A View From My Office

Fresh from The Stiltman

Thanks for the Stiltman for drawing my attention to this feature on graphic novelists in the NY times. That last line by Spiegelman is a classic!

3300

3,300. Those are the numbers for graphic novels published in 2007, as reported over at The Beat and ICV2. I've got a NY Times reporter e-mailing me every so often asking me if graphic novel use in the classroom has reached a "tipping point." With numbers like that, representing a 19% rise from last year's numbers and total US sales of $375 million, it appears we're approaching some sort of tipping point.

What I've read about the number is both optimistic and guarded. Many point out the 90/10 rule, reminding us that 90% of anything is garbage. Still, though, if 330 high-quality graphic novels were published in 2007, that's great! It means I've got tons of reading to do, but that's great nonetheless.

The more optimistic folks are pointing to marketing trends and saying that the end of the graphic novel's popularity is yet to be in sight. Some speculate that there will be a bottoming out of the form's popularity with readers, but my guess is it will be more of a leveling off, with numbers of books and readers still higher than they were before they started to rise.

I guess some hardliners will suggest that readers are becoming more and more ADHD, that graphic novels contribute to the dumbing down of the American readership. To that I remember a recent quote from Art Spiegelman, who said there are plenty of smart kids who get comics, and plenty of dumb adults who don't. In a visual age where text and image blur and mesh, the graphic novel is representative of its times, and not necessarily representative of a decline in literacy skills, but of an expansion of them.

My Presentation to NHCTE

I just returned from a wonderful time as a guest speaker at the New Hampshire Council of Teachers of English 2008 conference. I met some great teachers and had the distinct pleasure of meeting with Diane Weidenbacker's students, all of whom have recently read Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda and have created their own very moving sequential art narratives.

For a possibly clearer visual, visit this link: http://www.archive.org/details/NhcteTalk08GraphicNovels

As promised to the NHCTE crowd, here is a version of my presentation with full voice-over. Thanks, NHCTE!

Comics, Gender, and Reading Habits

In her online column over at comixology, Kristy Valenti is trying her darndest to use some methodology to tackle the issue of gender differences when it comes to reading comics.

WIZARDRY, DREAMWORLDS AND FRANKENSTEIN!

Eureka Productions is pleased to announce the publication of FANTASY
CLASSICS, the fifteenth volume in the GRAPHIC CLASSICS® series of comics
adaptations of great literature.

FANTASY CLASSICS is a multi-author anthology, featuring Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," adapted by Rod Lott and Skot Olsen, with a prologue illustrated by Mark A. Nelson. Also featured is H.P. Lovecraft's epic
fantasy "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath," by Ben Avery and Leong Wan Kok, and "Oz" author L. Frank Baum's "The Glass Dog," by Antonella Caputo and Brad Teare. Plus Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter," adapted by Lance Tooks, and poems by Fantasy Masters Clark Ashton Smith and Lord Dunsany, illustrated by Evert Geradts and Rachel Masilamani. With a dramatic cover painting by Skot Olsen.

FANTASY CLASSICS is available in bookstores, comics shops, or direct from
the publisher at http://www.graphicclassics.com

Wowio Offers Free Comics/Graphic Novels

Thanks to Lance Eaton for sharing some great information about wowio. This online site offers readers the opportunity to download pdf versions of all sort of texts, including graphic novels and comic books. There is a registration process and a limit to how much one can download per month, but it is completely free. Sponsors make sure all the right people are paid, so you can download and read guilt-free.

By selecting "comics and graphic novels" in the browse function, I was transported to a page where I could view selections by title, genre, age, or publisher. Under "genre" there was even a special section for comics produced for educational purposes. Other categories included "religious," "myths and legends," and "historical fiction."

AIDS in Sequential Art

So for months now I've had this store of comics stories in which AIDs is featured in one way or another, with the idea being that I'd eventually post them as a tribute to one of my favorite graphic novels, Judd Winick's Pedro and Me, in which roommates on a popular reality television show learn to live with and love a fellow cast member, Pedro Zamora, who is HIV positive and ultimately succumbs to AIDs-related illness.

Well, National AIDS Awareness Month isn't until October (I thought it was in April, for some reason), but I just can't wait any longer.

