The expanding popularity of graphic novels and comics is without question, but some may doubt the academic validity of the genre, stubbornly arguing it to be fluff without substance. Enter Rose Metal Press and their Field Guide to Graphic Literature as a weighty and informative response to those doubters. Throughout this collection, Tom Hart draws upon his extensive expertise as executive director of the Sequential Artists Workshop, one of the few institutions devoted to comics and graphic novels instruction. Similarly, editor Kelcey Ervick (The Keeper; The Bitter Life of Božena Nêmcová) brings years of practical and teaching experience as a graphic memoirist and collage artist as well as a university professor. Despite their intellectual heft, the editors maintain a lighthearted tone, balancing the creative with the academic.
Teachers and students alike will appreciate the brief essays (usually 2-4 pages) and accompanying creative exercises from such experts in the field as Bianca Stone, Kristen Radtke, and Mira Jacob. The introduction is also helpful: it provides a substantive overview of the history of comics, dating back to the oldest surviving illustrated papyrus roll (c. 1980 BCE). And each essay offers insights, such as when Stone compares poems and the graphic format: "Looking at the enjambed line of poetry and at the comics panel, one can learn how fragmenting helps convey both possibility and nuance." This field guide acknowledges the importance of such forerunners as Will Eisner and Scott McCloud (author of Understanding Comics) and then takes the discussion a step beyond, merging the creative and practical with the academic and analytical. --Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian