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>Have any of you seen research on who reads comic books or
>newspaper comics? I remember reading something about intelligent
>people often going to the comics first (that's how I decided I must be
>intelligent--I always went for the Sunday comics first).
I have a confession to make (exposing my Catholic upbringing). I, too, read
the comics first. But wait, before you send me off to say three Hail Marys,
I have more. I read COMIC BOOKS, too. I find them entertaining and very
often thought-provoking. Comic books (or graphic novels as they're also
called) have developed into a unique artistic expression of their own.
Although they may not warrant the status of _Ulysses_ or _Gravity's Rainbow_
as literary works (I bet Pynchon reads comic books, too), they merit
attention as art and as significant representations of our culture. DC has
an excellent series called Vertigo, and other comic-book publishers produce
more "realistic" works (Harvey Pekar's "American Splendor," Art Spiegelman's
_Maus_).
As technical writers we can definitely learn something from comic books. If
you want to see excellent examples of layout with graphics and text, layout
that people can use, take a look at what these people do with page design.
I've used instructions (just this weekend, in fact) for furniture assembly
that proved practically useless because of poor layout. Comic books, on the
other hand, often relay complex narratives using a combination of graphics
and text arranged to draw a reader frame by frame along a specific path.
For those who still consider comc books a juvenile medium, I'd refer you to two
Batman graphic novels: _Night Cries_ and _Arkham Asylum_. The former deals
with child abuse, and the latter approaches Batman's personality from a
psychoanalytical standpoint (although it could've been handled better).
Both are impressive examples of comic-book artwork. Neither would I
consider suitable for a young audience (and at 24.00 a pop, I doubt kids
would bite).
I'm on vacation, so this thread suits my state of mind right now.
