CONTRA COSTA TIMES
(Walnut Creek, CA)
March 27, 2006, n.p.

Copyright © 2006 Contra Costa Times. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services. March 27, 2006. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

The Graphic Novel: Evolution of a Literary Genre

By Randy Myers (rmyers@cctimes.com)
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)

     Once viewed as junk that could rot impressionable brains, comics are now considered hip, hot and smart.

     Even critics at the buttoned-up New York Times are singing the praises of high-profile, long-format books, called graphic novels, such as Art Spiegelman's disturbing take on 9/11, "In the Shadow of No Towers," or Charles Burns' chilling AIDS parable, "Black Hole."

     West Point has made it mandatory for the graduating class of 2006 to read one of these works. If recruits can be required to study Marjane Satrapi's "Persepolis"--a poignant, well-reviewed work that depicts family life during the Iranian Revolution--then there's something surely afoot.

     

Film Still, "V for Vendetta," 2006 Hugo Weaving as "V" and Natalie Portman as "Evey" in "V for Vendetta."

Perhaps most significantly, Hollywood has propelled graphic novels to the front ranks of pop culture, adapting many into movies, including the just-released "V for Vendetta" along with critical darlings "Sin City" and "A History of Violence."

     "What we're seeing is some sort of tipping point that has been a long process in coming," says Publishers Weekly's Calvin Reid, editor for comic coverage.

     "Really, for the first time, many people are seeing graphic novels in bookstores, and more people are seeing that there is more variety than superhero comics. Not that there's anything wrong with superhero comics. There's a lot of creativity in them, too."

     If you still assume today's "funnies" focus on the antics of surly ducks or muscled guys and gals clad in Lycra, you need but browse through comic emporiums such as Berkeley's Comic Relief or Concord's Flying Colors.

     Sure, exploits of the usual suspects--Superman, Spider-Man, Batman--line the shelves, but now they're sharing prime real estate with ambitious fare that tackles complex topics ranging from genocide to a son's painful feelings during his mother's terminal cancer.

     Even chain stores such as Barnes & Noble realize there's gold to be mined here, and have expanded comics sections.

     The numbers say it all. In 2001, graphic novels rang up $75 million in American sales. By 2005, sales in Canada and America amounted to $250 million, according to ICv2, a pop-culture-monitoring Web site.

     And while recent moves by the New York Times and Entertainment Weekly to review graphic novels have increased their profile, perhaps more important is the movie industry's love affair with the format. "Hollywood is obsessed with them," says Reid.

     "V for Vendetta" marks the latest in a flood of "based-on-a-graphic-novel" movies. Produced and written by "Matrix" creators the Wachowski brothers, it's the first big-buzz movie this year.

     Moviemakers have borrowed liberally from the action genre of graphic novels, but they've also adapted quirky character-centric dramas, such as those in Daniel Clowes' "Ghost World" or Harvey Pekar's "American Splendor" collection, which was turned into a movie starring Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti.

     The Hollywood partnership hasn't always been foolproof, however, pumping out duds such as "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and "From Hell," along with winners such as "A History of Violence" or "Sin City."

     "V for Vendetta" arrived after a string of delays, having been yanked just after the London subway bombings. ("Vendetta" finds a mysterious masked man in a totalitarian future seeking to blow up Parliament.) Created by Alan Moore, who has attained a Stephen King-like reverence in the comic world, "Vendetta" demonstrates how the graphic novel can fearlessly tackle a weighty subject such as terrorism while managing to be both entertaining and prescient.

     For Clowes, adapting his "Ghost World" for the screen was an eye-opening experience. He discovered the key to translating his work for the screen was to avoid being too literal. Not all fans were pleased with the results.

     "At first, I was very beholden to my own work, and then I realized just who was I going to really offend," he says. "I want my movies to be movies and my comics to be comics."

     More recently, Clowes wrote another screenplay, loosely based on his surrealistic "Eightball" comic series. "Art School Confidential," set to open in limited release April 28, fondly lampoons art school. It reteams him with "Ghost World" director Terry Zwigoff, who gave us the documentary "Crumb" and the raunchy "Bad Santa."

