Harvey Pekar, Paul Buhle and Tom Pomplun know the score: Traditional print media are losing readers. Maybe their graphic novels — essentially bulked-up versions of “comic books” — are the answer.
The three are producing books that might make a difference by not just racking up sheer sales numbers but by communicating graphically in funny, stylish and meaningful ways.
….”Madison Strike Riot” dramatizes the protests SDS joined in 1967 at a University of Wisconsin building where Dow Chemical was recruiting potential employees. Dow produced napalm for Air Force use in Vietnam, and the book vividly depicts administrators and police smashing a peaceful sit-in. The notorious 1970 bombing of the UW’s Sterling Hall involved no members of SDS, which had disbanded a year earlier.