As I've often said, the sequential art format offers many rich examples of texts engaging in sociocultural and sociopolitical issues. Pedro and Me may be among the best-known graphic novels to deal explicitly with safe sex and AIDS, but it's hardly the only one. Below is a list of other titles or stories that do the same, and I encourage anyone to post other examples that they may know. (There may be some overlap in the titles mentioned below from various sources).

Strip AIDS USA (1989) Coedited with Trina Robbins, Bill Sienkiewicz and Robert Triptow. An AIDS benefit comics anthology which included work from cartoonists Frank Miller, Sergio Aragones, Alison Bechdel, Weiill Eisner, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, Moebius, Harvey Pekar, Marie Severin, and others. (Thanks to Trina for this information)

Thanks to Andy Mangels (see http://www.andymangels.com/and http://www.wonderwomanmuseum.com/) for the following timeline of other AIDs-related comics, apparently created originally for Gay and PRISM Comics:

1986• Megaton #4 contains the first comic book reference to AIDS

1987• Jon Sable, Freelance #44-45 features the first major AIDS storyline in comics (First Comics)
• Strip AIDS, an AIDS benefit anthology trade paperback, is released in the UK (Willyprods/Small Time Ink)

1988• Strip AIDS USA, an AIDS benefit anthology trade paperback (Last Gasp)
• AIDS News, an AIDS education book (People of Color Against AIDS Network)

1989• HOMO PATROL, a graphic novel dealing with AIDS and homophobia (Helpless Anger, 1989).

1991• Within Our Reach, an AIDS benefit anthology trade paperback (Star Reach/Marvel)

1992• Real Life Comics presents Healthman: The AIDS Crisis (Personality Comics)

1993• AIDS Awareness, an anthology comic book, is published in the UK (Chaos City Comics)
• The AIDS Awareness Trading Card Set is released. Each pack contains a condom. (Eclipse)

1994• The Incredible Hulk 420, in which a major supporting character dies of AIDS (Marvel)
• The Incredible Condom Man (Aaaahh!! Comics)

1995• Free World Comics, an AIDS education book (World Comics)
• Chris Companik’s “HIV + ME” starts as a comic strip in Atlanta AIDS Survival Project’s newsletter Survival News (January 1995). The strips began running in A & U magazine beginning March 2003.

1996• Seven Miles a Second, a graphic novel, and an autobiographical story about a hustler dying of AIDS (DC/Vertigo)

2000• Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned, a graphic novel account of author Judd Winick's friendship with the late AIDS activist Pedro Zamora, is nominated for a Pulitzer Prize (Henry Holt)

Andrew L. has offered titles Blue Pills and Lost Raven (buy this one and some of your money goes to the Evergreen AIDS Foundation, according to Amazon.com), the superhero comic Shadow Hawk and Howard Cruse's story "Safe Sex" (most probably from his work in The Advocate magazine).

One of my new favorite images

Superman Turns 70!

Comic Book Resources is reminding us all that February 29 was Superman's 70th birthday. First introduced to the masses in 1938, he's now a super-senior citizen. CBR is asking folks to detail their most visceral Superman experience. I don't really have one. What I respect most about this character is that he tries to be moral, forthright, honest, and self-motivated. He has the power to crush Earth's enemies and the power to vanquish anything that bugs him, really. But he's a study in self-control and genuinely humanist values.

I've been taking some heat from female academics lately for studying comics and graphic novels. They tell me the sequential art form is too dominated by men, that the characters are poor representations of femininity, and that the images and portrayals of women in comics are degrading and immature.

They're right -- to some degree. Often within these bereavements, though, these critics make blanket statements or assumptions: assuming the traits of super hero comics are found in all sequential art, mistaking the commercial comics as the standard bearers of the form, failing to consider that male representation in mainstream comics is often just as immature and exaggerated as is female representation, and assuming that there can be no value in what they see as a flawed form.

I'm unapologetic when I say I actually care and think about issues concerning young men. As the father of two boys, a career educator, and an informed citizen, I read the research and see with my own eyes -- have experienced in my own life -- how we're losing our young men, especially our young men from backgrounds of poverty, to unchecked appropriations of hyper-masculinity via media and possibly media-created or government- spun notions of "culture" and acceptable behavior (all of which which usually boil down to having no real humanist masculinity in them at all).

