You Can Do a Graphic Novel

I used to think Barbara Slate was crazy. Don’t get me wrong! That’s a pretty
common characteristic for a lot of the writers and artists who spend their
lives producing comics and graphic novels. As both a talented writer and an
exceptional artist, poor Barbara never had a chance. She was always prone
to the weird and wacky.

Barbara started down her road to ruin by creating and producing a series
of feminist greeting cards that starred a character called Ms. Liz. Ms. Liz later
went on to appear in a comic strip that was published in Cosmopolitan and
in animated segments on the Today Show. While working on this material,
Barbara discovered that she had a real talent for graphic storytelling.
She started writing and drawing comic books like Angel Love, Sweet XVI,
Disney’s Beauty And The Beast, Mattel’s Barbie and Archie’s Betty & Veronica.
She also wrote and illustrated a pair of graphic novels called Sex, Lies and
Mutual Funds Of The Yuppies From Hell and Son of Yuppies From Hell. Quite
an impressive resumé and I’m not even going to mention the series of Little
Golden Books that she wrote. (Okay, maybe I am.)

A few years ago, Barbara Slate informed me that she had begun writing
a newspaper column called, “You Can Do A Graphic Novel.” Barbara has this
wacky idea that she can teach everyone—from six to ninety-six (and even
older)—how to produce comics and graphic novels. Barbara is convinced
that she can show her readers how to take a simple idea and turn it into a
visual scene. She also believes that she can explain how to tie these scenes
together to form chapters, and use chapters to build a completed graphic
novel.

Barbara thinks that anyone can learn how to write and draw a graphic
novel. Anyone! Can you imagine such nonsense? She is so committed to
this crazy idea that she has even been teaching a series of classes and
workshops, and her students have already started producing some very
promising material.

Yeah, I used to think Barbara Slate was crazy. After reading You Can Do A
Graphic Novel, I’m not so sure about that, anymore.