Broken Frontier

This past summer I wrote a column in which I suggested people work with their local libraries to promote comics. In that column (which you can read here), I mentioned the growing trend of librarians accepting graphic novels as legitimate literature and how these libraries utilize graphic novels to draw in all kinds of new readers. What is most interesting about comics working their way into libraries is that it is mutually beneficial; we can similarly use libraries to draw more readers into comics.
I was able to experience this symbiotic relationship firsthand when I was asked to put together a graphic novel display that would be seen in the foyer of my college’s library throughout the month of January. I jumped at the chance, of course, because I was excited about the possibility of exposing such a captive audience to comics. Anyone who goes into the library must walk past this display, and of the great number of people who see it, hopefully a small number will be interested enough to try some comics for themselves. (Since the semester just started—it’s just now the end of the first week—none of the students really have assignments they’re working on yet, so my captive audience is not as large as I might have hoped. However, the library does boast the only public computer lab at the school, so everyone who wants to check their e-mail has to look at the display.)

I "worked" on this display for a good month before it was finished, spending countless hours figuring out what graphic novels to include before I actually began putting the display together. It was a much more difficult prospect than I had thought, and it is an issue that we all run into whenever we are presented with an opportunity to advocate comics. Deciding what material will be the most successful in winning people over takes some careful consideration, so I spent several weeks thinking about what books I had that would work best.

I first realized that I must plug works that are not only high in quality but that also appeal to a wide range of readers. It is important for everyone in a position of advocacy to remember that the superlatives "entertaining" and "intelligent" are not mutually exclusive descriptions of a work. A graphic novel that can be both fun and enlightening has the best chance of making people want to read more. So, in my quest to include something both popular and literate, I included Y the Last Man and The Ultimates in my display because I knew these were works that were funny and action-packed, but that also went a bit deeper.

Of course, I realized that the wider range of people you have in your audience, the wider their tastes are going to vary. To that end, I included works of various genres in my display. The aforementioned comics are in the science-fiction and superhero genres respectively, and they share a display case with Box Office Poison, a realistic drama. At the same time, I wanted to educate passersby about the true nature of comics, not perpetuate stereotypes of the medium, so I tried to keep superhero work to a minimum. Of the twenty-one total books in my display, only five involve costumed heroes, and when I was asked by the head librarian if I needed any letters cut out to add in "Pow" and "Biff" and the like around the display, I politely passed on the offer so as to avoid such a cliché.

I also held true to the principle that, when in doubt, you should stick with something people recognize. Therefore, in my display I used a few books that I could reasonably assume my audience had heard of. From Hell and Road to Perdition are in my display because the audience should know them from the movies that these works were adapted into. I have a poster for Batman: The Long Halloween in my display, because of the iconic status of that character, and one of those Ultimates issues is open to the familiar image of Captain America battling Nazis.

With the books that weren’t instantly recognizable, I knew I had to give them as much information as possible, perhaps even find ways to prove their worth. Consequently, in my displays I included brief descriptions of the works in display right next to the books themselves. Some of these short plot outlines I wrote up myself, but others I pulled out of magazines that had done reviews. I placed one group of books, which included Maus, Jimmy Corrigan, and A Contract with God, next to an article from Time which listed them amongst the best graphic novels of the past twenty-five years. With this information, people who saw the display had more than solely the covers to base their judgments of the books on.

Descriptions alone won’t sell people on the books, though. Comics aren’t just words; they’re words and ART combined to tell a story. So I knew I had to show people some art. I used the few posters and lithographs and included my one art page from Paradigm and the sketches Terry Moore did for me in my Strangers in Paradise HCs to be sure to grab people’s attention. When I could, I tried to open books up to appropriate pages of art and story that would catch the eye.

Finally, I knew that it did no good to plug what people wouldn’t be able to get their hands on. Every book I chose for the display was a book I had more than one copy of. One copy went in the display; the other copy got placed on reserve at the front desk in the library, a fact clearly denoted by the first sign people would see as they entered the foyer. Thus I ensured that people who checked the display out and saw something which caught their interest had access to a copy of it that they could read themselves without having to search it out at a bookstore or order it online.

Plus, I included a stack of free comics (mostly leftover from the last Free Comic Book Day—offerings that ranged from Skinwalker to Archie—and some cheap promo books like Conan #0 or last week’s issue of Avengers) with the display for people to grab and take home with them. My opinion is that the less effort people have to expend (or the less money they have to fork over), the more likely they are to give something a chance.

The display has been up for a full week now, and even though it’s still too soon to know exactly how successful it has been, I can tell you that initial responses have been positive. Even when I was working on the display, before school was even in session, I already had someone express an interest in one of the books. A fellow faculty member came up to me last week with questions about Road to Perdition, saying he’d liked the movie and had no idea it was a comic. Being a good comics advocate, I gave him a copy right then and there. Also, every time I went by the library this week, the free comic table has been empty, and I’ve had to replenish the supply each day.

I’ve spent this column telling you about my efforts, not to boast, but because it is my fervent hope that this display would turn out to be a success in converting some readers at my school and also would inspire some of my readers to try a similar advocacy technique. Even if it’s on a smaller scale, a simple matter of leaving an OPEN comic lying on the bus when you leave, displaying the brilliance found in the pages of a comic is the most effective technique we can employ to win people over to the medium.

(On my way out the door, I’d like to remind folks that the voting for Best Fan Advocate of 2003 is open on my message boards for a few more days. So please stop by and vote for one of the three nominees: Scott Hinze, Andrew Wheeler, or Chris Zeichman. The winner will be announced next week and will win a free TPB of their choice.)