Sitting around talking in comic book land

A review of Will Eisner’s final graphic novel (about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion) on amazon.com raises an interesting question. Can a story whose action consists largely of two people conversing make a compelling comic book? Are there certain rules we must abide by to make an interesting and engaging comic book? Obviously, what will hereafter be known as the Kirkman Doctrine (“make sure your work doesn’t suck, and you’re halfway there”) applies. But beyond that, do we have to inject a certain amount of action to make an effective comic book story? Is the medium limited in what it can convey effectively – are only certain types of stories suitable for comic books, and conversely, are certain types of stories not suited for comic books in any way, shape or form?

My next post will take an in-depth look at these questions and issues and try to arrive at some answers – at least, my answers, if not the Grand Cosmic Universal Answers.

In the beginning

I was too little to read, so my sister Tammy read my comic books to me. Mainly Batman, but some Superman as well.

Little did I know at the time that I was witness to some of comic books' finest hours, such as Neal Adams's run on Detective Comics. All I knew was that these were some great funnybooks!

"Ghost Mountain Midnight", from Detective Comics #440, stands out in my mind to this day. Batman on the cover, struggling to free a damsel in distress who is chained to a tree, while a horrible monster looms in the distance -- a very short distance, actually.

It was all about the DC 100 Page Super Spectacular in those days. 60 meager cents for 100 pages of comic book adventure! I didn't know or care that most of those pages were reprints of old material. All I knew was that when I bought one of those comics at Magic Mart, I had what seemed like hours of reading ahead of me.

Were comics in those days written for kids, or were kids just able to enjoy them, even though they were targeted at an older audience? What are kids doing today instead of reading comic books, and what does that portend for the comic book industry's future? If you had one chance to get a contemporary comic book into the hands of a 10-year-old, knowing that reading experience might make or break his future as a comic book fan and potential future creator, what book would you choose?

These are some of the topics, questions, issues, and conundrums I'll be addressing in ComicBookOlogy | CBO. So stick around -- sign up for the feed, post your comments, and click on any Google AdSense links you see if they seem of interest (so I will make a gazillion dollars, yeah, that's gonna happen!).

My answer to the one comic that 10-year-old should read, at the risk of giving Joe Casey more impetus for wearing sunglasses indoors, is GØDLAND. More on that later...