Happy Tofurkey Day

Having Thanksgiving in New Jersey and Showing my nephews the olde weblog. They will soon be blogging themselves.

As Seen in Time Magazine

As was to be expected Not Crazy...Just Enthusiastic has launched me into a new venue as a pundit of all things literary. Read me quoted in Andrew Arnold's column in the online edition of Time Magazine . I think I hear the phone ringing. Could it be C-Span 2 calling?

If you are curious or masochistic here is the complete letter unedited as I originally sent it to Andrew Arnold in response to his Nov. 14th column. My letter makes slightly more sense if you read the column first.

Thanks for an interesting piece on Graphic Novels. As a Librarian I wrestled with the nomenclature and found that Graphic Novel although flawed and imprecise is the best term of a bad lot. I doubt the discussion will ever end (look at how the term "Science Fiction" is still debated, and embraced or shunned, i.e. Margret Atwood), but I think the war is over and we are stuck with Graphic Novel for better or worse. That is just what people call them now. I realize it seems unfair to lump X-men and Spawn with Maus and Jimmy Corrigan, but what the hell. The term "novel" can lump Danielle Steel and Nicholas Sparks with Dostoevsky and Tolstoy so where is the justice in that.
So, as much as I sympathize with Art Spiegelman and his desire not to shelved next to Marvels when he says, "because if you talk about [Chris Ware's] 'Jimmy Corrigan' as a graphic novel you'll have to explain that it's not manga or Marvel. Then you are left saying, 'well it's got a seriousness of purpose' that the phrase 'graphic novel' alone won't offer." he is just wrong. Of course some Graphic Novels have a "seriousness of purpose" that superheroes or some Manga don't have. Novels like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay or Fortress of Solitude have a seriousness of purpose that the latest Clive Cussler or Robert Ludlum™ doesn't have. Still they are all novels.
Speigelman seems to be making the same mistake that people who won't consider comics and Graphic Novels seriously make (I realize he really knows better) by associating a type of content with the form. Nobody says "Well Batman was a stupid TV show, so TV must be a waste of time, and therefore I won't watch The Sopranos." But I know many people make that very illogical mistake by dismissing the Graphic Novel form because they associate it with juvenile crap.
Whatever. This is my familiar rant (familiar to my coworkers, friends, and family anyway). I realize I'm preaching to the converted.
Thanks again for the piece.

You can see he edited and condensed my redundant ramblings, but he asked me permission first, and I only asked him not to make me sound like an idiot.

I wish everone a happy Tofurkey Day. Keep reading.