Knowing this has only increased my respect for characters like Peter Parker, Steve Rogers, and Clark Kent, characters who have the power to do amazingly terrible things, but who have decided that being supermen doesn't mean having amazing powers, but actually means rising above the banality and perversion that can be the animalistic human existence, the one bent on domination, ego, and violence. Superman is the Greek and Neoclassical ideal: Everything in the proper moderation, tempered by reason and logic, and infused with a strong moral core. He's super not only because of his alien powers, but because of how he embodies the best of humanity.

I make a habit of buying my young male relatives a Superman t-shirt at least once in their lives. As I tell my wife, "There's a time in every little boy's life when he wishes he could be Superman." I hope I'm still right, and that we're looking up to Supes for generations to come, not just because he's faster than a locomotive or could hurl our planet into the sun at any moment, but because he embodies potential power filtered through rational thought, a sincere caring for all of humanity, a balanced point of view on all things constituting the human experience, and a resolve to use his potential for the shared benefit of others.

Do I want my sons to grow up looking like Superman? Not especially, but would I be happy if they embodied the best of his character? Absolutely.

Now, I could easily embark on philosophical notions of gender, morals, and humanity here, or I could examine whether or not I'd be just as happy to have a daughter look up to the best in Superman, or I could extrapolate on the commercial character-building process that is the super hero comics' m.o. and thereby say either that it is silly to look up to a character that is the conglomeration of so many influences or suggest that the communal aspect of Superman's creation and continuing development actually supports the notion that "it takes a village" to raise children with good moral cores by showing that our group mentality, our group morality, must come into play when teaching our children right from wrong, what traits are admirable and which are not, or I could berate myself for speaking of a fictional character with such praise.

But, instead, I think I'll simply say "Happy Birthday Superman! And keep doing what you do best: Reminding us that our best selves are the potential super-men (and women) in all of us."

NCTE Considers 21st Century Literacies

The NCTE Executive Committee adopted a definition of 21st century literacies on February 15, 2008. Well, they adopted a move toward a definition, anyway.

The committee basically made a statement that as society evolves, so does the definition of literacy. Since 21st century living requires many more skills for one to be considered even functionally literate than were needed even twenty years ago, teachers need to consider expanding their notions of what it means to read and live successfully. It's great to see NCTE leading the way in getting this idea in the public consciousness.

A focus on visual and multimedia texts is also presented in the committee's statement. I think as more people peel back 20th century (or maybe even 19th century) ways of thinking, seeing, and reading, the gaphic novel is going to take a much more prominent place in education -- as a middle ground between traditional print and multimodal textuality, as an exemplar of the visual-print connection (everything's a text), and as a true art literature. By "art literature" I suggest that the graphic novel, as it helps us see that letters and forms are equally textual, all there to be read, coded, decoded, comprehended and shared, also helps us to see that our distinctions between art and literature are just as arbitrary as our distinctions between seeing the pictograph "A" as a letter -- something to be read -- but other pictorial images as illustrations to be viewed rather than read.

In other words:

Reading = reading words
Reading = reading images
Words = images
Images = texts
texts=images
Reading = reading images.

Art is to be read
Literature is to be read
Reading is a specialized viewing
Viewing is a specialized reading
Reading may = viewing
Art can be read as literature
literature can be read as art
Art may = literature
Literature may = art

Possible New Outlet for Aspiring Comics Creators?

From the site itself: "Launchpad is a new literary and arts magazine dedicated to publishing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, book reviews, and artwork by children ages 6-12. The magazine will appear six times a year...."

Could this be a great new outlet for young students wanting to share their work in sequential art narrative? I think it has some potential!

Scott McCloud Goes (to) SPLAT!

SPLAT 2008 Announces Librarian and Educator Workshops for March 15th Event.!

Just got this forward from the folks at SPLAT. Looks like a neat program they've lined up!


The New York Center for Independent Publishers today formally announced th eaddition of four graphic novel workshops for educators and librarians to take place during the inaugural SPLAT 2008 Graphic Novel Symposium on March15th.

