Graphic Novel, 'A Child's Life,' Disturbed Its Printers
Roxane Farmanfarmaian -- 8/31/98
Pornography? Or a socially significant book about sexual child abuse? This was the question that arose first at Malloy and then at Data Reproductions, two Michigan printers, when they saw Ph be Gl ckner's graphic novel A Child's Life and Other Stories. Malloy turned it down flat, saying in principle the company did not print work showing uncovered genitals, and that the question was not discussable. Data seemed more willing, and when North Atlantic/Frog Ltd.'s publisher Richard Grossinger went on vacation a few days later, he thought the problem had been solved.
A transatlantic fax sent to Grossinger's hotel quickly disabused him of the idea. In his response to Data, he wrote: "It is censorship not to allow victims of child abuse to tell their stories in their own medium. To not print this work is not a neutral statement at all, and not a moral statement. It's in fact a statement in support of providing sanctuary or secrecy for the abusers." "As a company, we have an obligation to protect our workers' sensibilities," said Gabe Watts, Western rep for Data. "But we discovered through discussions with North Atlantic/Frog that this was a serious work on child abuse, and so we interviewed workers who were willing to work on this job -- people who felt comfortable with the explicit graphics -- and we changed our minds." A Child's Life and Other Stories is a hard-edged, often tormented anthology of urban stories in comic form that explore Gl ckner's own disturbing adolescence and her devastating encounters with sexual abuse, drugs, rape, prostitution and life on the street. The book, with an introduction by R. Crumb, is also a very personal tale of a child's perspective on love and fear, on painful family relationships and on trying to build self-esteem in the face of physical abuse. Said Gl ckner, now 39, a survivor of a harsh childhood who is married with one child and another on the way: "I've often wondered about my need to be explicit in my work. But if you're not explicit, then there's a sweetness and mystery to it, which is not what I wanted to convey." Gl ckner is by profession a medical illustrator, and Grossinger discovered her when he hired her to do illustrations for another project entirely -- at which point he signed her for a two-book deal (Diary of a Young Girl is due out in 1999). As a cartoonist, her work had already appeared in Twisted Sisters I (Random House); Mind Riot: Coming of Age in Comics (S&S); and Parenting magazine, where she did a monthly page for a year. Gl ckner also did the cover for A Century of Women Cartoonists (Kitchen Sink) and has illustrated several children's books, including Weird Things You Can Grow (Random House). The book is already turning out to be an easier sale than might have been expected. "We've gotten a buy from Borders and expect Barnes &Noble to follow suit shortly," said Mark Lumet of PGW, North Atlantic/Frog Ltd.'s distributor. "Graphic novels don't generally advance very well," he explained, "but they backlist well since they tend to sell by word of mouth." With a print run of 5000, and advance orders of 2300 to both general bookstores and comic-book stores, Grossinger is confident A Child's Life will do well. Two-thirds of the book is previously published material (some of which Gl ckner drew when she was 16); the new material includes paintings she did for J.G. Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition. "It's not really a typical book for us," Grossinger said, pointing out that North Atlantic, which publishes some 20 titles a year, generally focuses on holistic medicine, spirituality, environmental issues and new science. But publishing A Child's Life turned into a pioneering effort for the press because of its deep belief that, as Grossinger said, "It is extremely important for Gl ckner's story to be told."
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