Enjoyed reading a few … well, what to call them? They’re not exactly graphic novels since they deal with real-life figures..
Anyway…
The first was 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente, which is described as a graphic novel on the dust cover. Written/drawn by Wilfred Santiago and published by Fantographic Books last year, this is a somber look at a hero, a family man, and a Hall of Fame player, pretty much in that order. The panels are dynamic, presented in almost a superhero fashion, with the action even including words like “crash” and “bam.”
For what it’s worth, I found this video about the book on YouTube, as well as this one, seemingly unrelated, which is a musical play tribute to Clemente. I wouldn’t swear to it, but somewhere in the back of my mind I believe I heard/saw something about turning the book into an animation.
The second book I discovered recently was Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow (The Center for Cartoon Studies, 2007), by James Strum and Rich Tommaso. The protagonist of this one is not Paige, per se, but an ambitious young athlete who longs to play in the Negro Leagues. Such notoriety, however, does not make an African American immune from the degradations of playing in the Deep South. Strum covered racism and anti-Semitism in baseball in his 2001 graphic novel, The Golem’s Mighty Swing.
Not surprisingly, 21 and Satchel Paige were categorized at my local library as Young Adult books. I guess it’s too much to expect them to actually read words, but hey, whatever brings the knowledge too them is fine by me.
is available on Amazon.com,
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