Began coming to the West in the 1960s, but popularity exploded in the 1990s with anime (animated manga) • There have been difficulties translating not only the language but also the culture and symbols- some books include guides to specific cultural references • Nonsexual nudity is less of a taboo in Japan, so many books have content that is considered inappropriate to the Western viewpoint

  26. Manga

  27. Terms for manga • Tankobon: bound paperback volumes, • Shonen: aimed at 6-18 year old boys. Plots include fighting for justice, winning the girl, or achieving a goal despite problems. • Shojo: aimed at girls under 12. Focus on relationships, including romance, and more character interaction • Seinen and Josei: late teen audience, more violent & sensual content, adult concerns • Shonen-ai and Yaoi: “boy-love”, or homosexual content, written for women • Shojo-ai and Yuri: lesbian content, written for men • Hentai: explicitly sexual and/or pornographic content • Manga-ka: creator of manga • Fanservice: elements put in to pander to fans, such as close-ups of female cleavage or underwear, that does not help either the plot or characterization

  28. Myth #2: Comics are easy to read • Comics are traditionally thought to help weak readers, since they can look at the pictures to help decipher the text • Researchers now see comics as being a different kind of reading, possibly more difficult than text-only reading, since the pictures must be interpreted as well as the words, and may contain different information • Groensteen argues “meaning is assigned to almost everything one sees from the empty space of the gutter to the frame of the panel; all of these require an involvement from the reader that is different in its nature to that required by a literary text.” (Sabeti 141)

  29. Appeal • Many of the appeal factors for the various genres are the same for books, both fiction and nonfiction: plot, language, character, style, length, subject, difficulty, predictability, outlook, conventionality, etc. • Visual preference, e.g.. the reader likes to look at the pictures • Visceral pull: we feel what we see. Many people find it easier to emotionally connect to images than to words • Highly popular, especially with the recent influx of comic book movies

  30. Promotion • Same as other formats: book talks, displays, programming, reader’s advisory interviews, book clubs • Many popular characters have stories available in different formats: graphic novels, novels, manga, anime, movies, stop-motion comics • Cross-promote with comic retailers • Free Comic Book Day • Read a Comic Book in Public Day

  31. Controversy • Attitudes about comics are still held over from the days of Seduction of the Innocent, that comics are trash and teach children about sex and violence • People will often complain because they can easily oversee the offensive images, instead of having to read the text • Tendency in superhero comics to hypersexualize bodies, especially female • The recent DC reboot has been especially controversial regarding the depiction of female characters

  32. Harley Quinn

  33. Catwoman

  34. Catwoman

  35. Starfire

  36. Starfire

  37. Controversy • Treat any challenges the same way you would for any other material • Refer to library policy • Graphic novels are often prone to theft and/or vandalism—children who want to keep the pictures, children who colour the black and white pictures, people censoring offensive images, people who can’t borrow the materials for whatever reason, collectors who want a copy, etc.

  38. Conclusion • Graphic novels & Manga are highly popular formats that have proven to increase circulation • They are an art form and have as much right to be in the library as any other popular material • The selection librarian needs to be very careful when choosing titles and when classifying them as children, young adult, or adult materials

  39. Questions?

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