Durwin S. Talon, Comics Above Ground: How Sequential Art
Affects Mainstream Media (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2004)
Durwin S. Talon is that rarity, an academic with long experience in the subject he teaches and the ability to write a scholarly examination of that subject in a way interesting to non-academics.
Make no doubt about it, this is a serious study of a serious subject. If you've never thought too much about comics as anything except a way to spend a boring weekend afternoon, you'll be surprised at how pervasive their influence is and where they crop up. Have you ever thought about the role of sequential art in video game design, movie and television storyboards, design concepts or special effects? Neither had I, but I hope I have a better understanding of them now.
Talon also deals with some of the hows of comic books, including how artists design covers and how writers make the transition between comics and other forms of literature, such as novels and children's books.
Comics Above Ground consists of interviews with ten influential figures from the comics industry, lavishly illustrated from their works, both inside and outside the comics genre as such.
Adam Hughes deals with the art of cover art. Greg Rucka talks about his novels, Dave Dorman about his other illustration work. Louise Simonson gives us a look at making comics into children's books. David Guertin talks about how they fit into the world of video games. Jeph Loeb shows us the relationship between comics and Hollywood, while Chuck Woitkevicz talks about storyboards. Bernie Wrightson has insights on concept art, John Van Vliet on visual special effects and Bruce Timm on animation.
All in all, Comics Above Ground is serious but entertaining, technical enough that you see that the interviewees actually know what they're talking about without being inaccessible to the layperson.
TwoMorrows Publishing is found here. I'd like to mention the vast improvement in their quality control. The first book I ever reviewed from this house, But I Have to Live With this Guy! by Blake Bell, was almost impossible to read because of the sloppy writing and proofreading. It came out in 2002. By 2004, when Comics Above Ground appeared, TwoMorrows was putting out a much more polished, readable product.
You can find an interview with Durwin Talon here.