     Not only have graphic novels become fertile ground for filmmakers, but they're also seen as a powerful marketing tool. That was evident at San Francisco's WonderCon comics convention in February, when actor Paul Walker and director Wayne Kramer promoted their violent guy flick "Running Scared." Besides an end credit that features graphic novel-like panels, "Scared" has no direct connection to the graphic novel form.

     Additionally, studios drummed up interest in "Mission: Impossible III," "The Hills Have Eyes," the remake of "The Omen," the fright flick "Silent Hill" and "Superman Returns," among others, by showing clips and having some celebrities on hand.

     Within the prose world, numerous award-winning writers have expressed their admiration for the form, including Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon, whose "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" focuses on the early years of comics, and indie author Dave Eggers. Other highly regarded novelists such as Paul Auster ("Oracle Night") and Jonathan Lethem ("The Fortress of Solitude") have had works turned into graphic novels. Popular fiction authors have climbed aboard as well, with thriller writer Brad Meltzer ("The Zero Game") and black romance writer Eric Jerome Dickey ("Genevieve") having released graphic novels.

     But will all this heightened visibility amount to anything? Can it erase Americans' stereotypical notions that comics are suited only for boys or socially challenged men? Perhaps it could, especially when glancing at sophisticated future titles.

     Upcoming topics range from one based on "The 9/11 Commission Report," another on the musings of a journalist covering the Iraq war called "War Fix" (set for a June release) and biographies on Malcolm X, Ronald Reagan, Frank Sinatra and J. Edgar Hoover.

     The graphic novel has been on the cutting edge before, but failed to fan out into the mainstream. Some thought it would soar when the publishing world was swept up by the Holocaust-themed "Maus" by Spiegelman. The harrowing memoir won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992. But while critics heartily applauded it, hard-core prose fans viewed "Maus" as magnificent, but an anomaly in the comics realm.

     Other luminaries, such as Will Eisner ("A Contract With God"), were producing innovative work, while college students and the disaffected discovered the underground work of R. Crumb. Reid, of Publishers Weekly, attempted to convince readers to try other offerings; few listened.

     But times have changed, and the public seems ready to embrace an art form that offers deep story lines along with innovative visuals. The graphic novel is flexing its muscle in bookstores, on movie screens and at the ever-important cash register.

Adaptations: Some Work, Some Don't

     "V for Vendetta" is just the latest Hollywood adaptation of a graphic novel. Here are some successful (and less successful) movies inspired by graphic novels, as well as future films spinning off the genre.

     • "A History of Violence": This disturbing 2005 film landed on many critics' Top 10 lists. Entertaining and smart, it provocatively examines how a man's violent past rips apart his family's American Dream-like existence. Curiously, director David Cronenberg said he was unaware that the screenplay was based on a graphic novel until he began shooting it. He also reportedly whittled the script down, and the result is a taut, thinking-person's thriller, with Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello and William Hurt, who was nominated for a supporting-actor Oscar. (Released March 14 on DVD.)

     • "Road to Perdition": Director Sam Mendes followed up his Oscar-winning "American Beauty" with this moody, stylish adaptation of Max Allen Collins' and Richard Piers Rayner's work. In it, a hit man and father (Tom Hanks) uses both wits and weaponry to keep from being rubbed out by the mob. The violent, gorgeously photographed thriller is hard-nosed noir with a ham-fisted message about fathers and sons, but Jude Law makes it memorable as a psychopath who snaps pictures of the dead. (2002)

     • "Sin City": Without a doubt, this is landmark filmmaking, awesomely replicating the look, essence and spirit of a graphic novel. Director Robert Rodriguez does a great--albeit gory--job of bringing Frank Miller's pitch-black imagination to cinematic life. With Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba and Mickey Rourke. (2005)

