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aseidman's picture

The following is a response

The following is a response from Danny Fingeroth, of the same email group

Some random thoughts on the topic:

When there was a newspaper strike in the '30s or '40s, New York Mayor
LaGuardia read the funnies over the radio so people wouldn't have to miss
them.  Since listeners were familiar with the characters from having read
the  strips, then they could imagine the new adventures as LaGuaradia read
the text and  described the panels. So for someone who has lost vision
later in life,  this might be a solution of sorts. If they're familiar
with Spider-Man or some  iconic independent figure, then imagining new
adventures spurred by  descriptions of the art and readings of the
captions and word balloons might be  useful.

Even for someone who has never been able to see the comics claearly or at
all, a well-written (well-described) and excitingly-read books-on-tape
type  type format might be a satisfactory hybrid medium to enjoy the
comics or  graphic novels in question. This could be especially true if
the reading was  done by the original writers and/or artists (or
writer-artists, as the case may  be) of the work.

And I suppose someone reading/describing the adventures of blind superhero
 Daredevil (I think there are a couple of others, as well--the Shroud
comes  to mind) might at least have thematic interest to a visually
impaired person.  It'd then be a question of whether the listener thought
the character  inspiring or condescending or some of both.

Hope the above is useful in some way, if just in sparking more discussion
and thought on the topic.

--Danny Fingeroth

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