9 11 Report
"The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation", based on the government commision report, has been releaseed for the 5th anniversary of the attack. It's actually supposed to be pretty much transcribed from it, taking 99 percent of the text directly, according to writer Sid Jacobson (creator of Richie Rich!?).
I'd been looking forward to it, since I wasn't quite ready to dig through the 568 page original but wanted to know what it had to say.. So, before its release, I looked it up online and what did I get?
USA Today says, "It looks like a comic book and reads like a comic book, but the subject matter is deadly serious" The Washington Post asks, "Can a topic as massive and sobering as Sept. 11 be dealt with effectively in the pages of a comic book?". CBS News takes it even further: "Is the most defining moment of a generation in danger of becoming just another franchise with a Happy Meal tie-in on the horizon?"
Poor comics! When are they gonna catch a break and get a little respect as a storytelling medium? In fairness, most of the articles just start out that way as a device, and then swing around to saying that comics have tackled serious issues before....like Maus. You know, the comic about the holocaust that was first published 30 years ago. And if they're especially in-the-know, they might even mention Persepolis.
C'mon! There are loads of comics with subject matter that rises above the stereotype. How about Nat Turner or From Hell or Pyong Yang or Blankets or Barefoot Gen or 70's era ghost rider? How about Joe Sacco?
The worst thing was that the creators are just as guilty of denying their medium any respect. They're making statements that it isn't a comic book, probably in a weak attempt to dodge this type of media. Sure, it uses words and pictures in panels in sequential order to tell a story, but...uh...its something new!
I'll wrap it up because this is an old rant, and I'm probably preaching to the choir (this is a comics blog). But to answer the question, "Can a topic as massive and sobering as Sept. 11 be dealt with effectively in the pages of a comic book?" When our other options for clarification are a 600 page string of confusing timelines and facts or a 2 hour drama intensive movie, it may be the most effective.
-Nick
I'd been looking forward to it, since I wasn't quite ready to dig through the 568 page original but wanted to know what it had to say.. So, before its release, I looked it up online and what did I get?
USA Today says, "It looks like a comic book and reads like a comic book, but the subject matter is deadly serious" The Washington Post asks, "Can a topic as massive and sobering as Sept. 11 be dealt with effectively in the pages of a comic book?". CBS News takes it even further: "Is the most defining moment of a generation in danger of becoming just another franchise with a Happy Meal tie-in on the horizon?"
Poor comics! When are they gonna catch a break and get a little respect as a storytelling medium? In fairness, most of the articles just start out that way as a device, and then swing around to saying that comics have tackled serious issues before....like Maus. You know, the comic about the holocaust that was first published 30 years ago. And if they're especially in-the-know, they might even mention Persepolis.
C'mon! There are loads of comics with subject matter that rises above the stereotype. How about Nat Turner or From Hell or Pyong Yang or Blankets or Barefoot Gen or 70's era ghost rider? How about Joe Sacco?
The worst thing was that the creators are just as guilty of denying their medium any respect. They're making statements that it isn't a comic book, probably in a weak attempt to dodge this type of media. Sure, it uses words and pictures in panels in sequential order to tell a story, but...uh...its something new!
I'll wrap it up because this is an old rant, and I'm probably preaching to the choir (this is a comics blog). But to answer the question, "Can a topic as massive and sobering as Sept. 11 be dealt with effectively in the pages of a comic book?" When our other options for clarification are a 600 page string of confusing timelines and facts or a 2 hour drama intensive movie, it may be the most effective.
-Nick
posted by Star Clipper at Friday, September 22, 2006
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