Johanna Draper Carlson

One of the web sites I've been using and enjoying while I've been working on this project is comicsworthreading.com. I was curious about what had inspired Johanna Draper Carlson to turn writing reviews for mediums like Publishers Weekly into a web site. I sent a brief (five question) email interview to Ms. Carlson to satisfy some of my curiosity, and she was cool enough to write back. Here's what she had to say:


What prompted your interest in graphic novels and comics?
I actually don't remember. I've been reading comics all my life, ever since I was a kid getting Superman Family Dollar Comics and Wonder Woman issues. But I dropped in and out during teen years, high school, and college. I finally got back into it for good when I went to grad school in popular culture, and I decided to start studying fandom online. I graduated in 1992 and kept talking about comics online afterwards.


What inspired you to start your own review web site?
I started reviewing on Usenet. I decided to start my own website in the late 90s as a place to collect what I'd said, so people could refer back to previous opinions. I was using space my ISP provided, then I bought the ComicsWorthReading.com domain name in late 1999. I was hand-coding the site back then, and I switched over to WordPress as the site engine in 2004.


I can't imagine not reviewing at this point. I like to share opinions on what I read and see what others thought as well.


When you read comics and graphic novels what do you look for to make it worth reading?
It depends on the material. Mostly, I'm looking to see if the book and author successfully meet what they're trying to do. You can't evaluate an ambitious literary/artistic graphic novel with the same criteria you'd use for the latest installment of shojo manga, but you can talk about what was good and what could be improved.




Is there any advice you would give school librarians about selecting comics, manga and graphic novels to their library’s collections?
Know your audience and what they want. I know librarians have to balance sometimes competing needs, especially when it comes to kids and young adults -- what they want to read may not be what their parents want to see. Also, there can still be a perception that the medium is for younger people, so librarians may face static when acquiring graphic novels for adults, especially those that deal with mature subjects and content. There are resources out there to support you in these areas.


I encourage them to use the many resources available to them, including reviews, both general audience and those specifically aimed at the library market.


What’s your must read list for comics and graphic novels?
I put up a page on my website answering just that question: http://comicsworthreading.com/cwr/ hosts lists of "essential graphic novels are must-reads for anyone interested in the medium."

A big thanks to Johanna Draper Carlson for taking the time to email me back! Hopefully I'll have more mini-interviews to post soon!