Single Works and Series
We’ve thus far learned that Graphic Novels for adults cover a wide and diverse range of topics; that reading them challenges both our creative and rational brains; that graphic novels are organized by frames and panels on the page; how lines and colors are important to the stories; and how words are conveyed in graphic novels through a variety of modes, such as word balloons or different styles of lettering.
Now we look at the works as a whole, in either single sets or in series.
Many graphic novels are designed to be stand-alone books, just as many other text-based books, movies, and songs are single works. And just like these other creative expressions, graphics can vary in their complexity as well.
Some are purposefully simple in the story they are conveying and the artwork used to tell it. You & A Bike & A Road is one example, as is The Boy, The Mole, the Fox and The Horse. (Perhaps there is an inverse relationship between the length of a book’s title and its simple story?)
Other graphic works become much more complex to the point they are like large, involved fiction novels. These are books that take the same kind of attention as any text-based novel, only now we are looking as well as reading. If they are well-done, you will want to re-read and re-view the book several times, as you do any well-enjoyed movie.
Once Upon a Time In France is a complex fictional story drawn with simple lines and color palette, all contributing to the involved story of an East European Jew who migrates to Paris to become an influential businessman and then has to contend with the reality of an encroaching WWII.
The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace & Babbage explores in a graphic-steampunk-science kind of way the truths and what-ifs of Ada Lovelace, the woman mathematician who assisted Charles Baggage, the oft-cited founder of computers, in the 1800s. It has lots of text, then sections of graphics, and then more text. It’s the sort of book one wants to savor and chuckle with a little at a time each night (like a fine glass of wine) while sitting in your easy chair.
Individual works can be as complex as any novel, or as detailed as any science tome, and are also stand-alone works done by the same author that can be enjoyable to read in clusters.
One such author is Ottaviani, who writes science-based stories adapted to graphic novels. We have Feynman, a biography about the famous physicist, in our local library system, and Primates, about the women scientists who pioneered new ways to study our genetic cousins. Ottaviani has many other science-based books as well, all well-worth reading; many are at the Fayetteville library, and include Wire Mothers, Suspended in Language, Fallout, and others.
Another author to look for is Richard Geary. We are lucky to have several of his books in our library system, including The Borden Tragedy, The Lindbergh Child, The True Death of Billy The Kid, and an adaptation of The Invisible Man. Geary likes to write about murder mysteries that remain unsolved, doing much of his own research to compile the stories in as fact-based a manner as possible. His lines are simple, making it even easier to read the stories themselves. Again, the Fayetteville library has an extensive collection of his murder mysteries.
A delightful author I’ve enjoyed watching “grow up” over the years is Lucy Knisley. We have several of her books at our Eureka Springs library, including Relish, My Life in The Kitchen; French Milk; Displacement; Something New; and Kid Gloves. These books are memoirs or travelogues told in a disarmingly honest and funny manner with simple drawings that add to the storyline.
I’m just touching the surface of what’s available at our library system. Whether stand-alone graphic works or books with similar themes by the same author, you can find just about any entertainment or information you might want in a graphic format. And next week we’ll explore graphic novel series, of which there are many high-quality ones.
So get yourself down to the library and see what book or author floats your boat!
Visit webonbooks.com for more articles by William.