Thus, the novel was reinvented. My love of the graphic novel began with The Watchmen, and ended with the silver screen. Along the way, I rushed through Marvel comics, MAUS, American Splendor, and several others.
But, there is something lost in the translation of a graphic novel to the big screen. And yet, I have a feeling this one may become an interesting movie could someone pull it off. And so, without further ado, I advice you all to purchase this soon, begin reading it a few pages at a time. For those of you who have never tried a graphic novel, here are a few reasons why we should read them.
Graphic novels are visual stories of cultural issues. The aesthetics alone could be reason enough, yet it is often the complex story line that gives the novels their focus on social issues, humanity, and the often odd commentary on what constitutes art. I truly believe that if we want to call ourselves enlightened, then we must admit to seeing these graphic novels as the new medium with which students will interact. In fact, even contemporary fiction has become more visually friendly. Go into B and N and see how many “cool” novels actually have some type of drawings in them in place of words (even Faulkner did it – if you can tell me where and when, I’ll send you a free copy of Incognegro on me).
For those of you who need to understand HOW to read the graphic novel, here are a few tips:
You can’t skip the pictures for the sake of the words.
You can’t skip the words for the sake of the pictures.
Remember, these are novels, not episodic narratives like other comics. You may need to slow down, and absorb each typeset frame and word in order to make sense of the overall effect. As you get used to the pace of the graphic novel, you can speed up. However, don’t assume you know what is happening from the pictures alone, or vice versa. It is important to take your time on this experience.
To get you interested, I’ve included reviews of Mat Johnson’s work from some good newspapers:
Okay. Assignment should probably be to obtain novel and post initial feelings of first few reads into it by October 13th. Then, if we have enough interest, we can move from there.
Also, don’t forget to read Mat Johnson’s introduction to his novel.
Okay, then… will have to get it this weekend… I usually skip author’s intro (ugh, is that part of the assignment?) since I think authors are secondary to their work. Ha.
Am not a big Faulkner reader – only thing I know that he drew on was a play that I am not even sure was published? The Marionettes? And that’s not a novel so… never you mind… Should have paid more attention in class. Dammit.
Whoo Hoo! Adding this to my errand list for today!
Well, the author’s note is somewhat interesting, but a little self-absorbed.
I’m not so sure it would translate into a movie very well. A lot of the art is perfect in that it can change him from the way black people see him (as a fellow black person) to the way white people see him (as a white person). Maybe, if they got an amazing actor.
I don’t want to host on my site, not with your nice setup here! I was confused until MN straightened me out and sent me here.
I can’t say that I enjoyed this book in the same sense of a Broadway fanatic expressing their love for “Cats.” But I definitely can say that I could not stop re-reading this book. The artwork and the story creates a great experience.
But I can’t find the words that would express how I feel about “Incognegro” – Sure, there’s disgust and just plain amazement at how vicious and violent racism can become. Within the first few pages, I was incensed – not so much by the act of lynching, but by how such a horrible act can become a festival, bring your buddies, bring some beers, bring the kids while a person, whose basic anatomy is the same as the audience, is disfigured, tortured, beaten, and eventually killed and disemembered for trophies and look! you can get your picture taken with the deceased!
It’s an in-your-face explanation about how hate can be dehumanizing – both in scope and in action. When you think about it, the people in our lives that we hate, whether it is 5 minutes or for the rest of our lives, we instantly place those people in an intellectual, emotional, developmental class beneath ourselves or just plain out of the Homo erectus category – does this make it easier to hate a person or is it what we use as justification for such an intense emotion?
There’s so many topics I could pluck from this. Here’s a few:
The want of recognition from peers(Zane within the newspaper and Harlem, Carl from Zane)
Career advancement and availability options and race & gender(Zane, Pinchy, Francis)
Exploitation of wanting to be loved(Michaela and Pinchy)
Community attitudes of 1920’s Harlem versus Deep South
Harlem Renaissance and the rise of Black artists, how that would affect Zane.
The role of women and minorities in 1920s
Parental limitations on childrens’ potential(Zane vs Pinchy)
Attitudes and actions towards people of varying skin color – Carl’s experience and downfall.
Oh, how do I love the ending of this book. Perhaps cliche, but wholly satisfying.
I have some questions for you all:
Can any of you “pass” as a different ethnicity? Have you? Why?
I just wonder because I pass every single day as white, yet I identify as Native first, White second.
My husband seems to be whatever race people are hoping he is. Latino, White, Native, and Hawaiian have all come up, from members of those communities! How strange!
I’m not really good at asking literary questions. Ask away, everyone else!
I am undeniably Korean, but am often asked if I was Hawaiian, Alaskan, or belong to the various Indian tribes in AZ. When I was stationed in Japan, I was often assumed to be Japanese. Living in AZ, when I met other Asians, I’m often asked if I belong to the group the person asking belongs to(Filipino, Chinese, Laotian, Vietnamese, etc).
I’m almost finished – so I’ll hold on to thoughts on the meaty parts like plot, characters, whatnot. (sorry, stuff, life
One thing with which I seem to struggle when it comes to graphic novels is that the sounds I hear in my head fall flat – perhaps because I’m already getting the visual images so I shut down the aural ones…?
Also the colors – I miss colors when I read a black and white graphic novel (no pun intended).
How do you get past that?
(oh, and… no, I couldn’t pass. Not even after a long Minnesotan winter. I assume you meant race? If ethnicity… I’ve been told that I look more Chinese than Korean by Chinese people, that I look more Japanese by Korean people, and I have no idea what Japanese people think – except for my Japanese maternal grandmother who bemoans the fact that I got my looks from my dad’s side, which would make me look North Korean. I had a friend who is Indian who can pass as black and she has.)
MN – Think of old B&W film noir fare. I find that helps elevate the mood of the story. And often, I’m making up sounds as I read along.
Haha, I imagine Swan:
“Doot. Screeeeech! Pow!”
I blame it on watching “Batman” with Adam West in my youth.
But seriously, I imagine the background chatter going on during the scenes that open the book. In the restaurant, I hear glasses clinking, silverware scratching across plates, occasional laughter from another table. On the train, I hear the muffled sound of train engines, cars going clickity-clack over the tracks. On the horse cart, I hear the clip-clop on hooves on dirt, the rambling of the creaky wooden cart.
These are things that would be described in words had this been a regular novel. But given the words and pictures, I find I have to rely on my imagination more – which only gets me more involved in the story. I love graphic novels for this reason.
Pow! Zip! Oof!
Was it me or was the novel very short and the pacing amazing? I don’t know what else to say, as I’m starting over with the novel and going to give it another try in the next few days. I felt the ending was satisfying, too. But, I’m not sure it’s cliche yet. However, graphic novels are almost always cliche in some way because of the very notion of the graphic novel concept. It’s in many ways about the social hero, isn’t it?
Did anyone else take a gander at the graphic novel?
The novel is about on par for length with other graphic novels I’ve read – but the story and subject matter makes it a fast read. One of the reasons I read it so fast the first time around; I wanted to know what was gonna happen next!
Sorry coming to this so late! (And we totally missed the first book, even though I bought it just for this book club and Michelle finished it. Oh well.)
I read this earlier this summer and loved it. But in lieu of actual discussion on my part I wanted to offer that if anyone had any questions for Mat, I could forward them. His wife, Meera, is one of my co-contributors on ARP and so I know them both via our little parent-of-color-blogosphere, and he’d probably be cool with it.
DIASL – I say we send him some questions. People, listen and post questions here. Maybe he would comment back and give us permission to post responses!
How way cool would that be?