[Off-topic] The wonders of graphic novels

Well... I warned you this was coming. A little later than expected, but here's the first non-gaming article that's been done in a very long time.

Graphic novels are amazing when they're done right. As a matter of fact while its been quite a while since I read it, Jeff Smith's Bone series is what I declare as my favorite series in written fiction. Its just great. A fantastic small cast of likable characters, great art style, a good fantasy epic that developers from slow and tame to near apocalyptic with a goal to save world from a dark plot unfolding. It was just that perfect blend of an adventure in a new world to put your head around, while getting a small great cast of cartoon-like characters together for that adventure to unfold around, and with some nice twists, good writing, and 9 long books to enjoy it all through, there's not much to complain about. It was the best reading hook I ever had by my own choosing, and was one of the best parts of my middle school days. However that was just the start, and while I still don't have a ton of experience in freely reading fiction, I can say that Graphic novels have earned their place as one of my favorite mediums.

Why graphic novels though? Why not comics (or what's the difference?), normal books, or even gaming novels since I am into gaming? Well they're better in my opinion for what you can take from face value in their very name: They're graphic novels. They properly depict the scenes that novels can only tell you about. Sure you can say that's part of the fun, but when you're reading some high fantasy, an awesome steam punk book, or something just too creative for words alone, you've got graphic novels there for you. Furthermore, you have a medium that can pause the words to go all visual, changing the narrative from a dialogue and monologing experience, to one that depicts the imagination land of the author. It then is capable of driving the story forward by merely drawing you the wonders of their mind and the context of the story, giving you a break from reading when words are not needed if not even skillfully omitting it entirely to give you a drawing feely sort of experience. That is just amazing in itself, and stories like Message in a Bottle, or simply the expressions at the ending of Tea (both short stories found within Flight collection, volume 3) work purely because they can show you the concept a novel could only explain. "but can't comics do that?" you may ask. Well...

These are graphic novels...

...and these are comics

Comics have a nearly identical idea, you take ordered drawings and put speech bubbles to them to tell a story. However a much different execution takes place, simply by preference and history I lean more in favor of Graphic Novels. ...and yes I find there to be a difference. Typical comics are slimmer, quicker to read, feel more commercial, and from what I've seen expect you to collect potentially around 100 of them to complete a serious story. Newspaper comics kind of apply as well giving you small pannels of jokes that slowly build around a theme, but never go beyond a small scene worth before being dubbed a finished piece. These are cheaper things put out there to sell fast, but sell many, and get you hooked over a longer span of time. As Jeff Smith himself put it, Graphic Novels are comics with a beginning, middle, and end; and while he doesn't stand up much for the label divide, I truly feel he hit the nail on the head with this quote. Graphic novels have more to them even when they themselves may be a piece to a bigger (though not as big as 50-100) set, giving you fuller openings and endings than what I've seen out of comics. They can also oddly be less, and come in one solid medium sized book, or a short story within a well crafted collection, and just be done where-as a comic would want to continue in an episodic (or newspapper scheduled) type fashion. Graphic novels also look more sophisticated (and expensive) in print, and just have that air of creativity and novel ideas to them. It feels less like an issue of spider-man, and more like a novel that was actually written and was merely complimented with pictures. That might be why you don't exactly see graphic novel adaptations of classic works being.. well, not graphic novels. Novels tend to translate closer to graphic novels rather than a standard comic, because they already had a full story structure written.

That's not to say there was ever anything wrong with either of those mediums. I love certain comics (especially calvin & hobbes) and novels as well, they're amazing mediums that can accomplish great things in their own way. I'm just stating why I prefer Graphic Novels out of the three, and why it feels like an important distinction. Its that line between the two; That balance that gives you the story structure of novels while giving you the artistic possibilities and accessibility of comics. They capture that sense of art, culture, and story is beautiful and sell it to you all in one place. There's so much adventure, emotion, and grace that can be found in the write use of the medium. I'd highly recommend the Flight series as an example of this wonder to beginners. While they're expensive even in each volume, they give you collection from new and old comic makers alike a spotlight and give them a chance to tell you a good short story through their own art style and methods. Just flipping through one casually as I try to decide which volume to look through kind of sends an emotional impact to my mood. There's just something powerful about seeing that kind of art and story telling from so many people, all in one place. Its like a giant beacon of imagination in your hand.

Plus the cover artwork for the series is phenomenal

So what's gotten me all excited again about Graphic novels lately? Well I found a continuation of an old series I started and loved back in middle school. I remember grabbing a copy of The Amulet book 1 when it was brand new. It stands as probably one of the most imaginative worlds I've seen, and possibly one of my first looks at fantasy themed steampunk. The amulet itself was neat, the world was magical while painted in such a fascinatingly dark and mysterious color scheme, and the core plot was engaging enough to keep reading. However I never saw anything from the series again, and was left just re-reading that one book whenever I wanted my fix of that magical world well crafted within the first book. That is until recently. I found a comic book store in my area I never knew about, and its admittedly a difficult one to get to considering the parking. It had the whole series, and getting the 2nd book felt amazing. Finished it in under 24 hours of getting it, and when I got the 3rd I tore through that fast as well. In between those two I did a lot of research into graphic novels, artists, and old books. Just got all hyped up over graphic novels again with this discovery, even if I am technically outside of the age group of the series by now (but considering its still developing, there's no way you can actually stick through that series and remain in that group if it was targeting middle schoolers, so I honestly could care less if someone judges me on that note). ...and if I hit that point where I'm waiting for the next book to release, there's a ton of other amazing books at that store because they have all sorts of graphic novels. So what can go wrong?

Well remember when I wasted your time explaining how graphic novels and comics are different? Another less proud thing difference is that comics really are cheaper, and you can use that in multiple contexts but ultimately one of them is literal.They're truly worth that higher price in most cases and are made and presented as a higher-end product, but very costly for being in such a position. That nice polish, fresh smell, glossy look, or hardback covering, yeah that all comes with a $20+ tag even though some books are only 200 pages long (which in comic style means you'll finish it in like a day). This is one of the reasons I emphasized that I don't have a ton of experience with this stuff, its expensive to keep up with. Back when R&C had a mini-comic series I could run down to the store and grab a copy to take home for the price of a rental trip. However finding a graphic novel for even $14 is kind of lucky in the right circumstances, with some things like a flight novel, collections, or even single copy things having the potential to hit $30-$40 easily. Oh and I'll restate that actually going to the comic book store is painfully difficult and potentially costly in itself. Still pricing aside, graphic novels truly are amazing, and if it wasn't for the costs of gaming I'd certainly have good money saved up to read through some amazing stuff. Its an incredible medium, and is certainly a great side hobby.