There is something sadly disingenuous about Adam B. Kushner’s recent Newsweek review of the graphic novel, A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld. The article offers tough criticism of the comic, which may be warranted (although here’s a more thoughtful piece that offers a different assessment) but then goes on to give the stank eye to all recent non-fiction graphic novels and nearly dismisses the quality of the medium as a whole.
Oh, the generalizations! Kushner characterizes the use of tragedy and other historical disasters as a “cheat” that distinguishes “the best graphic novels,” rather than as a feature of the comics that get the most attention from book editors at mainstream publications like Newsweek. Comics like Maus get a pass although it also “cheats,” while American Splendor earns some praise, but suffers because its central character doesn’t suffer enough. (I guess this doesn’t count.)
And then there are the wincing assumptions of Kushner’s main concern: “Is it any wonder, then, that none of the form’s triumphs are about everyday life? There is no Updike of the graphic novel.” So many apples and oranges being compared here that it reads like a fruit smoothie. Gah! No wonder this guy is so bitter!
Jimmy Corrigan
We are the ones who are cheated when the mainstream press and their legitimizing muscle beat up on comics in this manner. As soon as a graphic novel becomes popular, wins an award, or acquires a following beyond its normal readership, the opinion pieces surface like schoolyard bullies. Cynical reviewers take liberties that oversimplify the work and play lip service to the elements that make it distinct from literature or film. They make little effort to acknowledge what comic readers and scholars find so thrilling about the fusion of text and image. After the New Yorker published this snarky analysis of Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, I had to do a lot of damage control among friends, colleagues, and students to try to convince them that the story was actually quite innovative, insightful, and moving. (No Updike you say? Meet Chris Ware.)
If anything good comes out of this, it is the opportunity not simply to rant and rave about a subject that I care about, but to also plug Rich Watson’s new venture at the blog, Great Black Comic Books. His introductory post addresses some of these same concerns about quality and readership, and the recent reviews of Stagger Lee, Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, and Keith Knight’s comic strip are useful and well-informed. And Prof. Fury continues to fight the good fight over at Pretty Fakes. Newsweek may not take notice of these comics, but I’m starting to think that’s a good thing.
Posted by carleen on August 22, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Go Claudia!
Posted by Claudia on August 22, 2009 at 1:40 PM
LOL! Thanks, Carleen. What I didn’t explicitly say, because the rant was getting too long, is that black American and other minority writers face these same issues when it comes to evaluations of their work being dismissed too easily. It is a hurdle that you face all the time at your blog, I know! But this may also explain the large chip on my shoulder…. And isn’t this the second time in as many months that Newsweek has failed us when it comes to book reviews?!?! Remember that awful lopsided list of books “of our times.” Ugh.
Posted by jo on August 22, 2009 at 2:03 PM
this kicks ass, and is written beautifully.
Posted by missincognegro on August 22, 2009 at 2:27 PM
I am not an aficionada of the graphic novel, formerly known as comic books. Never have. However, I do recognize it as a legitimate form of literature, and, they communicate a message which other genres choose not to communicate.
BTW: Thank you for the link love. :)
Posted by Professor Fury on August 22, 2009 at 9:06 PM
Thanks for the shout-out, Claudia — but thanks mainly for this rightly righteous take-down of Kushner’s review. Kushner clearly doesn’t have the skills to explain why he doesn’t think the book works, so we get this incoherent broadside about the medium (or the format? I don’t think Kusher knows the difference). This was a great piece. Newsweek should give you a gig, but you’re too good for them, anyway.
Posted by Wilhelmina Jenkins on August 23, 2009 at 2:07 AM
“So many apples and oranges being compared here that it reads like a fruit smoothie. ”
I love it!
Posted by susan on August 23, 2009 at 6:53 AM
Claudia,
Now this kind of informed criticism is what the paid writer should have given us. Linking you for Little Lov’n Monday and let me ask publicly (so there’s no pressure. lol) for a guest blog on GN for us at Color Online.
Thanks.
Posted by Doret on August 23, 2009 at 9:37 AM
Claudia
Just go ahead and say yes to Susan, now. Because if she wants you she’ll get you. Also it fun and easy to do a little something for Color Online
Thanks for letting us know about Great Black Comic Books
Two graphic novels I want to read
Marwe – Set in an East African village
http://www.lernerbooks.com/cgi-bin/books.sh/lernerpublishing.p?navaction=f6_title.w&navvalue=082257134X
The other is Bad News For Outlaws
http://www.lernerbooks.com/cgi-bin/books.sh/lernerpublishing.p?navaction=f6_title.w&navvalue=0822567644
Posted by Claudia on August 23, 2009 at 4:18 PM
Thank you for these links, Doret!
Posted by New Orleans Ladder on August 23, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Thanks Claudia.
You will see more negative reviews of this fine work, and they will gradually shift to Blaming New Orleans for the levee failures. Mark my words. It is a game of PR.
I hope you cats stay on top of this as I can’t write as well as y’all and we need all the help we can get.
We hung you onto today’s Ladder.