Workshop coordinator, John Shableski of Diamond Book Distributors, says,"This selection reflects the growing acceptance and use of graphic novelsand comics in the public library, the classroom and in the academic setting.We are excited to host workshops that demonstrate the value of this excitingformat with some very engaging and knowledgeable instructors. If you wantto see how the books can be used in the classroom from the teacher'sperspective, or how to build a lesson plan using graphic novels, this is definitely a great opportunity. We have also included a great course onusing manga and anime in the public library setting. Manga represents far and away the most explosive genre in the world of graphic novel publishing.To round out the program there will be some great insight on how graphic novels are finding a home in the academic world."


Who should attend? Professionals from all levels in retail publishing,editorial, writing and creation as well as the educators and librarianfields.

Guest presenters are as follows:
Karen Green, Columbia University: Graphic Novels in the Academic LibraryPeter
Gutierrez, Graphic Novels in the Classroom: Creating Lesson Plans
Margaux Del Guidice and Michael Lizari, Comics.In A School? Using GraphicNovels to Enhance Student Achievement
Christian Zabriskie: Why Anime and Manga Belong in Your Collection

The conferencewill feature some of the movers and shakers from the graphic book worldincluding: Jim Killen; David Saylor, Raina Telgemeier, Ted Rail, CBCebulski, Bob Mecoy, R Sitayak, Nick Bertozzi and Charles Brownstein. [and Scott McCloud will be there too! That's a great line-up!!!]

There will be three different tracks of insightful panels, seminars andworkshops scheduled between 9am to 5pm, to be followed by the SPLAT GalaReception. Including the afore mentioned librarian and educators sessionsthere will be a track featuring panels on topics including "Who Reads Graphic Novels" and "How to Get Published". Another third track, willconsist of hands-on workshops on subjects such as "Story Telling" and "Where to Start with Art".

The cost of the day long Symposium will be $125; this will include lunch andthe Gala Reception. For more information regarding the Symposium and registration, contact theNYCIP at 212-764-7021, visit www.nycip.org, or e-mail Executive DirectorKarin Taylor at nycip@nycip.org.

BUCKY IS CAPTAIN AMERICA!

No, I haven't flipped my lid and gone completely megalomaniacal. In the title of this post, I'm referring to Marvel Comics' latest issues of Captain America, in which Cap's former kid sidekick, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, steps up to become the new Captain America. Steve Rogers, the original Cap, was assassinated months ago, leaving the country without its sentinel of liberty.

I'm really torn about it, too. As you might imagine, as a lifelong comic book fan and someone who sports a name quite similar to Barnes', I have a deep emotional connection to the Bucky character. Hell, when I was a pre-teen, I once even convinced some friends of mine that the character was based off me. We were about the same build, had the same hair color and style and silly grin.

But being connected with Bucky Barnes wasn't always so cool. Comic book readers already had a tendency to be considered geeks or nerds when I was growing up -- back when it wasn't cool to be unique or geeky -- and I actually found myself being poked fun of by those who didn't read comics and by those who were comics readers. You see, Bucky was seen as a dorky character, THE kid sidekick cliche, even less appealing than Robin, who had at least grown up to make something of himself instead of eventually dying in a pitiful attempt to catch a baddie, leaving a legacy of guilt for his best friend Steve.

Bucky was even one of the few comics characters who had died that fans actually wanted to stay dead. For me, I took this sort of underdog, sidekick, campy role and internalized it. I was always one to root for the little guy anyway, and being a quirky kid, it came natural to connect with the Barnes through a mutual characterization that was deeper than our shared names and looks.

When I was in grad school, I even assistant-taught under a Captain America fan who everyone knew was going to be a star. I was his kid sidekick, the neat but weird fellow in his shadow and happy to be there.

Now he is a rising star in academia. But, all of a sudden, I see I'm finding my own way too; I'm on the cusp of doing well for myself and starting my own possibly stellar career. And guess who else has been revitalized? Bucky Barnes. First his mission and death were retconned such that it was revealed he was a black ops soldier who did the dirty work that Cap couldn't do -- work like killing and maiming the enemy. Cap was the "boy blue" soldier who could subdue the Nazis, but the little boy in the blue togs was the one doing that Greek drama thing and slitting their throats off-panel. Further, his body was salvaged after his apparent death; he was nursed back to health, brainwashed by the Soviets, and transformed into "The Winter Soldier," a super-spy bad-ass who can go toe-to-toe with anyone in the Marvel Universe. Iron Man, Wolverine, anybody.

