Aretha vs. Diana, Interpretation vs. Adaptation
It's all about soul isn't it?
When you look back to the various iconic voices in rock and roll there are those who define a style, and even a time. For me it’s kind of like the games my friends and I would play. Which one is hotter? Or: Which one would you cut your arm off for? Betty vs. Veronica, Ginger vs. Mary Ann? Yes, even comic book characters were subject to this game. For the record, I would always go with Mary Ann (Ginger was too high maintenance) and it was Veronica (bad girl) over Betty and no, I wouldn’t cut my arm off for a cartoon character.
How do Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross come into the game? Well, they never made it into the first two games but they did fit into the who-has-the-most-soul category. Aretha had it hands-down. Diana always sang the ‘pretty’ songs. Even when she was being ‘soulful’ you could tell there was that edge missing. When Aretha sang, you know it came from some place way deep down inside. She poured her life into every note. Pain, doubt, regret, and love are what she felt with every moment of those songs. Diana? She was a graduate of the Motown school of etiquette where breaking a sweat wasn’t allowed. The songs were all pretty, but missed the raw energy that Aretha brought. Other women who sang it like Aretha did are Mavis Staples, Gladys Knight, Tina Turner, Joan Jett, and definitely Janis Joplin. It’s all about the soul and has nothing to do with the polish.
That leads me to the publishing part of this conversation. For a while now, there have been quite a few graphic novels that were essentially adaptations. Whether it’s Shakespeare or the Civil War, there are going to be plenty of adaptations hitting the marketplace. Why is this? For the most part, it is because there are many publishers who are in the ‘me too’ phase of this revolution. They don’t yet have a grasp of the format and want to jump on board as quickly as possible. Their answer is to grab a story that is in the public domain and then farm out it out to the art department. In some very rare cases you will see great adaptations, but for the most part something will definitely be missing from the stories.
Even to the untrained eye, there is a sense that something is lacking from these adaptations. The reason for this is in the efforts from the creative team who worked on the book. When a book is farmed out to an uninterested art department or a contract artist the passion for the work is lacking and very visible. The artist will hit the marks that were set for the project, but that’s as far as it goes. No soul.
When you have a project that shows soul, you will understand the value in the real effort needed to create a graphic novel. I’ve talked with more than a few publishers, who have been looking to develop a line of graphic novels. They have a great wealth of prose titles to work from and are anxiously looking to see which title would be best adapted to the graphic novel format. My reply to all of them is this: “You have to have artists and creators who want to do the project first. If they don’t have a feeling for the story, it won’t work.” You will spend a lot of money to develop a story, but because you didn’t have a creative team fully vested in the book it just won’t be as good.
Here is the way to find your talent: audition. Send a group of your titles to a variety of creators and ask them which one they would like to do. You will then see a real passion for the story. That passion is what you need and it will translate onto the page. You will see unique camera angles used in the telling of the story. You will also see perspectives you may have never considered that is born from the creator’s unique vision. Now you have an interpretation of the story which is much fuller than you could have ever imagined.
The same logic can be applied in the bookstore. When you have an owner who really understands what it means to be a part of the community it shows in everything they do. A really good store owner is much like a movie director or music producer. A good store owner is someone who conducts a symphony. The people whom they hire are as critical as the store design, the marketing, and promotions. Each person is an element or an instrument that plays into the shopping experience. If you don’t have that in your store, you need to find it. You’ll sell books, but it won’t be the same experience that builds loyalty and passion. If you have ever met Mitch Kaplan or toured his Books and Books stores in the Miami area, you would have definitely seen this for yourself. Each store has its own rhythms and sensibilities, but the people who greet you bring the same thing to the table: passion and soul. I realize how ‘new-agey’ sounding that may be, but it really is a great experience.
I guess it all boils down to passion and soul, doesn’t it? If the graphic novel is done with a passionate, creative team and a store is run with a passionate feeling for books; it becomes an experience we all want to have over and over again.
Aretha vs. Diana? I’ll take Aretha any day…
Next time on The Graphic Novels Guy: Here’s to Looking at 45
John Shableski works for Diamond Book Distributors as a sales manager with a focus on the independent bookstore market, public and school libraries. He's been a panelist at BEA, a moderator for graphic novel panels at the New York Comic Con, a guest speaker at library events, regional book shows and a symposium coordinator. He's currently collaborating on several graphic novel symposiums across the country: as Vegas, Seattle, and New York. For general questions you can send an email to shjohn@diamondbookdistributors.com
You know, this is something I was pondering just the other day. On the one hand I'm very excited about the opportunities the graphic novel format provides. On the other, I have to agree with you wholeheartedly about the publishing houses jumping on the bandwagon. Rather than new and interesting stories being printed in this new exciting format, we're getting classics and reprints of familiar stories. All I have to say is: Bleh.
Posted by: Dee | February 13, 2008 at 09:45 PM