Editilla~New Orleans Ladder
Posted by Claudia on August 23, 2009 at 4:23 PM
Thanks for visiting the site and linking to my post, Editilla. I know that Frieda will especially appreciate your visit since she is in New Orleans and always trying to maintain awareness of all the work that needs to be done there. I suspect that it is the subject of Hurricane Katrina that brought this comic to the attention of Newsweek and yet the analysis of the story itself seems lost in the larger commentary, which is unfortunate.
Posted by Edi on August 23, 2009 at 10:43 AM
I’m not a reader of comics, graphic novels or of manga BUT I fill my media center with them all! I get frustrated that I can’t really appreciate these literary art forms. The shorthand provided by the combination of visual + text is beyond me. The action is often faced paced, and I’m just not interested. I want to read Incognegro, Aya, Persepolis and a few others, but I’m afraid to try.
Yet, in my lack of appreciation, I’ve not felt the need to criticize. In fact, I have such a strong respect for the artists who create this work! Just from skirting along the fringes of their world, I am so impressed by their knowledge and wisdom. They’re one of those groups that speaks a language that is hard for the rest of us to keep up with.
I think that when we dismiss an entire body of work, whether it be graphic novels or works by authors of color, then we are the ones who lose out. Well, that’s usually how it works. Unfortunately, there are those is certain groups who have a mighty pen and in their dismissal of an entire body of work, they are able to disempower an entire group of authors further from the larger publishing world. We really have to learn to speak out for one another, as you have so eloquently done here.
Posted by Serena (Savvy Verse & Wit) on August 23, 2009 at 2:15 PM
I don’t read too many graphic novels or comics, so it would be hard for me to assess this article and its criticism of the genre. But it seems that many critics tend to overemphasize the drawbacks of genres they do not normally read and are outside their comfort zone.
Posted by Claudia on August 23, 2009 at 4:24 PM
Good point, Serena. Maybe Kushner was simply not the right person for this review. Do you think I was too hard on him?
Posted by Kyle W. on August 31, 2009 at 1:01 PM
It’s not a genre, the criticism was towards an entire medium. I may not be into dance, opera, paintings, or sculpture, but you don’t see me criticizing them as art-forms.
Posted by Claudia on August 31, 2009 at 1:59 PM
Hey Kyle, thanks for stopping by and you’re right, the article does seem to take aim at the medium. It is very frustrating.
Posted by Claudia on August 23, 2009 at 4:26 PM
Thanks everyone for all the comments. I guess I’m preaching to the choir here, huh?
Posted by girlgriot on August 25, 2009 at 10:59 AM
Excellent post. I love graphic novels, have many on my books shelves, binding to binding with Chaucer and Joyce. I use them in class, too, and am often surprised by how many of my students have a completely dismissive attitude about them.
Serena’s point is well taken … but I don’t think you were too hard on Kushner at all. If he’s reviewing a genre he doesn’t normally read, it’s his job to either broaden his knowledge base so he knows what he’s talking about or pass the review onto someone who does. (Ok, now who’s being too hard?)
And please do say yest to Susan. This is a conversation that needs to get bigger.
@Edi — yes, yes, and yes. My thoughts exactly.
Posted by Claudia on August 27, 2009 at 6:36 PM
Thanks, girlgriot! I thought you were already on our blogroll, but now you’ve been added. Love the clip of Hendrix’s Red House in your latest post!
Posted by girlgriot on August 27, 2009 at 10:38 PM
Hey, thanks Claudia! I’ve got to update my blogroll, too.
After reading this post I put in an order for Neufeld’s book, which I hadn’t heard of. I’ve been trying to put together a unit on Katrina for the start of the school year, but I have such with it. I’ve got the Levees film and curriculum … but can’t bring myself to watch more than a few minutes because it upsets me so much. I’m hoping Neufeld’s book will help me get through.
Posted by PrettyFakes » Blog Archive » Two Links: Chaykin, Neufeld on August 26, 2009 at 5:01 PM
[...] Claudia at The Bottom of Heaven responds to a recent Newsweek review of Josh Neufeld’s A.D.: After the Deluge with characteristic whip-smarts. People aren’t going to quit writing dumb things about comics [...]
Posted by gorjus on August 27, 2009 at 2:15 PM
“We are the ones who are cheated when the mainstream press and their legitimizing muscle beat up on comics in this manner. As soon as a graphic novel becomes popular, wins an award, or acquires a following beyond its normal readership, the opinion pieces surface like schoolyard bullies.”
Brava! There’s really nothing more to say. I just devoured Asterious Polyp and Richard Parker’s the Hunter over the past day. Should I have read Rabbit, Run, instead?
Bah!
Posted by Claudia on August 27, 2009 at 6:40 PM
Bah, indeed! I’ve heard GREAT things about Asterious Polyp.
Posted by fayezie on September 22, 2009 at 9:45 PM
THAT is cool
Posted by fayezie on September 22, 2009 at 9:48 PM
oops, i was trying to comment regarding the graffiti art…. (but, i will stop and say that I have Jimmy Corrigan, and I like it!)
Posted by Claudia on September 24, 2009 at 6:52 AM
No problem, fayezie! Thanks for stopping by. Jimmy Corrigan is terrific, isn’t it?