it’s about time graphic novels get some respect!

From http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2009/03/new-york-times-adds-graphic-novel-best-seller-lists/

The New York Times debuted three new best-seller lists under the heading “Graphic Books”: hardcovers, softcovers and manga. The NYT article is here http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/introducing-the-new-york-times-graphic-books-best-seller-lists/

I’m kinda half-hearted about the whole thing really. Graphic novels are not up for debate as to their relevance and poignancy and their weighty and often gritty realism. Anyone who bothers to actually pick one up and look through it will soon discover that there are things you can talk about or just show in art that you simply cannot, at least in the same way, through “mere” written text. What may take paragraphs to explain can be drawn in one single panel.

This doesn’t in any way imply that comics are “better” than novels. I would never say that. Not in public any way. haha. But seriously, I find them to be separate but equal entities, which is more than what many many lit professors would give credit for.

Anyway, I know I wont make any converts to this, and it isn’t even close to my goal or interest to try. I’m just explaining my own respect and reverence for a format that often goes overlooked and belittled as “kids’ stuff.” Some of these stories are anything but for kids.

Oh, speaking of kids, if you haven’t aready, you should pick up The Graveyard Book which is really quite delightful reading for kids of all ages. Won the Newberry award if that kind of thing means anything to you. Starts out a little scary and has some bits throughout that may not make it the best choice for bedtime reading. Especially if your kid has an overactive imagination and is prone to nightmares.  But it is mostly very pleasant and each chapter can more or less be read as separate standalone stories.  No surprises here, it’s by Neil Gaiman. It’s not as great as Coraline (the book, not the movie) or Mr. Punch. But it’s up there.

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Unfinished… a theme emerges

When you say you’re a “Christian” a few things happen. Nonchristians tend to box you up into a neatly packed stereotype, dos-and-donts checklist in hand, and write you off as wacky and tacky. Meanwhile Christians tend to think of themselves as on a higher plane of existence and hold everyone else to that do-and-dont checklist they’ve made for themselves. Christians also tend to have this sense that by labelling themselves as such, they have “arrived” at some place in a static kind of way. like I’m in a plane, therefore I’m a passenger mentality. or more like a dog saying hey I’m a dog.

But what we can’t deny is there is more than one kind of dog and that not all dogs do the same thing.  There are general characteristics and certain definitions that we have applied to the “dog” label, but there are five bazillion subsets of information that are called into account if you cared to look further into it.

Here is where the title of this blog comes in. I am “unfinished.” I like that as a label. It’s connotes feelings of progress but not completion, a beginning but no ending, a hope and change but not static. I’m getting there, but I’m not there. There is a freedom in that and a call to action in that.

I was talking to the asst. pastor at church, Camper Mundy, about our art cafe ministry and my plans for our first anniversary. It coincides with the 25th Anniversary of the church which I didn’t plan, but that’s way cool. Anyway, I had been thinking of some kind of theme that wasn’t too Christianese and accessible to really anyone of any inclination. And as we talked, the theme of “Unfinished” emerged. (Camper is awesome to talk to about these things, by the way, because his mind is like this crazy playground of ideas. He’s awesome. Thanks man!!!)

I loved the theme the more I thought about it, especially from an artistic standpoint. So much of an artist’s dilemma is how to finish it – when is it finished – will it ever be finished? I have always loved when you get to see a work in progress and the choices the artist makes along the way. Sketchbooks by some of the big names, Da Vinci, Picasso, Matisse, Frida, are all fascinating to me, the exercises of vision to physical plane.

Likewise, as a writer, I love reading first and second and umpteenth drafts of what people write. There are so many things you say and things you choose not to say. You can recraft a sentence twenty times and still not quite convey what you want. Or you can sit and type out exactly what you’re trying to say on the first go.  the creative process is a wonder.

So the theme of “Unfinished” is a call to take a look at progress and regress, a blending of what is and what could be. I’m hopeful that we’ll get some good thought-provoking pieces and I’ll be spending the next few months beating the bushes and blowing the bugle so to speak to get some good stuff out there. Because you don’t want to leave it to my artistic ability – though a blank canvas would be quite fitting…

quick plug for a project…

So one of the many joys in my life is art. I can’t actually “do” art, but I think I have impeccable taste and I know good art when I see it. Of course that’s subjective, obviously.

Anyway, any chance I get to support and celebrate other people’s work I relish it greatly, and I am always trying to think of ways to encourage and inspire such work.  Many times people come out of the woodwork when properly enticed, and I am always so pleased when I find out new things about people especially when it comes to hidden talents. It’s also, incidentally, one of the reasons I like things like 25 things lists because it forces people to admit stuff and often you learn something you didn’t know before. But I am SO digressing…

First Fridays Cafe was an idea I had when I first moved to Williamsburg and thought, man I’m bored. What would I want to be doing if I were in a real city? Art and music always comes to mind. I’m still trying to think of other ways to cultivate the live music scene here, but FFC is a start.

The May Cafe will mark a year since the first Cafe, and I have to admit I’m excited about that. There were some bumps along the way, but all in all, I’m pleased with the first year and I’m prayerfully and humbly commited to the task of enabling the Cafe to grow and truly inspire others. There is nothing quite like an amazing piece of art to inspire and knock you off your feet.

So with that, we are creating an event to call out all the artists and aspiring artists to tackle a theme that I think resonates with most of us: “UNFINISHED.” The idea was borne out of a conversation with Camper, our Assistant Pastor. I’m going to write a bit more about it in the next post, but basically I fell in love with the theme and it really summarizes the feeling and direction I’ve had all along with the Cafe.  I’m totally stoked. Now I’m just hoping that the art comes together. If the whole event turns out badly, well, I guess I can just blame the theme…

Anyway, you can keep tabs on the Cafe and our 1st Annual Invitational Show here… www.firstfridayswilliamsburg.org