Eureka!

Holy cow I found something cool!

So as I was browsing around trying to find those Classics Illustrated, I came across a website with full editions available for reading online. Just from glancing through Huck Finn, I can tell that there is clear intent to preserve the original author's style and storyline. While some chunks of text are missing, much of Huck's quotes, represented in text bubbles, are the same lines that appear in the novel itself. I'll report later on the comic's treatment of Jim, the use of the word "nigger" and the comic's adeptness at addressing the satire Twain hopes to put forward in this novel. I suspect that much of the "problems" of the novel have been glossed over or simplified. Even so, it is a much better representation of the classic text than Baronet is capable of producing in their Great Illustrated Classic series.

Skepticism and the Illustrated Classics

Jones, W.B. Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History, with Illustrations. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. 2002.

Acknowledged by many as a "road map to the real books," Illustrated Classics were an integral part of the literary growth from the period of 1941 to 1971. By the mid 1950's more than 100 titles had been published. They appeared in 26 languages and were wildly popular with the Baby Boomer generation.

Employed by Elliot Publishing Company, it was Albert Kanter who was responsible for the idea of the Classics comic. In 1941 he commissioned a 62-page adaptation of Dumas' The Three Musketeers, which was met with enthusiastic approval from the public. Designating themselves as the Gilberton Company, Kanter and his partner Raymond Haas, found their idea to be a great success. Kanter hoped to appeal to educators by incorporating "Back-of-the-book" sections that contained educational or patriotic materials.

After dying down in the 1970's, well after the "Golden Age" of the comic, Classics Illustrated experienced a revival in the 1990's through the First Publishing company in Chicago. Their ambition was to redraw the classics using the contemporary and rising styles of the graphic novel in order to appeal to a waning young-adult audience. Prominent artists of the day (indeed some with seeming Rock Star status) in the field, were invited to contribute their artwork to each endeavor.

More on Classics Illustrated here.
More skepticism on Classics Illustrated here.

My thoughts:
After spending the large part of this week trying to track these titles down, I'm feeling a bit daunted. The WMU librarians raise an eyebrow when I mention "comics" and while they are helpful at maneuvering through searches, they haven't found anything that I wasn't able to come up with on my own. I headed out to the Kalamazoo Public Library to see if their YA section had any of these texts. What I discovered was a multitude of Great Illustrated Classics published by Baronet Books. I found an old copy of one of these such texts, Moby Dick, in the used bookstore beneath Crow's Nest and spent some time skimming through it. What I discovered about these texts is that while they are "graphic" in the sense that every other page is a black and white illustration of the text that it accompanies, they do not conform to what is largely considered the sequential or graphic novel format. There are no text bubbles, frames, or pictorial movements for the reader to follow. The story is contained on one side of the book, and the pictures on the other side.

Perhaps for a young person--or more likely, an adult hoping to get his/her child into the classics--this might be a good "gateway" type of a text. The language of the classic the book represents has been immensely simplified. In fact, other than understanding the basic story of the classic, it would be impossible to glean the language or art of the original author.

From what I have read about the Classics Illustrated series, the artists and storytellers try to remain as true to the original author's tone, style, and text as possible.

I'm still trying to find one of these texts......back to Amazon for me.

Will Eisner, Some Theories.

Eisner, Will. Graphic Storytelling. Tamarac, FL: Poorhouse Press. 1996.

Some history:
Frans Masereel, Belgian political cartoonist, began producing "novels without words" and in 1919 published Passionate Journey, a novel told in 169 woodcuts. He creates 20 such novels.
Otto Nuckel, a German, Destiny, a novel in pictures, appears in 1930.
Lynd Ward also publishes grapic novels in woodcut form at this time. His novels chronicle a man's spiritual journey through life and his 6 succeeding books establish the "architecture" of future graphic novels.
Milt Gross, 1930 American cartoonist, writes satirical graphic novel He Done Her Wrong, as a spoof on the classic novel. (Forward, p. 1)

Eisner's Assertion:
"Despite the high visibility and attention that artwork compels, I hold that the story is the most critical component in a comic. Not only is it the intellectual frame on which all artwork rests, but it, more than anything else, helps the work endure. This is a daunting challeng to a medium that has a history of being considered Juvenile pap. The task is further compounded by the harsh reality that images and packaging elicit the primary reader response. Neverthless, comics is a literary/art form, and as it matures it aspires to recognition as a 'legitimate' medium." (2)

Storytelling focuses on the basic understanding of narration with graphics.

