2008 Woodie Awards
The Heart of the Matter
Issue date: 9/21/06 Section: Commentary
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Pro: There's nothing funny about this comic!
By: Kelly Jones
The "9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation" is not a comic book. There are no grappling hooks, and Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld is not endowed with X-ray vision. Though the book does include thought bubbles and onomatopoeias, like "BLAMM!," the creators are hesitant to even call it a "graphic novel." According to one of the illustrators Ernie Colon, it is a "graphic history."
Colon pitched the idea of adapting the 9/11 Commission Report into a more easily accessible graphic history to his long-time friend and colleague Sid Jacobson after he had struggled to get past page 50. Colon found the reading "tough going . . . I got confused with names, places, events, what time planes took off." Both Colon and Jacobson are gurus in the comic book and graphic novel scene-their combined resume includes Spiderman, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and adaptations of Cervantes' Don Quixote and Mary Shelley's Frankenstien, among others.
According to Colon, this makes them "in the business of clarifying things," which is exactly what the graphic history sets out to do. Colon and Jacobson based their work entirely on the 9/11 Commission Report. "I followed chapter by chapter what they had done," Jacobson told Slate magazine. "As I went along, I decided what I thought was most pertinent and tried to basically get the full ingredients of what this was."
Though many are initially thrown off by the stigma of adolescence that comes with a comic book or graphic novel, every speech bubble in Colon and Jacobson's adaptation contains an actual quote as it was written in the 9/11 Commission Report. This is not a book that tries to add drama and tension to an already loaded storyline. According to Colon, "We were dealing with something that is terribly moving and terribly important to a great many people, including ourselves."
The most pressing issue facing the appropriateness of the graphic novel is the public's reaction to the comic staple: "BLAMM!," which appears in the panels depicting plane crashes. Colon and Jacobson are quick to point out that such sound effects are also found in film, though the audience is less likely to dwell on them. "Sound effects are also the language of my craft, and when I draw a building falling, I have to be able to show the sound that makes," Colon says. Anyone who watched the footage on CNN during the collapse of the World Trade Center can attest to the important quality of sound in capturing the event.
By: Kelly Jones
The "9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation" is not a comic book. There are no grappling hooks, and Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld is not endowed with X-ray vision. Though the book does include thought bubbles and onomatopoeias, like "BLAMM!," the creators are hesitant to even call it a "graphic novel." According to one of the illustrators Ernie Colon, it is a "graphic history."
Colon pitched the idea of adapting the 9/11 Commission Report into a more easily accessible graphic history to his long-time friend and colleague Sid Jacobson after he had struggled to get past page 50. Colon found the reading "tough going . . . I got confused with names, places, events, what time planes took off." Both Colon and Jacobson are gurus in the comic book and graphic novel scene-their combined resume includes Spiderman, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and adaptations of Cervantes' Don Quixote and Mary Shelley's Frankenstien, among others.
According to Colon, this makes them "in the business of clarifying things," which is exactly what the graphic history sets out to do. Colon and Jacobson based their work entirely on the 9/11 Commission Report. "I followed chapter by chapter what they had done," Jacobson told Slate magazine. "As I went along, I decided what I thought was most pertinent and tried to basically get the full ingredients of what this was."
Though many are initially thrown off by the stigma of adolescence that comes with a comic book or graphic novel, every speech bubble in Colon and Jacobson's adaptation contains an actual quote as it was written in the 9/11 Commission Report. This is not a book that tries to add drama and tension to an already loaded storyline. According to Colon, "We were dealing with something that is terribly moving and terribly important to a great many people, including ourselves."
The most pressing issue facing the appropriateness of the graphic novel is the public's reaction to the comic staple: "BLAMM!," which appears in the panels depicting plane crashes. Colon and Jacobson are quick to point out that such sound effects are also found in film, though the audience is less likely to dwell on them. "Sound effects are also the language of my craft, and when I draw a building falling, I have to be able to show the sound that makes," Colon says. Anyone who watched the footage on CNN during the collapse of the World Trade Center can attest to the important quality of sound in capturing the event.