Remember this guy? All images courtesy Jon Chad.
Last week, I interviewed Jon Chad about his amazing geology adventure comic, Leo Geo and His…man, that’s a long title. Just go look at it, okay? Anyway, Jon had a lot of interesting things to say about books with interesting formats, which I thought would make a great post all on its own. So here it is.
Make sure to scroll to the end for the best alter-ego self-portrait EVER.
What could the children’s book world learn from the indie comics world?
Format format format. I think that too often, children’s books adhere to a really traditional format, whether it be through construction or narrative delivery. There’s a literal glut of abstractly constructed minicomics that really celebrate the “book” as a precious object. This might be a consequence of most minicomics being self-published. When the size of the print run is so small, and you are intimately involved in a book’s creation, you have more liberties as to what the final product will look like.
Yeah, I really admire the richness of the comics self-publishing scene. Why can’t we do that with picture books? Self-published picture books certainly exist, but they’re usually pretty dull.
I think we just need some cross contamination. I don’t know if the sort of formal innovations and weirdness you see in self-published comics is on the radar of people self-publishing picture books. It goes both ways, though. None of my students knew who won the Caldecott last month, or some of the eye-opening things being done with picture books (I teach Publication Workshop at the Center for Cartoon Studies). Illustration and storytelling isn’t this insular little community. It’s nearly impossible to track all of the amazing things that are happening. I also think that there’s a format that has come to be expected of picture books. Self-publishing a hardcover is expensive, but I get the idea that’s what people expect to see.
Any favorite children’s books or comics with interesting formats?
Everything that Brian McMullen is doing over at McMullens (an imprint of McSweeney’s) is really blowing me out of the water. Heat sensitive ink (Keep our Secrets), Dos-a-dos books (Hang Glider & Mud Mask), and fold-out posters (Benny’s Brigade)? Are you kidding me!? Those books are out of control and I love them!
There are way too many inventive comics out there to count, but here are a few of my favorite artists that are clearly passionate about book-making: Eleanor Davis, Pranas Naujokaitis, Shawn Chen, Jason Shiga (watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Er7kmcPcI), and Jeff Zwirek. Zwirek’s self-published Burning Building Comix is a real book-making triumph, and not getting the traction it deserves.
That’s a great video! (Oinkers, check it out and go make a comic!) Besides Leo Geo, have you tried other experiments in form?
I’ve played around with different forms in a lot of my minicomics before I started on my longer graphic novel project.
In 2008 I made a minicomic called Whaletowne, a one-sheet unfolding comic about a sailor who creates an ever-growing city inside of a whale. As you unfold the comic the comic, the image area gets bigger and bigger. This echoes the theme of expansion. In the above image, you can also see that the comic comes in an envelope that resembles the whale. To read the book, you have to go INTO the whale. See what I’m doing 😉
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