When you look on the New Releases shelf, there’s a lot to take in. An infinite amount of color, poses and proportions that defy all understanding of human anatomy, settings and equipment that push the limits of the imagination, and that’s all before you get to “D”. Among all those books, let’s say for the sake of argument 35 titles between A through C, maybe five actually are trying to be funny. And that’s me being generous. Some readers may get their jollies from the way titles read next to each other, or accidentally suggestive covers, but I’m not counting those. I’m only counting the comics being published with the intent of making people laugh before anything else. These are very few. That’s not a bad thing until you come across someone that defines the entire medium as a place for giggles and nothing else because they only know the medium as “funnybooks”.
This week I’m taking a special look at two well-produced non-fiction books that, while not afraid to make a reader laugh, take their respective subjects very seriously, and succeed while doing it.
Poorcraft - The Funnybook Fundamentals of Living Well on Less (Trotman/ Nock) is what started me on this tirade, initially. (CC Note: So, IT’S to blame!) The title is humble, the cover art is full of smiles and puppies, and even the font is old-time energetic. To the typical, slightly jaded comic book veteran, this would seem to do everything it can to stay below radar. It’s a shame, because what lies within is a comprehensive guide to thriving in struggling circumstances, using contemporary situations as examples, something everyone could use.
The book is divided into sections for budgeting, food, transportation, entertainment, and just about every other aspect of a person’s life. It follows a doe-eyed spend-thrift hipster named Penny and her less-financially minded neighbor Nickel as they navigate a world that seems to cost more than what they have. Nickel has become accustomed to a certain lifestyle and is resistant to give it up. Penny has set her personality to “optimistic” and lost the lever, calmly confident that there’s an affordable alternative to anything anyone could need in any situation. Their spirited debate throws out the essential information and tips for the better lifestyle that the title promises.
Individually, they’re less character than archetype, Penny the confident, mindful ant to Nickel’s high-living, hungry grasshopper. Penny carries an aura of personal serenity, supposedly because she knows everything will be alright, where Nickel spends the entire time stressing over how her life is changing and she feels out of control. Penny spends the first few pages on her own to introduce the reader to the book, and while it’s dull, uninteresting stuff, it doesn’t last long. Once Nickel comes in, they spend the entire book more or less arguing with each other, and they read more like the devil and angel that appear on one’s shoulders. The bickering is entertaining, and turns what would otherwise be dry, monotone text into viable advice.
The illustrations evoke a sense of Steamboat Wille, simple and seemingly crude, but at the same time instantly recognizable and effective at communicating. Like the characters, the artwork uses classic styles to put a priority on the reader instantly understanding what’s on the page. They’re not out to jump-start a brand new format or shake up the industry, they just want to make it easier for their audience to save money.
I’ve made a few mentions of how safe this book is as far as its production is concerned, and before that sinks in too deep I want to make it clear that this was a necessary choice. Normally, I respect work that challenges, and there’s a lot to respect here. The characters and the artwork don’t throw down any gauntlets because the content itself is what directly challenges the reader. A lot of the tips and tricks described in the book are going to sound ludicrous to the stereotypical American, things like making one’s own cleaning products, and cooking an entire chicken and recooking it into different dishes to make it last a whole week. Nickel’s resistance echoes that of anyone that’s fallen on hard times, hoping that they’ll be able to make it through without changing their lifestyle. Sadly, that’s probably not going to happen. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, and may prove more of a challenge for readers than most art styles or narrative devices.
The biggest criticism I have for this is that it’s too successful at making itself appear non-threatening. I like alliteration as much as the next guy (CC Note: no, you like it way more than the next guy), and I also recognize the importance of getting a title to hook into new readers’ heads however one can. The full title has no pretention, making every effort to be non-threatening as it can. Where so many stories across all forms of media are built around tension and violence, I can appreciate the desire to balance that out with something calm and rational, something that doesn’t mind whether you pick it up or not. That’s its own kind of bravery. On the other hand, there is an overwhelming amount of attention being given to the economic problems people face today and very little covering solutions to those problems the average low to middle class person could actually use. In my own opinion, given the sheer volume of advice contained, and how pertinent it is to audiences, it could easily have gone with a bolder presentation.
Awkward title choices aside, I really do recommend Poorcraft. If you don’t need it, you probably know someone that does, and at $10 a copy, it’s what they need: a great bargain.
Comic Book Comics (Van Lente/ Dunlavey): This is a comic that goes a bit Inception on us, a comic that looks at comics. If you look too closely, you may find yourself in a panel reading the book, and at that point you may not be able to tell where you end and the book begins. If this happens, we cannot give you a refund, but we may recommend a good therapist.
There’s more behind the creation/ evolution of the modern comic than Stan Lee. There’s politics, bitter feuds, backstabbing, dreams forged in sweatshops, weddings with true love, chases… it’s a bit like A Song of Ice and Fire if it were about pen and ink instead of dragons.
You may recognize the names of the creative team. They worked together on Action Philosophers, another book adapting real life into something that reads lighter. Van Lente’s also penned mainstream books all across the industry. They know comics. They live comics. They did not rely on this when they started Comic Book Comics, though. Each issue has a bibliography section larger than some college-level final papers. The volume of information on each page can get pretty intense sometimes, with text and illustrations fighting to drown each other out. Clocking in at 320 pages, this makes for a pretty intimidating tome for the average reader.
Consider what it took to produce. Contracts going back to the turn of the century, partnerships that began as hobbies between friends but ended as vendettas, and some of the major players are still alive and active today. Families are suing multi-national corporations over underpants. This is not the kind of stuff people can talk about casually. Van Lente and Dunlavey would seem to have a lot of fun being as professional and meticulous as possible here. Every statement is cross-referenced, verified, and sourced. It’s enough to make any major journalist proud. You also get images of kaiju newspapers attacking Normandy or something. If you dare ask for anything more than that, we just shouldn’t hang out anymore.
Anyone interested in the sordid details behind the development of an entire medium should check this out. Educators looking for a new way to teach history to their students should check this out, and hope the attention spurs more players in the industry to develop textbooks in comic format. I know I would have paid closer attention to the names and dates that cost me my grade point average if there were faces – not portraits – to attach them to.
What it all comes down to is how much of an audience there is for non-fiction comics. When people can choose between their world and a world where a kid picked on by bullies can walk on walls and has to choose between a blonde and a redhead, the choice would seem pretty obvious, but don’t make it just yet. Our world has a natural gas deposit that’s been burning without any human intervention for decades. There is a diamond mine open to the public in the USA. The burial site of one of the world’s most famous kings was recently found under a parking lot. This world of ours has some really neat stuff in it, if you know where to look.
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