As readers of his blog will be well aware, Australia's most famous graphic novelist is a man of eloquently expressed - and very strong - opinions. And had she done her homework, this little Bug would have known that there is one "piranha pond" of which young players are advised to steer well clear: the topic of What We Call Our Work.
Of course we've kissed-and-made-up, so I'm afraid I can't promise a WWE-style wrestling match when we appear together at the Melbourne or Brisbane writers festivals... but I can offer this little cartoon version of events, in which we all get a good walloping.
Special thanks to the lovely Jason Conlan, cartoonist extraordinaire and wrestling announcer, who kindly allowed me to borrow his "mister J" character as the guest commentator for...
The Title Fight!!
(I haven't yet learned how to make these pics bigger, so you'll need to click on each page to enlarge)
8 comments:
I draw comics. It's graphic storytelling in short bites for the most part, so not long enough for a novel, but even short pieces of literature are literature, as are children's literature, poetry humour, etc.
So, is the difference between "comics" and "graphic novels" a matter of length? Or seriousness? Or audience?
I don't get it. Comics are comics. "Graphic novels" is a good way of explaining the concept to mature adults who may be too dumb to understand, but the artform is still the same as far as I can see.
Do we then need other classes "graphic short stories," "comic novellas"?
Nicki, I can't wait for your book! The approach looks amazing.
Thanks very much, Ian. The book is now on the shelves!!! (little dance of joy)
I don't actually have a strong view on what these things should be called, though I'm most accustomed to just saying "comics", for better or worse.
Eddie's views on the subject are much more historically informed than mine - and I recommend his blog entry today if you want to hear them. He's given me plenty of food for thought - not just bruises!
Oh dear!
I do hope it wasn't THAT beastly.
That was great, Nicki, and I am happy you dragged Jason in for the commentary...
Thanks, Nicki, I've taken your advice and read Eddie's blogposts, though I don't quite know what to make of them. Mostly, my brain just keeps coming up with all the strips/continuing stories collected as anthologies/short literary graphic pieces, etc. that are in contradiction of what he's suggesting. But then, I hate rules and categories in any case. If I had to go that path, I'd say not all comics are graphic novels, but all graphic novels are comics :).
Apparently, your book is already available in some places, but alas, not yet at Readings - will grab ASAP!
Readings in Hawthorn had a couple of copies of The Great Gatsby so I grabbed a copy and I love it! I started reading it and made myself late back from lunch :).
Thanks so much, Ian. I'm so pleased you like it!
Your version of The Great Gatsby is a wonderful, magical, charming, mysterious book. I finished it and immediately started again. Well done.
Thank you very much - and I think your blog is great too. I got a good laugh out of the roll of huge quotation marks. Hope they were effective. N
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