There used to be a Comic-Con (a comic book convention) in Salinas sponsored by the National Steinbeck Center. That’s how the Salinas Public Library’s graphic novel contest began.
“The winner would get art materials and tickets to the Comic-Con,” says Luis Manzo of the Salinas Public Library, whose background is in computer animation. “And we just continued with that, for the fun of it. We always look for new writers.”
The contest took a break in 2019 and 2020 before coming back in 2021. It’s now underway for 2022, too.
“It doesn’t have to be very complex,” Manzo says, regarding the expectations. “We are looking for a fun story with good drawings.”
Last year’s submissions were done on paper and then a copy or a scan of the graphic novel was submitted. Half of them came in black and white, half in color, and those in color stood out, Manzo says. It wasn’t difficult to choose the winners, he adds. “Some submissions were fun but not great art. You could really see the difference in quality.”
The term “graphic novel” is pretty broad. It includes and goes beyond what is known as a “comic book.” Graphic novels are supposed to be more serious in terms of topic, execution and readership, attracting older, often lifelong fans. Still, Manzo admits the border between a graphic novel and a comic book is fluid. “People used to think comics are just for kids,” he says, “that it’s not a form of literature. But a comic, or a graphic novel, can be used to express their ideas and share their drawing with their friends.”
For the contest, graphic novels can be up to 15 pages long. “If you can tell the story on one page, that’s awesome,” Manzo says. “But you have to get your point across.” Entries will be judged by a panel of library and community professionals.
In the meantime, there’s a little graphic novel at El Gabilan Library in Salinas with two posters on top that the library commissioned for the occasion. One shows a dinosaur chasing a kid, the other one shows three kids fighting three monsters coming out of library books. “That’s our library theme,” Manzo explains.
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