Concern over Dragon Ball spreading throughout Wicomico County, Maryland: The Salisbury, Maryland-based Daily Times has another article about the Dragon Ball tempest in a teapot. Now it appears that “the 24 ‘Dragon Ball’ books at the Wicomico County Public Library have been pulled from the shelves.” According to the article, this time by the Daily Times Salisbury reporter Laura D’Alessandro instead of county reporter Greg Latshaw, “it’s not simply that they may contain nudity but also because the library staff isn’t sure in which section to shelve them.”
A quick look at the library’s online catalog shows they have graphic novel sections for youth, where Toriyama’s Dr. Slump and Cowa! are shelved, and a graphic novel section, where a graphic novel intended for adults with some nudity and actually sexual scenes in it. Fun Home, is shelved. Dragon Ball is rated for teenagers 13 and up, and the other popular manga rated for teens like Death Note, Fruits Basket and Sgt. Frog are assigned as call numbers (that is, codes for where to find them on the shelf) “Youth Manga” or “Youth Graphic Novel, ” and shelved in the library’s “ teen lounge.” I determined that from hundreds of miles away after spending about three minutes on the Internet, so presumably the library’s “internal reconsideration” won’t take much longer than that to just put the damn things with the other manga rated the exact same way, forcing the Daily Times to find other ways to fill space during the apparently frequent slow news days in Wicomico County.
“When twitter meets the holocaust”: That’s the headline of this article from the Irish Independent, in which the, um, Dublin Twook Club discusses Art Spiegelman’s Maus via Twitter. Isn’t “the holocaust” supposed to be a proper noun, when referring to that particular holocaust? And what about Twitter? That’s supposed to be a proper noun too, right?
“I’ve always understood this to imply that he saw a significant difference between these and The Spirit ‘comic books’ that he was more than happy for DC to keep in their catalogue”: In this blog post, Eddie Campbell says he’s been scouting around to make sure he’s “up to date on the idea of ‘the graphic novel,’” as he’s supposed to appear on a TV show on the subject soon. In this post, he talks a bit about the work of Will Eisner, one of the artists often suggested as the creator of the form and the term. I’m interested in the distinction between a “graphic novel” that’s a graphic novel and a “graphic novel” that is just a collection of comic books, although I suppose it’s impossible for libraries, book stores, publishers and readers in general to ever sift through books on a case by case basis and divide them into easy to use and understand categories, based on the intention of the creators alone (Now would it necessarily behoove the people who make and sell various forms of graphic novels to do so). Campbell’s post is, as always, well worth a read and a think.
“Parade, festivities feature superheroes, sheep”: Now that’s a headline.
More ‘O.D.O.K.s: Allow Mike Sterling to introduce you to two new M.O.D.O.K.s, a Mike Organism Designed Only for Killing and S.W.A.M.P.D.O.K.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:29 am
On one hand, there’s no really good name for a collection of monthly comic books other than ‘comic book collection,’ I use the term ‘graphic novel’ pretty generically. On the other hand, I don’t call a short story collection a novel, I call it a short story collection.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Look at it this way – Charles Dickens’ novels were published a chapter at a time in British newspapers, and yet we call them novels. Graphic novels that are collections of comic book issues that are essentially chapters of one story are still “novels” in the same way that Dickens’ books are novels. That’s how I look at it, anyway. And there are graphic novel anthologies (such as Flight and Comic Book Tattoo) that make it clear what they are.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Has the phrase “trade paperback” become verboten in the land of comic book collections? I kinda miss that phrase being thrown around, and lament the way that “graphic novel” has taken on a very generalized meaning. It’d be a shame if the difference between a Will Eisner book and, say, a New Avengers compilation disappears completely.