In order to convey their topics in a combo of both words and visuals, makers of graphic novels draw on all their creativity, experience, knowledge, and skill to give you, the reader/viewer, a whole new encounter with a book.
Reading graphic novels requires a different approach than from reading a text-only book, reading the funnies in newspapers, or watching a movie. Reading both words and pictures for a book-length story—fiction or non-fiction—requires all of your own creativity, as well.
Graphic novels challenge both side of the brain: You must understand the words and their meanings while simultaneously grasping the intent of the pictures and their symbolic meanings. This is no small task, and can often require you to re-read the graphic novel and to re-view it, in order to grok the entirety of the author’s and artist’s intents.
Sometimes it’s not just about understanding the storyline; sometimes the artwork in and of itself is captivating. I have often found myself viewing a graphic novel by simply looking at the pictures without reading the words. Page by page, through to the end. Some artwork is simply that good.
Some graphic novels have such a compelling story line that I will read them from front to cover, just the words, as quickly as I can. Then, once I know the story, I will go back and re-read it with a focus on the visuals as well. Very good graphic novels will have me reading them three or four or more times, focusing on one element or the other, and then both together.
I love how these captivating graphic novels engage all parts of my brain.
Alison Bechdel of Dykes to Watch Out For fame, wrote a blurb for a graphic novel that includes this phrase: “…whose plot pulls you forward as insistently as the images demand that you linger.” That is the definition of an excellently composed adult-themed graphic novel.
There are two graphic novels in our local library system that encapsulate for me this near-perfect marriage of story and artwork. One is a non-fiction account of the background to Alice in Wonderland, written and drawn by Bryon Talbot, titled Alice in Sunderland. The other is a fiction story, My Favorite Thing is Monsters, written and drawn by Emil Ferris. Bechdel’s quote above comes from this book’s back cover, and I couldn’t agree more with her characterization of this graphic novel.
Now, it’s time to get yourself down to one of our local libraries and find your own combo!
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