Comic Art The Seduction of the Innocent Essay - 3314 Words

Comic Art: The Seduction of the Innocent In 1991, at the 13th Annual World Fantasy Convention, an issue of the comic book series The Sandman was selected by a panel of experts in the field as the Years Best Short Story. This was not the first time that a comic book has been nominated for a prestigious literary prize (the first and only previous one being Art Spiegelmans retelling of the Holocaust in animal fable form Maus for the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1987), but it was the first to have won. The ensuing uproar at the awards ceremony and the umbrage that many took at a mere comic book winning instead of a standard-print story resulted in the rules of the awards being changed. Henceforth, no comic book could be†¦show more content†¦But as Neil Gaiman, writer of The Sandman once remarked at being told that he did not write comic books, he wrote graphic novels, that it was like someone being informed that she wasnt actually a hooker; that in fact she was a lady of the evening (Bender, 4). This person, t he editor of the literary review pages of a major newspaper, had obviously heard positive things about Sandman; but he was so stuck on the idea that comics are juvenile he couldnt deal with something good being done as a comic book. He needed to put Sandman in a box to make it respectable (Bender, 4). What makes comics different from the respectable fields of literature or fine art? Comics rely on a combination of words and pictures to bring across a message, to tell a story. To even use the medium is an exercise in creativity itself. The possible combinations of text and pictures are endless, and to create a coherent meaning and consistent tone of narrative from the manipulation of text boxes, word and thought balloons, panels and artwork is no easy task and require a strong mastery of the medium. Neil Gaiman is one such master. His series The Sandman has won numerous accolades (besides the World Fantasy Award earlier mentioned) since Sandman #1 was first published in 1989. It has been recognised as a groundbreaking title in comics. The story of how a god-like being, the personification of dreams andShow MoreRelatedThe And The Dark Knight And Shows Like The Walking Dead Comic Book Based Properties1688 Words   |  7 PagesComic books, in todays rise of all that is geek it is har d to avoid hearing about the next comic that is being adapted into a movie or TV show. With films like The Avengers and The Dark Knight and shows like The Walking Dead comic book based properties are taking over most of pop culture today. 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