I have been working on a new web comic, called Blind to Blue that I hope to post each Friday starting this week. It will be a “poetry comic,” a term that I have been wrestling with for a while. Last night, however, I realized that I never defined to others what I mean when I use that term. Being a blog of “poetry comics for velociraptor enthusiasts” I haven’t really delivered much on either. That ends now
I used to call the work “graphic poetry,” this borrowed from “graphic novel,” a term coined to appreciate comics that dealt with large themes and complex stories. Very good branding, it immediately communicated to the world at large that there weren’t just comic strips out there but also narrative sequential art with literary merit. However, “graphic poetry” felt presumptuous and lofty. Poetry already suffered from a history of elitism and exclusivity (thanks Ezra Pound), which, I feel, makes it daunting to the average reader.
