Comix Influx Blog: Was Sind Graphic Novels?

Some of Germany’s premier independent publishers have decided that booksellers need educating in the ways of comics. Reprodukt, Avant Verlag, Carlsen, Edition 52 and Fischer, have jointly released a two-sided leaflet, to spread the good word about what graphic novels means these days¹.

The front page contains a comic strip by Sebastian Oehler and Sascha Hommer, answering the question “What Are Graphic Novels?”.

The reverse has details of 11 comics from the five publishers involved, amply illustrating the breadth of material out there. It’s interesting – and to the publishers credit, I feel – to see the range of nationalities represented, probably more, I dare say, than would have been the case if this pamphlet had been produced in other countries.

The comics highlighted are as follows:

• Avant Verlag
  • 5 Songs [Garageband] by Gipi
  • Die Sechs Schüsse von Philadelphia by Ulrich Scheel

• Carlsen
  • Berlin by Jason Lutes
  • Cash—I See A Darkness by Reinhard Kleist
  • Die Sache mit Sorge by Isabel Kreitz

• Editions 52
  • Pauls Ferienjob [Paul Has a Summer Job] by Michel Rabagliati
  • Peepshow by Joe Matt

• Fischer
  • Maus by Art Spiegelman

• Reprodukt
  • Wir KÖnnen Ja Freunde Bleiben [We Can Still Be Friends] by Mawil
  • Insel Bourbon 1730 [Bourbon Island 1730] by Apollo and Trodheim
  • Pjöngjang [Pyongyang] by Guy Delisle

I don’t know what this says about the perception of the 9th art in Germany, and whether it has felt a similar rise in respectability (as evinced by prose publishers getting involved in the comics game) as in the US and Britain.

¹ Poor quality auto-translations of the articles from the Graphic Novels blog are available here and here. There’s no translation of the leaflet, as far as I’m aware.