Young, Smart, Sexy: Meet Gene Kannenberg, Jr.
If you’ve met Gene Kannenberg, you’ll know what we mean when we say he is a beloved friend. This intelligent, kind, and unassuming man has done more than anyone of this new generation to promote comics as a subject for serious academic study. Many a comics scholar has at one time or another enjoyed his support, his assistance, or at least his awesome research tool, ComicsResearch.org. He is the sitting Dean of comics scholars.
Kannenberg also wrote 500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide for HarperCollins’ Collins Design imprint (2008). There are a number of these “best-of” books floating around, and each of them have merit. But Kannenberg’s stands apart from the others because of the substance of his writing. He is equal parts erudite and accessible. He is consistently insightful and interesting.
Perhaps you’re thinking “2008! Isn’t it out of date already?” It’s a great question, and one that Kannenberg anticipated as he compiled his list. As a result, this book becomes an essential tool for selecting new “essential graphic novels” on your own. It’s the best how-to guide for reading and appreciating comics that I’ve ever seen.
Dr. Kannenberg took time out from his much worthier pursuits to screw around with us. After all, he rocks!
What was your first comic book?
I was all set to write about how my first comic book was actually two: My earliest memories of Marvel Comics (the kind I fell in love with) are of Amazing Spider-Man #160 and Doctor Strange v2 #18, which were both cover-dated September 1976. I still have the Spider-Man issue! In fact, it’s the very first comic I ever wrote about, first for a graduate seminar in Rhetoric (the topic was “write about anything”) and later revised as my first publication, “How I was Bitten by the Radioactive Comics Bug,” for Comic Effect 3.
However, suddenly I remembered another comic that I’m almost positive came first: The True Story of Smokey Bear, a giveaway from a state park. I must have re-read that book dozens and dozens of times, because its every panel is etched into my memory.
What are you reading right now?
Right now? The Complete Peanuts 1967-1968. I read many of these strips when I was a child, in my younger brother’s Peanuts books, and it’s pure joy to re-visit them now. Schulz was really in top form around this time. Fantagraphics has really done a wonderful thing by committing to publish this series! (I’m also reading Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon, by Craig Nelson.)
What is your guilty pleasure? At least, the comics-related one!
I have no idea on how to answer this one, as my tastes are pretty catholic - I read a little bit of everything, from superheroes to webcomics to “art” comics to strip collections. But if pressed, I’ll say Wednesday Comics from DC - I know that many people thought it was overpriced when it came out serially, but I bought the hardcover a week or so ago and enjoyed it quite a bit. Not all of the stories work as well as they should, but all give it a good go, and there are moments of genuine fun. (I like fun!*)
Who was the first cartoonist you met?
That’s a tough one to answer; I’ve had the honor of meeting so many at various conventions and conferences. I couldn’t really say who was the first. The two I’ve met most often are probably Art Spiegelman and, luckily for me, the late Will Eisner.
Which dead cartoonist would you most like to meet?
Considering how much I studied him and his work while writing my PhD. dissertation, that would have to be Winsor McCay.
What would you say?
I’d want to ask him why his lettering was so sloppy! But more likely, I’d just stammer something about how much of a fan I am of his work. Maybe I’d have the nerve to ask for a sketch of Little Sammy Sneeze.
What has been the highlight of your career to date?
Wow, that’s a tough one, for all kinds of reasons. But I’ll say completing my Ph.D. dissertation (“Form, Function, Fiction: Text and Image in the Comics Narratives of Winsor McCay, Art Spiegelman, and Chris Ware”), because that project took so long - and led to so many other publications and opportunities.
Please tell us a little about your latest project.
I’m writing about the paratext in comic books, focusing on The Amazing Spider-Man. In short, the essay concerns publication design and how that has an effect on readers above and beyond the story itself. I’ve also been writing occasional reviews for the Ulysses “Seen” website. Finally, I’m busy cataloging and culling my book collection; I’m donating a large part of it to the Center for Cartoon Studies‘ Schulz Library.
Which comics character do you most identify with?
That’s another tough one, because I don’t really think in those terms anymore. When I was much younger, I know that I wanted to be like Peter Parker, but I felt like Charlie Brown.
If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Super-perseverance, as I tend to start more projects than I ever can finish!
*We ITCH-ers are all about the fun! Thanks, Gene!
— beth
