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/lit/ - Literature

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2597656 No.2597656 [Reply] [Original]

Can literature be graphic novels?

>> No.2597658

Yes. But graphic novels cannot be literature.

>> No.2597664

>>2597658

That doesn't make sense.

A=B but B=!A?

>> No.2597670

Yes indeed, providing there's enough titties and swears. And a scene where Supes shoots up into his junk.

>> No.2597700

Oh, hey, that's from that Michael Chabon book about the gay Jew.

No, the other one.

No, the OTHER other one.

>> No.2597772

>>2597670
Spoiler alert for Frank Miller's hard drive

>> No.2597775

Yes. Just look at Captain Underpants. It's not only top level literature but a graphic novel as well.

>> No.2597852

>>2597775
>Using comic books marketed to 3rd graders to try and put comics down

How's that everybody poops?

>> No.2597926

>>2597852
Everybody Poops is gorgeous poetry FUIUD

>> No.2598105

>>2597775
Michael Chabon had an essay about not liking Captain Underpants in his last book - this thread just came full circle

>> No.2598126

some of the best writing I've read was during Delano's run of Hellblazer. I don't see why not

>> No.2598141

I happen to be writing an essay right now about whether comics are or aren't literature. I'm arguing that comics aren't literature simply because literature is commonly defined as writing and there is a visual aspect to comics that differentiates it from literature. I do think that comics are capable of having the same artistic merit as literature but they are simply different mediums. I still don't have enough solid arguments so I'm bumping for more opinions.

>> No.2598153

>>2598141
I agree with this. IMO Dragon Ball Z fanfic is literature, Acme Novelty Library is not, artform divisions and value judgments shouldn't overlap

>> No.2598158

>>>/co/

>> No.2598170

>>2598158
No asshole, this is a literature board and he's asking if comics are literature.

>> No.2598175

If Dan Clowes never learned how to draw we wouldn't have to pretend that Jonathan Franzen has a sense of humor

>> No.2598187

My favorite literature is when Batman walks into a whorehouse and gets what he's looking for and then goes berserk with the diarrhea and gets out his famous Colt .45 and shoots a bunch of people and they're all black.

>> No.2598188
File: 54 KB, 334x500, city_of_glass_graphic_novel.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2598188

well yeah

>> No.2598190

One day everything will be art and there will be no pure fun any more and we will have to resume cockfighting.

>> No.2598205

SERIOUSLY I WANT BATMAN TO KILL

>> No.2598212

Batman leaps on the whore.
"It's not going to be easy, baby. UP THE BUTT!'
He oinks psychotically. She can already smell the molten shit coming from his costume. The codpiece slides open. It's Bat-Jerky. He rips into her colon and starts the pound.
"NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER BATMAN!"

>> No.2598241

>>2598187
And to think Northanger Abbey hasn't been totally canonized yet

>> No.2598243
File: 81 KB, 520x436, batman-kills2-Batman01.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2598243

>>2598205

>> No.2598247
File: 213 KB, 584x864, batmankillsras.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2598247

>>2598243

>> No.2598303

Nah, literature is the art of written work. The script of a graphic novel is literature, the graphic novel itself is not. Still has artistic value though.

>> No.2598326

I think we're sort of asking two separate questions here. One is "Can stories told through the medium of comic panels be literature?" while the other is "Can stories about superheroes be considered literature?"

For the first one, I'd say it's just a medium, It has its strengths and weaknesses, and you can do some stuff in it you can't do in pure prose, and vice versa. Part of it depends on how you define "literature," but I believe that there's no reason the format of the medium can somehow invalidate a quality story.

As for superheroes, I don't see them as much different from any other form of stock character. I put them in the same category as cowboys, private eyes, everymen, what have you. All that matters is if you can find something interesting to do with them. I do think they have one particular strength; since they're built around symbols and iconography, they can often capture themes and serves as metaphors in a way other character types can't.