     • "Ghost World": Director Terry Zwigoff ("Bad Santa") brings Daniel Clowes' unsentimental comic series about a shiftless, bored high school grad named Enid (Thora Birch) to the screen with its acidic nature intact. The film is both funny and sad, stirring up unexpected emotions. Steve Buscemi is unforgettable as the target of Enid's plan to curb boredom, with Scarlett Johansson as her friend Rebecca. (2001)

     • "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen": No wonder comic-book icon Alan Moore (who also penned "V for Vendetta") despises Hollywood. Everything that was innovative and distinctive about his series suffers from big-budget bloat in this action disaster. Sean Connery stars as Allan Quartermain, who is the go-to guy for several literary characters as they unite to foil the plans of a villain out to--what else?--control the world. Critics ripped it apart, but praised the source material. (2003)

     • "From Hell": Before "League," Moore witnessed Hollywood fumble its adaptation of this decade-in-the-making series following an opium-addicted investigator's manhunt for Jack the Ripper. The film's greatest asset is Johnny Depp, but even he can't overcome the script and Heather Graham as a Whitechapel prostitute. (2001)

     The following is a sampling of other graphic novels being adapted for the screen:

     • "Bonesaw": This shocker based on the work of Rob Moran finds horrific characters from a female author's novel leaping off the page and into the real world. (2007)

     • "Lone Wolf and Cub": Darren Aronofsky ("Requiem for a Dream") will likely bring his edginess to this action drama about a samurai who becomes an assassin. (2008)

     • "Sin City 2" and "Sin City 3": The $75 million the original made at the U.S. box office inspired Rodriguez to go back to the drawing board not just once, but twice. (2006, "Sin City 2")

     • "300": Zack Snyder, director of the "Dawn of the Dead" remake, helms this Frank Miller saga set in 480 B.C. and anchored around a David vs. Goliath invasion in Greece. (2006)

     • "Torso": Straitlaced Eliot Ness, immortalized in the movie "The Untouchables," investigates a string of slayings in Cleveland. This adaptation of a popular graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko looks like a winner, since it will be directed by David Fincher ("Seven," the upcoming "Zodiac"). (2007)

     • "Watchmen": Director Paul Greengrass of "The Bourne Supremacy" fame oversees this eagerly awaited adaptation of another Moore graphic novel. It involves a group of former superheroes banding together to find a killer who rubbed out one of their kind. (2006)

Graphic Novels 101

     New to graphic novels? You might want to start with this recommended reading list.

     • "Black Hole," by Charles Burns: The shaky, drugged psyches of '70s suburban Seattle teens are laid bare in this creepy time capsule and AIDS parable.

     • "Blankets," Craig Thompson: At nearly 600 pages, this ambitious autobiography probes an artist's strict Christian upbringing and how it affects his wonder years and first love.

     • "Epileptic," David B.: A beautiful memoir revealing the heartache, pain and embarrassment a brother experiences in dealing with his epileptic brother.

     • "Persepolis," Marjane Satrapi: Expect to be captivated and moved by this poignant autobiography that views the Iranian Revolution through the eyes of an Iranian girl.

     • "Maus," Art Spiegelman: This daring Pulitzer Prize-winner ambitiously shows how the Holocaust affects past and present generations of a Jewish family. Spiegelman uses animals to represent ethnic groups.

     • "Watchmen," Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons: If you like your superheroes edgy and flawed, then try this Moore classic. It finds the downtrodden Crimebusters league trying to fight off bad publicity along with a killer who wants to pick each one of them off.

     • "Ice Haven," Daniel Clowes: The "Ghost World" creator's latest depicts the bizarre goings-on and weird characters living in a small Midwestern town.

     • "Ghost in the Shell," Masamune Shirow: This classic from Japan delves into existential matters via a futuristic story dealing with the parallels between man and machine.

     • "Torso," Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko: Eliot Ness tracks down a serial killer in this page-turner that is innovatively drawn and briskly written.

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SIRS Renaissance  2005; Lexile Score: 1160; 1K, SIRS Renaissance