Graphic Novel/Manga Reading Thoughts

This is the unit - the reeadings, your intro, our discussion questions were most helpful. I have to admit to not paying any attention to graphic novels before this -& I haven't looked at manga yet!

We have a good GN/manga collection at the library but one librarian orders and organizes the collection and does most of the RA. We have arranged our GN/managa in the Teen area -- the big series are arranged by series, the other titles arranged by categories -- any adult titles would be interfiled. No use of the Dewey system.

One of the things we've seen with the series -- some series bomb -- the first few titles are checked out and then the rest just sit on the shelves. So, the librarian who orders is being cautious about adding whole series until she sees demand for volumes past the first few . . . .

I have ordered a few adult GN, such as a business title. I'm wondering how the adult will find it and will he/she stop looking if he gets to the GN section and thinks this is "just" a comic book and must not be nonfiction, must not be for me.

In the 3 titles I've read and others I want to try, I am choosing fiction based on fact or nonfiction titles. So appeal factors for me are the storyline, educational/historical value primarily but I do look to see if they've won an award or have a good review - most people won't do that I'm guessing. The other appeals are the Cover and the Artwork - AYA as an example - such beautiful, colorful artwork that you just have to start looking at this GN.

I found it interesting to see that classics are being adapted. And will mainstream authors become interested in writing GN? Haven't checked but I could see Jan Brett's work (especially the artwork) translating well into GN.

I also read in USA Today, 9/2/08 that a graphic-novel based film got a thumbs-up from 3/4 of reviewers and a box office of $134 Million - (I didn't write down the title)

And I was impressed to see that Art Spiegelman, author of Maus, won an early Pulitzer Prize.

So, I could see a way to make GN more appealing to adults but then would we need our own genre collection for adult GN - why would that be a bad idea - even if it's relatively small -- or would there be too many cross-over titles appealing to both adults and teens. Or could we create a sticker to indicate adult appeal - but who will make those judgements?

What creative ways are libraries using?

In the reading I learned that these are more than "just" comics, and can be lengthy and complex in terms of artwork and layouts. And it took me awhile to get used to reding both the text and visuals together and appreciate how they work together to tell the story.

In addition to the websites you suggested, I see that we own or have on order some graphic novel guides such as the 500 Essential Grapic Novels: The Ultimate Guide. And I did find a Boston librarian's blog in which she reviews Graphic Novels on Mondays.

Last thing - I suppose - will this be one genre without audio equivalent or are there some? I see it more likely that people will download GN/mangas.



Copied and Pasted my comments from the discussion forum: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I read Deogratias, A Tale of Rwanda by JP Stassen

This GN is based on the Rwandan tragedy (genocide) if tge 1990s. Since it's unclear how many people know the details of this tragedy, the books starts with a historical introduction, which is very helpful. The story is powerful, moving and unforgettable. Many of us may hesitate to read an entire book about genocide so the GN format provides readers with a way to more quickly learn about this historical event.

This GN has a gripping storyline, a "strong" main character and other developed characters. The artwork, in color, is very well done.

As a newbie, I foud myself reading the text only but then slowed myself down to read the text and view the art simultaneouly. Doing so, enhanced my reading experience. The text and art did indeed work well together to make the story more understandable to the reader (as suggested in our assigned reading). An excellent GN for me to start with - the story and main character will remain with me for a long time. An instance where fiction helps us learn about important events. However, I would recommend this for adults or older teens - it's a disturbing story -- I found it hard to get out of my head for many days after reading it - not for tweens or younger teens. Janice Dibble






Graphic Novels Janice Dibble
Like romance graphic novels and mangas bring to mind a stereotype of the reader and what the books contain. Did your opinion change at all with what you read?

Yes, my opinion changed. I had basically no knowledge of Graphic Novels – hadn’t read about the genre, hadn’t read a graphic novel, hadn’t read any reviews, articles, or attended any workshops. Our library has a graphic novel collection but I hadn’t had any RA exchanges with any of our readers. My impression was that they were like comics, that there was a lot of violence and mostly male teens and some male adults reading Graphic Novels. Regarding nonfiction, I had seen an article on a GN depicting Sept. 11th and a review in Business Week for a business/job hunting title. I certainly hadn't realized a nonfiction title would be called a graphic novel. I hadn't seen any romantic GNs either! The reading assignment helped me understand what a graphic novel is and importance of text and visuals and that the artwork can beautiful and intricate. The GN I read, and 2 other titles I’ve skimmed, increased my understanding, appreciation for the literary form and the artwork and variety of subject matter found in GN. There are more subjects than superheroes—which was my initial (uninformed) opinion. Graphic novels involve more then just text - what are some ways you can make yourself a more confident advisor for the readers of this genre? Think in terms of pictures and text. How much text? What is the art like?
Text and artwork: Although I can think of things to look at as listed below I still think I need to pick up and look thru many more graphic novels before I can feel a more confident advisor based on text and artwork.

To help me figure out a GN, I would look at the text to see the length of the GN itself --number of pages in the GN to maybe judge its complexity; I would look at the text bubbles to see length of the bubbles and whether the bubbles were written as phrases or sentences, to see if the bubles were written to move along the plot or as dialog, to see if the bubble text is descriptive (setting, place)
For the art work: I would look at the cover art, I would look at whether it's in color or black/white in the book, to see how detailed or elaborate it is - line drawings, block prints, or more detailed work -- color, detailed artwork, I would look to see if there were "frames" in which there was only artwork and no text and yet the story progressed; I would look to see if the drawings were more cartoon-like or more "traditional", I would look to see if people and places (setting interior and exterior) added depth to the story. Would readers pick a GN based on an illustrator they'd liked in a previous GN?


One of the hardest things about graphic novels is that the genre is so broad. You have everything from lighthearted, romantic manga to books about the holocaust and the sexual abuse of a child. What are some of the keys you can use in helping a customer?

Keys would be: has the reader read any other titles and what were they are what did he/she like about them? With specific titles I'd look to see if those are part of a series; if a specific title I'd look it up on our webcat, after creating more links and lists, I'd use our web site to help me identify titles, I'd look at some library sites with GN blogs for newer titles or look for web sites with read-alikes if there are some good lists, I might suggest some award winners or titles that were turned into movies (or movies based on a GN)-- for example, the movie Wanted with $134 M box office this year as of Sept. 2nd might be something to suggest. There are some guidebooks out there and I'd consider adding to our collection.
The key I used as a reader was the cover and book cover (insiJanicde or back cover) description of the GN.
Again, I see lots of time needed by me to practice getting used to GN subgenres and recognizing those before confidently recommending other than reviewed or award-winning GNs I know about (but these might not be what the reader wants) And, although I cited series in my above answer, I know at our library some series are very popular throughout but we've had some where first three to four titles are popular and later titles in the series are little-used.