July 9, 2019
The Center for Cartoon Studies instructor Jason Lutes (Berlin) was part of a panel discussing the state of comics at the American Library Association (ALA) conference in June. Along with Jaime Hernandez (Love and Rockets) and Raina Telgemeier (The Baby-Sitters Club), the panel was moderated by Amie Wright. They discussed their relationships to their characters, the rise of graphic memoir and biography, using comics to promote literacy, and shelving graphic novels separately or with the rest of the collection. Though there was disagreement among the panel, Jason sees shelving graphic novels in the general collection as a step in the right direction.
During the panel:
Lutes shared how at the age of nine, he envisioned himself as a cartoonist, sketching a prophetic self-portrait in which he’s missed his deadline for writing the next Spider-Man comic. “I’ve never met a deadline in my life,” he admitted playfully. “By making this drawing I created my own future . . . I was shocked to see how true to life it is.”
In and Beyond the Library: GNCRT’s State of the Comics Union; Past, Present, and Future | ALA 2019 by Annalisa Pešek
Tags: Aime Wright, ALA, Baby-sitters Club, Berlin, CCS Faculty, Graphic Novel Roundtable, Jaime Hernandez, Jason Lutes, Love and Rockets, Raina Telgemeier
