LibraryTechtonics

I love it when my worlds collide. I mean, I know that libraries have collections of graphic novels and single issue comics, and I know librarians out there read and love them. But commentary on the Slave Labor Graphics blog on a commentary of a publishing of an anniversary issue of Watchmen where Jessa Crispin is quoted is very, very cool:

Comics: Past and Future
[slg_news on lj 1 dec '05]

Up at Slate now is an article by Tom Shone about Watchmen, which is being reprinted as Absolute Watchmen for its 20th anniversary. The year 1986 was a banner one for the comic book industry; DC published not only Watchmen (by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons) but Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, two works that changed the expecations readers have of comic books when it comes tone and story.* The new model was "gritty" and "dark" (and supposedly "realistic"), and emotionally tortured and morally ambiguous characters gained a new popularity.

Like Jessa Cripsin at Bookslut, I am unimpressed with the final paragraph of Shone’s article:

But did the comic book have to "grow up"? The last time I looked, the only ones reading Ulysses and quoting Nietzsche were teenagers. No adult has time for aesthetic "difficulty" or "self-consciousness." Life is too short. Frankly, we’d much rather be watching The Incredibles.

Read the rest for complete context, and the somewhat interesting and entertaining comment discussion that follows (not to mention the note that the * above goes to…).

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