In class today we briefly discussed the forms that comics can take (and webcomics because they are not limited to print). Dave quoted Scott Mccloud, so I think it would be appropriate to "quote" him first on time and form in comics:

Then on time and form in web comics: I Can't Stop Thinking! #4

 Neil Gaiman's "A Game of You" and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland were both works that were very dream-centric.  I read some posts that talked about movies centering on dreams, and I thought of a couple of movies I've seen that rely completely on the principle of dreams.

Tomorrow in class, we're going to briefly have a guest speaker. Dave Joria is one of the writers for the semi-professional artist group, "Tangent Artists," most recently to be seen selling their comics "Skeleton Crew" and "Donuts for Looking" at Katsucon. He'll be talking a bit about his work on "Skeleton Crew," a webcomic which you can find at http://www.tangentartists.com/skeletoncrew/skeletoncrew_000.html if you're interested in checking it out before class.

  Class began with some discussion of genre, as well as what we'll be reading in the future.  Anne discussed how all of us are thinking about what it means to read, and how different genres, forms, and platforms could change that.  Anne also said to think about how different genres (particularly genres that put more emphasis on senses) might change one's understanding of a genre.  Movies, it was said, have more sensory input than books, and teal noted that one doesn't have much space to imagine while watching a movie.

    After reading Neil Gaiman's A Game of You and Alice in Wonderland I can't stop thinking about my dreams. In Gaiman's graphic novel Barbie states that the food she ate in her dream was much better than any other meal she has ever had and asks how that is possible. It might seem crazy but in a world filled with fantasy, her statement made a lot of sense. Similar to Alice and Barbie, my dreams sometimes can feel more real than reality itself. I have had dreams that result in tears, or dreams that result in waking up in a cold sweat from fear of drowning. Is it really so odd that Barbie can taste a meal in her dreams? I don't think so. Some of my best meals have been in my dreams as well.

We were talking in class about the different forms of "reading" and how reading experiences can differe from listening experiences. That's all quite valid. The thing we didn't really talk about, however, was how very versatile somethign like a book is. For example, the fact that you can read, listen to, or even perform the text of a book is very impressive. Novels, poetry, and other fictional texts are very inclusive - they allow anyone, even those with audio or visual disabilities, to be part of the experience.

Graphic novels, bless them, are not inclusive. Not even a little. You cannot record a graphic novel on tape, and play it to a visually disabled invidual. Sure, graphic novels contain text, which is important to the story. The pictures, however, cannot be recorded, and a graphic novel can't be experienced through it's text alone.

You cannot create a braille version of a graphic novel. I'm sure that people have tried, and perhaps we'll develop, in the future, a way of translating pictures into text, and text into braille, but for the moment, that's not an option. (I've done a little research, but if you can contradict me on this last claim, I'd love to see what you found. That's not sarcasm - I'd be delighted.)

I'm not saying that graphic novels aren't valuable in their own right. We can all read them, and we can all enjoy them. That's excellent. I'm fond of the idea that a reading experience should be available to everyone, however, which is why I hope that graphic novels are not the novels of the future.