AN INTERVIEW WITHH PHILIP PULLAN – THE GUARDIAN
Thanks so much for the support. So far we have nearly reached 20% of our original goal. We still have much work to do to reach the sum of 2,000 Euro. This sum will help us provide a number of graphic novels to the public library for children to read and discuss. Comics are not only beneficial for reading but they can also serve as a tool to develop writing and artistic talents.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, Philip Pullman, award-winning british author, says that what he learned about storytelling from those allegedly morally corrupting American comics, proved key to his bestselling ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy and his later fiction.
Comics can serve as an inspiration to further develop one’s own creativity. Pullan describes how he was always so thrilled to read comics because “The storytelling was so swift, so energetic. I loved the fantastical situations, the world of Gotham City with the criminals and the guns, the bat symbol on the clouds – all that stuff. It was thrilling. But, mainly, looking back, it was the swiftness and the ease with which you could follow the story.”
Pullman argues, that contempt for the visual deserves overturning. Comics are a form of art that stimulates reading and analyzing pictures. “Comics are a wonderful form. You can do so much with it.” Pullman cites Art Spiegelman’s Maus, for example, an 80s comic strip based on the Holocaust experiences of the author’s father, and, more recently, the work of American cartoonist Scott McCloud. “McCloud has written about comics in comic form very cleverly and very interestingly.”
Their importance for children should not be underestimated. Pullman recalls visiting a school in Swindon in the early 1990s and noticing a copy of Watchmen, the now iconic comic-book series deconstructing the superhero genre, that was created by British writer Alan Moore, sticking out of a boy’s schoolbag. He recalled how later, they had a discussion that was analogous to a literary discussion. Pullman continues “Children take to comics naturally and are able to talk about them with great freedom and knowledge.”
