
Borders Bookstores are removing graphic novels from many of their stores. So, to combat declining sales, Borders decided to sell fewer books? Create fewer reasons to enter the store? That’s like if sales in McDonald’s were down to decide to stop selling French Fries. I for one love French Fries… and coincidentally love graphic novels. It’s one of the few reasons I go to Borders. So, why would Borders stop selling comic books; well, essentially they’re saying they don’t want my kind.
There hasn’t been a more egregious insult to the book reading public since the Nazi book burnings. Sounds funny, at first, but take in all the persecutions comic book nerds have endured. It might actually be more reminiscent of the 1948 comic book burnings when a group of priests, teachers, and parents took it upon themselves to burn hundreds of comic books. Of course, it also brings to mind Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent, the book the helped create the comic backlash of the 50’s. Wertham claimed comics were immoral and caused anti-social behavior and even homosexuality (Batman & his ol’ chum, Robin, as proof). Have comic books ever really recovered from that stigma? On a smaller, more personal level, how many bullies have ripped in two an Amazing Spider-Man #315 featuring the return of Venom? How many mother’s have thrown away vast comic book collections. Almost with a sad desperation, comic book fans have tried to be taken seriously, have clung to the illusion of respectability. What Borders is saying is that comic books are not literature. What Borders is saying is that comic books don’t belong with the literary excellence of People Magazine and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight. Personally, I don’t have a problem with Twilight or Harry Potter, but if Borders is going to sell Twilight necklaces they can damn well sell X-men comics. Borders isn’t calling for the end of comic books like Wertham, they’re simply labeling comic books as irrelevant. Perhaps, in a lot of ways that’s much worse.
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