Those Things Will Rot Your Brain!

The Blurring Line Between Literature, Comics and Good Storytelling

To this day, many parents lament the time they go into their kids’ rooms late at night and find them reading comics under the covers with a flashlight.

“Those things will rot your brain, now go to sleep!” is the textbook exclamation.

This recurring theme emphasizes the fact since their inception, comics have been devalued and relegated to lower forms of reading.

Many a child has tried to convince their parents and teachers that their colorfully illustrated tomes filled with space aliens, teen pals and super heroes were suitable for nighttime reading as well as the monthly school book report.

Of course, most of those attempts fail miserably.

So when exploring the question whether comics are literature or not, it really depends on who you ask.

In his white paper, “Are Comics Literature?” Professor Aaron Meskin from the University of Leeds puts forth the proposition that comics are a hybrid of literature, printmaking and the visual arts.

As literature:

“Presumably the more significant question is whether any comics possess the kinds of values that are especially important in great literature; for example, being well-written, having depth of characterization, exhibiting what Peter Lamarque terms moral seriousness in tackling humanly interesting themes, and being well-plotted.”

“Are some comics literature? If I am right, the art form is a hybrid one, and this hybridity explains many of the relevant phenomena. But it does not settle whether the ‘ comics as literature ’ view is correct. But why do we need to settle it? And how could we settle the issue if we needed to?”

Well thanks, Aaron, you weren’t much help…

As a storyteller and writer of fiction, I like to think that I am creating literature, but moreover, I am trying to tell a good story. So, when my work is transformed into graphic novels, comics or film, I never think that I am giving up any of any of the book’s literary value. On the contrary, I feel that I’m enriching my story, making it deeper and more accessible to a broader audience.

In Nigel Watts, “Writing a Novel and Getting Published,” he provides the Eight-Point Story Arc for every good piece of literature:

1. Stasis

The “everyday life” in which the story is set

2. Trigger

Something beyond the control of the protagonist

3. The Quest

The trigger results in a quest

4. Surprise

This stage involves not one but several elements, and takes up most of the middle part of the story.

5. Critical Choice

Protagonist makes a crucial decision

6. Climax

The critical choice(s) made by your protagonist need to result in the climax, the highest peak of tension, in your story

7. Reversal

The reversal should be the consequence of the critical choice and the climax, and it should change the status of the characters — especially your protagonist

8. Resolution

The resolution is a return to a fresh stasis — one where the characters should be changed, wiser and enlightened, but where the story being told is complete

I would argue this — that any story that contains these attributes has the potential of being or at least becoming literature. Since most comics and graphic novels are published serially, this structure takes more time to develop and the pieces don’t come together under a single cover.

There is also the fact that comics use both words and images to tell their story, which actually adds to their creative force and impact.

Ultimately, the argument all comes back to good storytelling. In our modern world, we are telling stories in myriad new ways, which ultimately elevates the status of various literary, visual, social and new media as vehicles for getting our stories out there.

The story is the most important thing.

Now, let that rot your brain.