Comix Influx Blog: What's in a name?

So do you say “Comics” or “Graphic Novels”? Matt Madden was unambiguous on that point in conversation with Mariella Frostrup on Radio 4’s Open Book, but, no, it’s doing the rounds of the
blogosphere once again. Firstly, Elif Batuman’s article in the London Review of Books, Into the Eisenshpritz, uses it as a jumping off point. Having mentioned Alan Moore’s and Marjane Satrapi’s antipathy to the term, she then disingeuously states that ”’graphic novel’ can usefully designate a certain type of comic: a single-author, book-length work, meant for a grown-up reader, with a memoiristic or novelistic narrative, usually devoid of superheroes” without actually claiming that it does designate that (and I’d strongly argue that it doesn’t in everyday usage).

Batuman’s article has become something of a meme; I certainly heard of it via several independent channels (including Katherine Farmar’s disparaging comments, and a discussion on the Comics Scholars list of whether the “Eisensphritz” of the title was actually misspelling of the Harvey Kurtzman-coined “Eisnersphritz”). Leaving aside the questions of terminology, the rest of the article is a bit confused. It crowbars at least three different theses into the same article and then uses each to prop up the others. The part about the prevalence of themes of duality in comics is true and interesting, but relating that specifically to Jewish cultural identity is a stretch – and largely founded on their having been a large number of Jews working in the early American comic industry. The subsequent casual connection of the themes of duality to the “text-image duality” of the medium just feels lazy.

I enjoyed rather more Cyril Mendosa’s There’s No Such Thing as a Graphic Novel on the First Second Blog Doodles and Dailies. Mendosa is the Angoulême-award winning creator of Les Trois Ombres, which will be published in English by First Second. As the title of the post implies, Mendosa is very solidly in the “marketing strategy” camp. Odd to think that the French comics industry needs a term like “roman graphique” when the anglophone world tends to regard Bande Desinée, and the BD album, as the pinnacle achieved by the comics industry in the western world.

However, for all the discussion of graphic novels and terminology, what really annoys me is that there are no decent terms for the people who actually create comics. “Cartoonist” seems most prevalent, but you need to clarify whether you’re referring to animation, or even to editorial or gag cartoons. “Comics creator” might be best, but isn’t really generally understood. And then there’s the whole confusion with “stand-up comics” – no, Angoulême isn’t a comedy festival! Still, even having to explain that repeatedly won’t get me turning to the term “graphic novels”.