And now this: honoring Cap's final wishes, an adult and recently deprogrammed (or is that reprogrammed?) Bucky Barnes has taken up the title and role of his former mentor. Bucky is Captain America. For now, he has the potential to become THE superhero, the noblest of noble, the flag-draped symbol of all that is good in America.

Me? I'm getting ready to finish my degree and could be offered a tenure-track job any day now, meaning I could be living my American dream. There's even the possibility that I could become the departmental colleague, the equal, if you will, of the Cap fan I once sidekicked under.

Is that why I'm so afraid Bucky Barnes will screw up in his new role? Do we both seem destined to fail? Or are we both afraid to succeed? Are we both actually more comfortable doing dirty work, even if it's good work, off-panel while others get the glory? Bucky can never be Steve; no one knows that more than he does, but can he be his own man and do well at it?

If he succeeds, it'll be a nice little American Dream: the once scurrilous scamp kid makes good. Sort of sounds like my own story: The kid from Nowhere, NC, rises up from abuse and poverty, from low expectations and ridicule, to become an exemplar in his chosen profession. If he fails, does it suggest I'll fail too? I'm just as close to ending this job season with no offers as I am to procuring one, just as apt to have to do more work as I am to pass my dissertation. There's a lot of evidence to suggest the American Dream is a myth, after all, that the best way to get ahead in America is to start ahead, thereby indicating that those who start with nothing are quite likely to finish with only a little more than that, regardless of what we do and how hard we work.

Bucky, Bucky, Bucky: You're so close. Don't f*ck it up. Please, lord, don't let others f*ck it up for you. Be the Captain of Whitman's "O Captain, my Captain." At the very least, be the best you can be, and hope to God it's good enough...

Fresh from the 1.23.08 NCTE Inbox...

NCTE continues to help keep graphic novels on educators' radar by sharing yet another example of a local paper giving sequential art narratives some love. See what this Kansas City paper had to say, and check out who is being featured in the story: high school students! Ahem..ahem.... ;)

Daily Bits Free Graphic Novels Viewing

Thanks to Lou Novacheck for sending this link via the comics scholar listserve. It offers a look at 17 graphic novels -- for free! This is a neat way to acquaint one's self with the format.

Satrapi Speaks on Border Crossing with Bad Info

Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis, both a graphic novel and now a feature film, recently published a piece in The New York Times about the cultural conflicts and confusion that come with border crossing via panels and real life. We've got some contact zones going on here, as we usually do when we think about border crossings, and tons of educational value, as one might expect.

Check out what she has to say about conflation, misunderstanding, and outright obfuscation in "Defending My Country."

Another Company Entering the Children's GN Market

Thanks to Lou Novacheck for this forward from IDW:

IDW PUBLISHING LAUNCHES NEW CHILDREN'S DIVISION AND IMPRINT
Signs Distribution Agreement with Renowned UK Children's Publishing Firm; Pacts With Top Hollywood Screenwriters To Create Children's Books

(San Diego, CA and Newark, NJ; January 10, 2008) -- In a precedent-setting move, IDW Publishing, a division of IDT Internet Mobile Group and an established leader in the comic book and graphic novel arena, is launching a children's division called Jonas Publishing and a new imprint, Worthwhile Books. The move will allow IDW Publishing to expand its library of successful print titles, which to date has been particularly focused in the horror, action, and sci-fi genres, such as 30 Days of Night and The Transformers. To launch the imprint, IDW Publishing has inked a significant agreement with a renowned UK children's publisher and is striking deals with top Hollywood writers to create children's books.

Worthwhile Books has finalized a first-look arrangement with UK children's publisher Meadowside Books (http://www.meadowsidebooks.com/), known for its unique character-driven picture books for young readers. Worthwhile will be the exclusive U.S. publisher of selected Meadowside titles and will retain domestic film and television rights on those properties. The first Meadowside Books title in the deal, Michael Recycle, by Ellie Bethel, follows the escapades of a "green-caped" environmental hero and will be released in March by Worthwhile Books. Worthwhile expects to issue approximately 10 Meadowside titles over the course of the first year, including William's Dinosaurs, by Alan Baker, which tells the tale of a little boy who finds more than trees in the dark woods near his home.

