You’re preaching to the converted if you want to tell me how awesome the Wimpy Kid books are. I’ve read them, I work at a library, I’ve recommended them. That is not the argument that I’m having here. Why is this book on the list for the Harvey Awards six times?
When I first saw it I was confused, because I don’t think of the series as a comic, but I was happy that the judges gave a nod of the head to the series. Then I saw it five more times. Even then I was doing okay until I saw it under the category of “Best Inkerâ€. I kind of imploded. Do you know what the drawing in this book looks like? It is meant to be the diary of a kid in middle school.
You’re really going to sit there and place Jeff Kinney’s stick figures next to Mark Morales and Klaus Jansen and call them equal? Harvey Awards- do you want me to take you seriously?
I’m not trying to say that Jeff Kinney is not a good creator, he’s already proved that he is. But the point of the Harvey Awards is to award prominence in the field of comics. Stick figures being nominated for Best Cartoonist and Best Inker is a real kick in the pants. Kinney is aware of his own skill, “I don’t consider myself to be a good artist… that’s why I’ve stuck with stick figures.” Why don’t you just give the awards to XKCD then? That has the added bonus of being an actual comic as well.
My biggest problems beside the something so elementary (literally) being nominated is that Kinney’s work is digital and that the series really isn’t a comic. How do you get best inker if you don’t use ink? “I draw everything by hand on a tablet computer, and most of what you see is what comes out of my hand. But the computer smoothes things ever-so-slightly”, from an interview he did at the NYPL. Additionally, kids books have been illustrated for as long as there’s been kids books. Yes, the cartoons help the story, but I do not think that that makes the series a comic. You could read the book without the comics (give it a try), and that should not be the case. In order for it to be called a comic the text needs to be dependent on the imagery. I know there are a lot of blurred lines, (Invention of Hugo Cabaret comes to mind) but I think that that is a basic need of a comic.
Just….Darwyn Cooke on the same level as the Wimpy Kid? Ouch.
