March: Book One by John Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The trials and challenges of John Lewis are very interesting, and I did feel like there were times we got to know him a bit more as a person. The interlude about chickens was something that isn’t mentioned on his Wikipedia page, for instance. And there’s a little bit about looking an attacker in the eye that lends the story so much emotional, true-to-life substance, the kind you don’t always get from a straight-up text biography or entry in a history book.
Those dramatic, personal moments resonated with me as a reader. The larger historical notes, though very important, didn’t quite strike me the same way.
It’s tough to rate a book that way. Because the work and beliefs of John Lewis seem to align very much with my own, and I wouldn’t seek to invalidate them in a book review.
It’s a bit like a problem that often comes up in writers’ workshops. Someone brings in a piece that is very important, very close to their heart. Perhaps a story of abuse or death of a loved one. And while you don’t want to invalidate the story, you do have opinions on the storytelling.
That’s the thing, separating the story (the events and spirit) from the storytelling (the tools and methods that convey the story).
My opinions on the story here are: great story about a great man.
My opinions on the storytelling: feels like the pace really increases a lot about halfway through, and we run out of time for those small, personal moments that I loved.
And damn, I really would have liked to see some color in the book. Nate Powell is a really good artist, and he can use color well. The covers to this book are a testament to that. I read a bunch of 1960’s comics reprints in black and white, and it seemed totally fine until I read the same books in color. I may just be a simpleton, but pretty colors really do help bring a comics story to life, for me anyway.
All that said, I am glad to see this collaboration, and to see it come from a company like Top Shelf. All too often, a comic with an important, non-fiction message comes from a publisher that’s not so hot on comics, and the products tend to suffer as a result. W.W. Norton seems to do this quite a bit. I usually find the content of their books to be awesome, but the physical presentation isn’t always as exciting. And it’s disappointing to read comics that have serious, important subject matter, but to not really be able to recommend them as comics as they aren’t great examples of the form. Books like that just leave you feeling like, “Why did they make this a comic?”
March makes sense as a comic. It works as a comic. And I definitely think it’s meant to capture the attention of younger people, and to hold the interest of older people too, who are increasingly used to short, digestible non-fiction. It doesn’t feel like a cheap attempt because kids love comics. It’s a legitimate move inspired by Martin Luther King’s Montgomery Story comic (http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/…). Gotta respect that.
It’s also nice to see a politician who seems to be a genuinely good person, someone with ethics that I can get behind. I’m not famous for loving politicians, but John Lewis seems like the kind of politician that we need. Not right now, but always.