First-Ever AC/GA Crossover!
Steve
Higgins calls for the establishment of a Comic Book Canon in his
most recent "Advocating Comics" column (not a permanent link, so search
through the
archives
if the link turns up some different topic by the time you click
it). I was going to respond with my thoughts on Steve's column on
his message board, but I figured since Steve namechecked me in his
column (but not my blog, the bastard), it was only fair that I return
the favor here. Plus, I promised him a crossover before I read
his article. [Gratuitous Aside: I was tickled at the way
Steve described me in his piece as "former reviewer for Broken Frontier
and fellow comics advocate." While these are both fine and true
descriptions, I wondered if people might read this and come away with
the impression that Steve and I first met while on staff at BF.
If I recall correctly, our association goes back a little further than
that: I believe I first met Steve on the old DC message boards
where he and I would argue over which series was better–DOOM PATROL
or POWER COMPANY. Eventually we
both
lost,
but we continue to disagree on other topics on other boards to this
day.]
Although Steve's column was apparently inspired by
my
disagreeing with his word choice in an
earlier
column, I do agree with Steve's general point about establishing "a
literary canon of sorts for the graphic narrative." I know some
people bristle at the term 'canon' but I've always understood the
concept in the sense of "a group of literary works that are generally
accepted as representing a field." For me the important qualifier
is "generally." I think there will always be disagreements about
what works are
most representative of a given class, but I do
think it's worthwhile nonetheless to have a shared frame of reference
one can point out to people interested in learning more about a medium
(or genre, or author, or whatever the topic in focus happens to
be). When I dabbled in Film Studies back in college, for example,
I was glad to cover "the classics," even if I'd already seen them or
ended up thinking they were terribly boring. By looking
critically at important films, I gained an appreciation for why
particular films were considered essential, and I learned the basics of
film criticism in the process.
Another issue that surfaces when trying to piece together a canon is
that certain works can appear problematic from a modern
perspective. Mark Twain's
Huckleberry Finn is a perennial
target for charges of racism, for example, yet most courses in American
Literature leave it in the canon. Personally, I think works that
are historically important should be acknowledged as such, even if they
are controversial for various reasons. Just because something is
included in the canon doesn't mean it's a flawless work or worthy of
moral
approbation. In Film Studies, both
Birth of a Nation
and
Triumph
of the Will were shown, mainly for their historical and
technical significance, but the discussion also covered why the films
were reprehensible. So important comics such as
Action Comics
#1 and
Detective Comics #27 could be included in the Comic Book
Canon and still acknowledged as "
dumber
than a bag of hammers."
If we agree that a shared frame of reference can be a useful thing to
have, then the task turns to setting out just how large that frame
should be. Not everything can be included, of course, and this is
where disagreements inevitably spring up: Why was such-and-such a
work included? Why
wasn't such-and-such a work
included? Because there's no way to satisfy everyone with one
list, I think it's important to view the lists as starting points, both
in terms of a starting point which can lead enthusiasts to discover new
works and in terms of a starting point for discussions about the
criteria behind the lists. ("Why does this list leave off
European or Japanese comics?" "Well, we wanted to limit the scope
of our overview to North American comics, but that isn't to suggest
that there aren't worthwhile comics from those regions." "Oh,
OK.")
So, what works would I nominate for inclusion in the Comic Book
Canon? I haven't even started to think about that yet.
There's
a
thread in Steve's forum taking suggestions about what should be
considered "Essential Works of Sequential Art," and Steve has promised
to reveal his picks in next week's column. I'll mull over it
myself, but I consider myself pretty bad at coming up with lists like
this. It's a cop-out, but I'd probably like to start by looking
at other people's lists (and then criticizing their picks in true
blogger fashion), and even then I can only think of one serious attempt
to establish a list of canonical comics,
The Comic Journal's list
of Top 100 English-Language Comics of the Century (and
the accompanying
lists that fed the final list). Does anyone else know
of other attempts to list some of the best comics ever? (Anyone
who suggests any of
Wizard's endless "Top 100 X-Men Comics of
All Time!!" rankings will be dealt with appropriately.)