Comic reputation:
"Since comics are easily read, their reputation for usefulness has been associated with people of low literacy and limited intellectual accomplishment. And, in truth, for decades the story content of comics catered to that audience. Many creators are still content with furnishing little more than titillation and mindless violence. Little wonder that the encouragement and acceptance of this medium by the education establishment was for a long time less than enthusiastic." (Introduction, 3).

Rise of the Graphic Novel as literary work:
1965-1990, the graphic novel and comics begin to reach for literary content. Underground movements and artists propel this new direction. The opening of comic book stores provide new access to these texts. Themes addressed begin to show "maturation" on behalf of the writers: autobiography, social protest, reality-based human relationships, and history. The average age of readers begins to rise. Literary critics begin to examine and critique the form, generally with disfavor (Introduction, 4).

Comics as a Medium:
"Reading in the pure literary sense was mugged on its way tot he 21st century by the electronic media, which influenced and changed how we read" (5). Film and computer based texts monopolize readership. They become "a direct challenge to static print" (5).

Stereotypical Images:
"An accursed necessity" (17). "[Comics] depend on the reader's stored memory of experience to visualize an idea or process quckly. This makes necessary the simplification of images into repeatable symbols. Ergo, stereotypes. In comics stereotypes are drawn from commonly accepted physical characteristics associated with an occupation. These become icons and are used as part of the language in graphic storytelling" (18). Creating a stereotypical image for the purpose of storytelling is based on the principle that each society has it's own set of accepted stereotypes. Stereotypes are cultural in nature. Some stereotypes are globally recognized, for example: Good and evil.

Iconography/Symbolism of the object:
"Objects have their own vocabulary in the language of a comic. "Employed as modifying adjectives or adverbs, they provide the storyteller with an economical narrative device. For example, the icon of the gun/knife is highly recognizable by the reader as a symbol of violence. It's appearance illicits the reader to consider it in this way. The function of the gun is clear, but "how it is held is storytelling" (21) Similar to computer iconography, these symbols are derived from objects that are familiar to people. They carry instant meaning and recognition, without the use of words. Apparel as well, is symbolic. "In comics, as in film, symbolic objects not only narrate but heighten the emotional reaction of the reader" (22).

Control of the Reader:
"In comics, reader control is attained in two stages--attention and retention. Attention is accomplished by provocative and attractive imagery. Retention is achieved by the logical and intelligible arrangement of images. The reader's interest must be attained by content" (51).
This poses a problem when the storyteller hopes to create a situation of shock or surprise in the reader. Because the reader can simply browse ahead of the text, creating these situations is much more difficult (50-52)

Reader Influences:
Each reader comes to the reading experience under the influence of multi mediums.
Film: Audience is carried through the telling. No time is provided for pause or contemplation. The viewer is a spectator of artificial reality.
Interactive Video: The viewer is allowed to manipulate the rhythm of display and acquisition. There is no tactile sense as with printed text.
Text: Acquisition requires literacy, which involves thought, participation and recall. Readers convert words into imagery.
Comics: Acquisition is less demanding than text because imagery is provided. The quality of telling hinges on the arrangement of text and image. The reader is expected to participate. Reading the imagery requires experience and allows acquisition at the viewer's pace. The reader must internally provide sound and action in support of the text and imagery (69-70)

Film= spectator
Comics, graphic novels, traditional texts=Participant

The Writing Process:
Graphic narration = development of concept, the description of the concept and the construction of the narrative chain in order to translate the concept into imagery. Both dialogue and imagery should combine to create a seamless whole. Writing for the graphic medium, in effect, means writing for the artist. The writer supplies concept, plot, and characters, but the description of the action is addressed to the graphic translator. A script from the writer might provide the psychological content that the storyteller wishes to convey to the reader, however, it is up to the illustrator to convey this meaning to the reader through imagery.

Future Considerations raised by the text:
The idea of Visual Literacy, Other multi-model mediums of literacy developed since the book was published: Video games, MMO's, virtual worlds, Spoken word poetry, music, Ipods, Blackberries, Internet Chat, and Social spaces on the Internet.