LC Number, woo hoo!

According to at least one library that just posted it, the LC number of the anthology is PN6720.A26 2009. Which is weird because, according to the Library of Congress, PN is "Literature (General)." We should get an "N" of some kind (art). But--well, see the comments to my "Instrumental music..." post.

Librarians reading this (I'm looking at you, Derik): is there anywhere we can appeal this issue? Also, does the LC give each book a specific number, then everyone follows suit--or does (as occasionally it seems) each library decide on its own where in the classification to fit each book?

Ditko's "Spider-Man," part 1, a.k.a. "Hey look, how cool is this?"--NOW UPDATED! WITH COLOR!

Asemic Writing in the Classroom

I've been digesting some of the asemic writing that Andrei and others have point me towards.

Recently, I had the students look at Shaun Tan's book The Arrival, which helps the students understand how it feels to be in a new place and have no understanding of the language.

The students planned out their own asemic alphabet using this sheet and are currently adopting it into a movable type project.


I'll try to post an update when the project is complete.

Discussion of "The Best American Comics" selection process

A few weeks too late, I found this post by John Dermot Woods (editor of Action Yes!, which hosted a preview of the anthology early last summer--as you can see in the links to the right). John is responding to a remark by Charles Burns, editor of "The Best American Comics 2009," on discovering new artists and the selection process. In the long comment thread that follows, the subject of abstract comics and their place in the range of contemporary comic art comes up quite a bit. It's an interesting discussion.