Feb. 5-11: Library

Feb. 5-11: Library

By Michael Deeley

"Free to the people."
-carved over the entrance to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

"Here it is. The other history of comics, the way it should have been. The great novels. The pure expressions. Going back hundreds of years".

-Dylan Horrocks, Hicksville

Previously, I'd complained about how an art gallery was the worst place to display comics. Comics are not art the same way a painting is art, but the way a novel is art. Therefore, the best place to display comics is the public library. To confirm this, I visited the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the largest and oldest library in Western Pennsylvania.

It was wonderful.

A little background is needed: Dale Carnegie was one of the famous "robber barons" of the 19th century. He held a steel monopoly that later became US Steel. Growing up poor in Scotland, Carnegie felt obligated to spend some of his money on the community. He commissioned the building of libraries all across the country. The library in Pittsburgh was built in 1895. It is located on the edge of the University of Pittsburgh campus, and just two blocks away from a comic shop.

Perfect location.

Thanks to its proximity to a comic shop and college students, and a healthy stream of revenue, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has the largest collection of graphic novels I've ever seen in one place - a catalog search reveals the main library holds 757 graphic novels! Adding in the holdings of branch libraries gives one 900 listings for graphic novels! 900!

And yet, I've never seen more than one hundred on the shelves. It's not like they're spread out all over the building. The graphic novels have their own section. They are prominently displayed in the "Humanities Stacks", a section in the rear of the first floor. There, alongside collections of poetry, is a front-facing wooden display rack featuring books like Cerebus, The Complete R. Crumb and Madman: The Oddity Odyssey. Against the facing wall is a larger rack with collections of early Prince Valiant and Tarzan comic strips, and a shelf filled with Marvel's Essentials, DC's Sandman, and issues of Blab!, re-bound with bright red hardback covers that you only see in libraries. On my last visit, I noticed that many graphics now occupied a floor-to-ceiling shelf at the end of a long row of literature. The graphic novel section is expanding!

I go on about the display, because comics are so often hidden in libraries; usually with the comic strip books, or in the "young Adult" section. But the Carnegie gives comics their own section, and a prominent one too. You can see the wooden display rack from across the room, through the entrance to Humanities. As you walk past their Young Adult section, you see a smaller shelf of comics (usually Elfquest and some superhero stuff). Earlier this month, the library's featured author was Neil Gaiman. His novel "American Gods" was displayed with their hardcover copies of Sandman. The Carnegie is not ashamed to display their comics.

I spoke to one of the librarians about their comics collection. He said they talk with the owners of the nearby comics shop (Phantom of the Attic of Oakland, a.k.a. The College Shop), to determine what comics to buy. Let me repeat that: A LIBRARIAN ASKS A COMICS DEALER WHAT COMICS TO BUY! The result is the most eclectic assortment of graphic novels you could imagine. Half the books are in black & white. On one shelf, you can find Metabarons, Zippy the Pinhead, The Death of Superman, Jeff Smith's Bone, reprints of old EC horror comics, Eightball, Big Baby, and dozens and dozens of books I've never even heard of! They've got comics from 60 years ago to last month's hottest independent book. In short, the Carnegie collection is the broad, wide, and deep variety of comics we've always wanted the public to see, but was obscured by superhero books. If anything, superheroes are under-represented at the Carnegie.

As I want to examine the experience of reading comics in addition to the comics themselves, I picked up a book and read it at the library. There are two brown, vinyl, padded chairs sitting next to the comics collection. But since these were occupied, I took my book to the reference section and sat at a long table. I confess that I normally feel self-conscious about reading comics in public. But since I was reading a library book at the library, I felt relaxed. It was a lot quieter than the art gallery, though there was some murmuring heard from the check-out desks and computer terminals. People are more polite in libraries. They know to keep their voices down and respect your privacy. A good thing too, considering what I was reading: Hey Mister: Celebrity Roast, by Pete Sickman-Garner.

Hey Mister follows the misadventures of an anti-social, perpetually angry woman named Mary, a sleazy misfit called Mister, and a weird-looking midget called Young Tim, since he's often confused for a child. The short stories feature a mix of social satire, sex jokes, and a dark sense of humor. Celebrity Roast saw Tim dismember pop star Sting, and Mister served the parts at a dinner party; Tim finds fame and fortune with his talking penis; Mary finds a baby that may be the new Messiah if he wasn't so dammed ugly; and Sickman-Garner himself shows up to reveal his neurosis.

Given the large amount of nudity, language, and deviant sexual behavior, I'd never dream of reading this in public. But, being a library book in a library, I felt cool about it. I mean if it really were obscene, it wouldn't be available for public display, right? Besides, only a real jerk bugs a stranger reading in the library. And who cares what jerks think?

I checked out five graphic novels that looked interesting and took them home. I mention them here to further illustrate the kinds of great books the Carnegie had, and to encourage you to buy them yourself.