Worthwhile's Hollywood outreach is tapping into the top ranks of movie and television writing talent to bring original literary stories to the young reading audience. The collective credits of the entertainment writers include some of the industry's most successful television series and movies. These writers include:

· David N. Weiss, whose writing credits include Shrek 2, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and both Rugrats movies

· David Sacks, a writer/producer on The Simpsons, producer on Malcolm in the Middle, and writer on 3rd Rock from the Sun

· Dava Savel, an Emmy Award- winning comedy writer with credits on shows such as Grace Under Fire and Will & Grace, in addition to being an executive producer on the children's program That's So Raven

· David Steinberg, whose producing credits include Meet the Robinsons, Home on the Range and Cats Don't Dance

· Robert Kurtz, who wrote for the movie Everyone's Hero and has written for such shows as Boy Meets World and Grace Under Fire

"Our growth strategy calls for continued expansion into other areas of the entertainment sector," said Ted Adams, IDW co-founder and president. "Creating and controlling successful

children's properties helps us in those endeavors. Meadowside's books are playful, empowering, smart and exciting and the artwork is simply breathtaking. These are children's picture stories in the classic tradition with a central character that is relatable to today's kids."

In speaking of the outreach to Hollywood writers, Robert Kurtz, vice-president and creative director at Worthwhile Books, said "Every writer I know who works in television or movies has a children's story inside him or her that they've wanted to tell for years but for a variety of reasons never were able to get out into the marketplace. We want writers to think of Worthwhile Books as the one-stop destination for that kind of project. It is designed to be a writer-driven company and we think that will be very attractive to these talented artists."

ABOUT IDW PUBLISHING:Idea and Design Works, LLC, (DBA IDW Publishing) is a division of IDT Internet Mobile Group (IIMG). An established leader in the comic book and graphic novel marketplace, particularly in the horror, action, and sci-fi genres, IDW Publishing also owns Jonas Publishing and its children's imprint, Worthwhile Books. IDW lists some of the most successful and hottest print titles in the industry in its portfolio, including: television's #1 prime time series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; Sony's Underworld; Paramount's Star Trek; Fox's 24 and Angel, and Hasbro's The Transformers. The feature film version of IDW Publishing's graphic novel, 30 Days of Night, recently topped the box office when it premiered in October. The company also works with foreign licensing agents to sell their comics around the world, with titles being published in multiple languages and crossing dozens of regions.

ABOUT IDT INTERNET MOBILE GROUP:IDT Internet Mobile Group (IIMG), a division of the Fortune 1000 telecommunications firm IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT, IDT.C), is a leader in the development, management and growth of cross-platform consumer entertainment, distribution and financial services. From providing mobile content to consumers in over 200 countries through the mobile content portal Zedge ( http://www.zedge.net/) to the creation, development and distribution of top graphic novels through IDW Publishing, and providing cash remittance services via mobile phones to millions of people living abroad, IIMG is dedicated to turning innovative ideas and companies into products and services that span various industries.
In this press release, all statements that are not purely about historical facts, including, but not limited to, those with the words "believe," "anticipate," "expect," "plan," "intend," "estimate," "target" and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements and risk factors included in this document are made as of the date hereof, based on information available to IDT as of the date thereof, and IDT assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or risk factors.

UF Comics Links

The University of Florida is one of the, if the not the, premiere place to study visual rhetoric as it relates to comics. So, it's not a surprise that they have an impressive list of links and resources on comics and graphic novels. In addition to hosting the comics scholars listserve, UF also is the home site for ImageText, an online journal of excellent repute that examines image-print relationships and more. Click here to see what they have to offer on the teaching of comics, etc.

UB Jammin' on Comics

I just returned from a very pleasant stay at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. They do great work with multimodal literacies there, and maybe I'll have the opportunity to join their staff (we'll see!).

Among my joys was meeting long-time graphic novel advocate Michael Lavin, a librarian who has been spreading the message that graphic novels get kids reading. So, as a tribute to him and a nice 2.5 day stay, I ask you to check out the UB links on comics and graphic novels.