New York Times hates graphic novels … true?
The New York Times – keeper of the bestseller lists for much of the literary establishment – has recently made the very unpopular decision to remove entire swathes of genres they don’t think are quite up to snuff.
This includes such categories on the chopping block as ‘young adult e-books’, ‘mass market paperbacks’, and ‘graphic hardcover’, ‘graphic paperback’ and ‘manga’. The last three categories are best summed up as comic-books, graphic novels or sequential art, depending on how posh you’re wanting to sound.
So, is the New York Times caving into ingrained biases about what makes up ‘real literature’?
Could be!
The journalists over at Book Riot cover this subject in some depth at http://bookriot.com/2017/01/30/ny-times-removes-comics-bestseller-lists-why-this-is-a-problem/
It certainly got my back up. I’m the proud owner of a very large collection of comic-books, including ‘graphic hardcover’, ‘graphic paperback’ and ‘manga’. I only stopped buying comic-books when I ran out of room to store them. And yes, I know you can get them as e-books these days, but – unlike my trusty Kindle for non-illustrated novels – I find the online experience somewhat lacking when it comes to strip art.
Category: Writer's Dojo