look ma, they've got pictures

We don’t get too many graphic novels at my library, and it’s kinda hard to know what’s good to buy or even request off interlibrary loan since: comic book stores scare me a little (they shouldn’t, but they do) and not too many print people are willing to admit there might be something to look at in some of these books. So I go to my old friend The Internet.

Graphic Novel Review is one good blog to look at, though it hasn’t been updated in a while: the blog is set up for reviews, obviously, but there’s often commentary about genre expectation as well. The first post starts off discussing how most people who read comics expect elements of the supernatural, the fantastical, and the just plain weird. Unless one’s reading Japanese comics, of course, but see below for that discussion. GNR also links to what other people are saying about graphic novels they’re reviewed, which is pretty cool: you can see other opinions. La Perdida and De: Tales look pretty interesting to me.

I guess the other downside is that GNR almost excludes what’s virtually eating up the comics market right now: those Japanese comics with the name I don’t know how to pronounce. (I haven’t been paying $10/pop for Yayoi Ogawa’s epic romantic comedy/commentary on gender relations in Japanese society Tramps Like Us or anything. Nope, not at all.) I forget what the actual sales percentage of Japanese versus American comics is right now, but I know it’s in favor of those across the ocean, and many of the people buying in the US are female. A blog that reviews both comics, industry issues and manga - I can type it even if I can’t say it - and is updated quite frequently, is Comics Worth Reading.

And if most of the literary world keeps on thinking that just because it’s got illustrations it’s not worth looking at, well, they’re just losing out.