Okay, maybe “hate” is a strong word, but it’s pretty clear from his latest New York Sun column that Otto Penzler isn’t impressed by graphic novels. “There are good writers, good stories, and good illustrators who work in this genre, I’m told, but I have yet to encounter one that could hold me until the end.” Which must mean he really finds them boring, because, let’s face it, most graphic novels are pretty short. (One that isn’t, and if you’re reading this, Otto, I’d suggest you give a try, is Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell. Yes, it’s the basis for that Johnny Depp movie.)
He didn’t even like Playback, a new comic-style adaptation of a screenplay Raymond Chandler wrote for Universal in the late 1940s, although he doesn’t have anything to say about the artwork; for that matter, he can’t even be bothered to mention the artists by name. (For the record, they’re Ted Benoit and François Ayroles.) But then, Penzler has a personal stake in the issue: “The publisher claims that the screenplay was ‘unearthed’ from the Universal Studio archives,” he sniffs, “but perhaps no one bothered to mention that the entire screenplay was published by the Mysterious Press in 1985.” I’m guessing the reason he didn’t bother to mention that he owned the Mysterious Press at the time is that it’s assumed to be common knowledge.