I now realize how influential Harvey Kurtzman has been on comic books. Every humor comic done since MAD was first created has been an imitation of his work. Both his frenetic art style and his steady comic timing can be found in the present-day MAD, Cracked, and any comic book parody you care to name. I realized this after reading Utterly MAD, and Harvey Kurtzman's Jungle Book. Utterly MAD is the fourth in a series of 50th Anniversary reprints collecting the articles of the original MAD comic books. Most of the stories are written by Kurtzman, with art by John Severin, Wally Wood, Bill Elder, and Jack Davis. The material has held up well. "G. I Shmoe" and the side-by-side comparisons of a book and its movie adaptation are still funny, and true, today. (On a continuity note, the mad scientist and henchmen in "Frank N. Stein!" are identical to the crooks in "Ganefs!", the crime comic parody from MAD #1.)

Jungle Book is a collection of satires written and drawn by Kurtzman. Originally published as a paperback by Ballantine books, this hardcover reprinting was published by Kitchen Sink Press in 1986. It has parodies of 'Peter Gunn' (a cool TV detective who's fight scenes matched the jazz music soundtrack), introspective Westerns like 'Gunsmoke', Madison Ave. magazine publishers, and Southern Town scandal stories. The jokes are still funny, even after their inspirations are all but forgotten. Once again, Kurtzman's sense of comic timing is on full display. A good example is on page 60, during the magazine publishing parody. A bald executive is sitting behind his desk with a cross expression. Standing behind him is a hideous figure; his face twisted with anger; his eyes wide and white; jagged teeth shifting across his protruding jaw; it is the face of Mr. Hyde.

That's one panel. Next panel, same scene, the executive has turned around a little. Thrid panel, he now facing the monster and says, "Well . . . go ahead and say it!" Even out of context, it's a wonderful example of comic timing.

Speaking of timing, Will Eisner's Invisible People conveys the passage the time quite well in three stories about city dwellers who go unnoticed their whole lives. There's the tragic comedy of the man who spent his entire life being unseen, until he's mistakenly reported dead. There's another with a remarkable healing power who can't help but wonder what to do with it. And why don't others have the power? And finally, there's a power play between a middle-aged librarian and the clinging mother of her beloved.

It is a testament to Eisner's abilities, even after 60+ years of drawing comics, that his work cannot be easily put into words. Eisner's stories are those rare comics that cannot be described. Only read. And understood.

Some comics aren't nearly so complex. Joe Kubert's Tor, first published in 1953, followed the adventures of a prehistoric man bringing justice and order to a savage world of dinosaurs and caveman. "Tor" first ran in 1,000,000 Years B.C., the first regularly published 3-D comics series. Kubert drew "Tor" for printing in the 3-D process, resulting in an added quality of depth to the normal artwork. While I find "Tor" very well drawn, I can't help but think of it as more than another savage man fantasy. The morals of the stories are laid on a bit thick, and Tor is always described as a symbol of man's conquest of nature. Granted, comics as a whole weren't very sophisticated back in the 1950s. That only means the work has not aged well.

Dylan Horrocks' Hicksville is a monument to every comics artist that ever had to compromise his artistic integrity, his vision, and his dreams to work in the comics industry. The story follows a young comics journalist writing a biography of Dick Burger, the most successful comics publisher in the world. The journalist goes to Burger's hometown of Hicksville, New Zealand, a place where comics are revered and respected as a literary art form.

But Dick Burger's works are reviled. No one will even talk about the man. And the journalist is determined to find out why. The story weaves around and through the fragments of an old love triangle, some comics self-published by one of the characters, and the pages of a comic that follow the journalist everywhere he goes. Ultimately, the journalist discovers the town's greatest secret, Burger's great crime, and the oft-forgotten shame of the comics industry.

Everyone who loves comics should read Hicksville. Not only is it an intelligent look at comics, it is also an expression of Horrocks' love for the medium, and the men who've suffered to create it. He's created a town filled with real people, people you might know, who love comic books. I wish everyplace was like Hicksville.

I really went on this week, but there was a lot to talk about. I can't read great comics and not tell people about them. I felt my heart beat faster just writing this column. Maybe it's because the Carnegie Library has the kind of comics collection I've always dreamed of having. The best of everything you could imagine, and more besides. Maybe Hicksville got to me more than I realized. Maybe I just need to eat.

Since this column ran long, I'll just mention the new books and give them their ratings:

Alias #19 -

One of the most disgusting scenes in comics. Compliments recent events in Daredevil and Joe Casey's Uncanny X-Men.

Raijin Comics #9 -

I have seen the future of comics. And it is anthologies and graphic novels.

Edge #10 -

A graphic novel anthology series? I love the 21st Century!

Exiles #22 -

One of the founding team members goes back to their original timeline.

Marville #5 -

I might have given this issue

if not for the cover. Even porn mag covers are more discreet! I'm going to dedicate a future column to just how God-fucking-awful this series is.

And the rest:

Comics on the Web: Mystic #9-#11, Kyle Baker's King David, Superman: The Man of Steel #132, Uncanny X-Men #400-#409, Essential Howard the Duck (Marvel Treasury Edition #12, Howard & Defenders story), Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil #12-#21, Daredevil: Love's Labors Lost, Forge #9-#10, (Crux #18-#20), Daredevil: Born Again, Fantastic Four: Heroes Reborn, and all the books I mentioned above.

One last thing: Go to your local library and talk to them about getting more graphic novels. Introduce them to the local comics shop or vice-versa. Remember, the more people who read comics, the more people who'll buy comics.

Next week, a review of the new 'Daredevil' movie from two perspectives.

I'm going for a sandwich. See you next week.

QED