Packaging Panels: Graphic Designs Add a New Twist to Comics

For years, the basic trashiness of the package was one of the pleasures and pains of buying just about any kind of comic. No matter the era or genre, you could be sure it looked like nothing else, at its cheapest, most throwaway best. Things are changing, though. The aesthetic mood shifted a bit with the arrival of underground comics and the correspondent rise of a more handmade aesthetic in the 1960s and ’70s, and then shifted radically in the early ’80s with Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly’s RAW magazine, which was the benchmark for American comics design America with its blend of au courant graphics, novel formats and avant-garde comics. Few took up the implicit challenge of RAW, though, until the early ’90s, when David Mazzuchelli’s Rubber Blanket, and, in 1993, Chris Ware’s Acme Novelty Library (fig.1) were released. Acme in particular had a tremendous effect on other cartoonists, who realized that a comic book, like a book, could contain content beyond only comics—that the look and feel of the object could tell its own story as well.

And now a younger generation of cartoonists, inspired both by RAW, Ware, and the aesthetic of homemade books (as well as access to cheap color photocopies and scans) have begun to see the printed comic book as an end in itself, rather than only a bound-together collection of their drawn pages. Exploiting formats like rounded corners, unusual paper stocks and non-standard sizes, these comics are objects (almost) as much as narratives. Jordan Crane’s NON, a multihued cardboard and paper anthology won a number of AIGA 365 awards in 2002. In 2003 Highwater Books released volumes that are as much comics as artist’s books. Mat Brinkman’s superlative Teratoid Heights (fig. 2) is a digest-sized book with few identifying marks while Ron Rege Jr.’s Yeast Hoist (fig. 3) is a jubilant volume covered by Rege’s lego-like lettering and bouncing, inscrutable figures. This way of designing is about creating an entirely new form, a kind of mass-produced artist’s book within comics.

Coinciding with a new appreciation for the pure aesthetics of the book is a new market presence in bookstores, leading to both increased visibility and competition on bookstore shelves. Fantagraphics, publisher of Dan Clowes, Chris Ware and R. Crumb, among other artists, linked up with W.W. Norton for bookstore distribution and suddenly found themselves with major sales hike and a need to make their books jibe a bit more with the look and feel of literary and illustrated book publishing. In a similar move, last year Chronicle Books began distributing Drawn & Quarterly (fig. 4), the elegant, consistently well-designed Canadian publisher of artists such as Seth, Adrian Tomine, and Ware and Crumb as well.

Meanwhile, Pantheon’s graphic novel line, shepherded by Chip Kidd, continues to publish some of the most innovative work in the medium. “Kidd’s designs for Pantheon are unusual for the book trade and unusual for comics, ” says Reid. “They are their own unique thing, and especially notable for the strong integration of drawing and graphics.” Indeed, Kidd’s design for Ben Katchor’s Beauty Supply District softcover, deftly arranges color bars and type to frame Katchor’s muted urban imagery. His work for Kim Deitch’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams (fig. 5) places cartoon imagery in a more traditional design framework—providing an accessible introduction to the graphic feel of the book. Also falling into that in-between category is Seth’s modular, delicate design for the forthcoming The Complete Peanuts (Fantagraphics)—its grid and type is recognizable from 1950s vernacular design, but the color palette, hand lettering and beautifully rendered figures are completely Seth’s, and are perfectly executed. Likewise, Chester Brown’s recent ?Louis Riel” (Drawn and Quarterly), the story of the eponymous Canadian revolutionary, is bookish, but, like Seth, is more of a hybrid form. Brown’s illustration and hand-drawn type is printed on the boards, as much drawn as designed, a mix that, like Seth’s, unifies the composition. These books truly find the middle ground between cartoon and novel and may be some of the most successful work yet accomplished.

The design of these books adds a layer of visual experience for any reader. Rather than only reading, these books allow for a strong graphic identity for, and in some cases a conceptual map of, the artist’s visual style. In fact, the designs by Kidd, Seth, Brown, Ware and others draw the reader in, making comics a more immersive, enriching experience. No longer just panels on a page, these new books are graphic worlds awaiting exploration.