Graphic novel

A graphic novel (GN) is a work of art produced within the form of the comic book.

History and usages

A graphic novel is sometimes thought of as a long-form comic book or manga; the comics analogue to a prose novel or novella. However, because it disassociates these works from the juvenile and/or humorous connotations of the terms "comics" and "comic book", the term "graphic novel" has also been adopted as a marketing category: it describes comic books that are bound and sold as hardcover or paperback books, as distinguished from those presented in the traditional comic book magazine or children's book formats. When used in this sense, the term is sometimes extended beyond novels; story collections, sometimes even anthologies, have been gathered and sold under this umbrella term.

Popularized by Will Eisner, the term appeared on the cover the 1978 paperback edition of his first graphic novel, A Contract with God. This led many sources to incorrectly credit Eisner with originating the term. However, "Graphic novel" was used as early as November 1964 by Richard Kyle in CAPA-ALPHA #2, a newsletter published by the Comic Amateur Press Alliance, and again in Kyle's Fantasy Illustrated #5 (Spring 1966). In 1976 the term appeared in connection with three separate works. Bloodstar by Richard Corben (adapted from a story by Robert E. Howard) used the term on its cover, and George Metzger's Beyond Time and Again (published by Richard Kyle) was subtitled "A Graphic Novel." Chandler: Red Tide by Jim Steranko used the term "graphic novel" in its introduction and was labelled "a visual novel" on the cover, although Chandler is more properly an illustrated novel than a work of comics. (The original 1976 hardcover printing of Eisner's A Contract with God did not use the term).

Long-form comic books existed long before the term's popularization and subsequent use as a marketing category: for example, the book-length (and hardcovered) Franco-Belgian comics featuring Tintin, Asterix and Spirou are graphic novels. This format is the most popular for the Franco-Belgian comics since the 1960s

Artistic movement

Eddie Campbell has issued a manifesto (2004) to the effect that the graphic novel is more the product of an artist, and that it follows that the term is therefore better used as a description of an artistic movement. Members of the movement are known as Graphic Novelists, and their work as Graphic Novels.

Campbell defines the major goal of the movement as being "to take the form of the comic book, which has become an embarrassment, and raise it to a more ambitious and meaningful level." Campbell sees the movement as drawing on many antecedents, notably woodcut novels, eg. those by Lynd Ward, but does not wish the movement to be applied in relation to such antecedents. Further, Campbell rejects the notion that the term can be applied to the form of the work with any objective meaning, beyond those neccesary for marketing purposes.

Notable examples

• Blackmark by Gil Kane
• Blankets by Craig Thompson
• Bone by Jeff Smith
• Cages by Dave McKean
• City of Glass by Paul Auster, Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli
• Cerebus the Aardvark by Dave Sim
• A Contract With God by Will Eisner
• The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley
• From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
• Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow
• Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
• Incal (L'Incal) by Moebius and Alejandro Jodorowsky
• It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken by Seth
• Locas by Jaime Hernandez
• Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware
• Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography by Chester Brown
• Maus by Art Spiegelman
• Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind by Hayao Miyazaki
• Palestine by Joe Sacco
• Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez
• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
• Road to Perdition by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner
• Sin City by Frank Miller
• The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman
• The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
• Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
• When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs

Related artforms

Artist's book, collage novel, Manga, Trade paperback

References

• "The Eddie Campbell Interview." (September, 2004) Graphic Novel Review In Depth – The Eddie Campbell Interview – Sidebar – Eddie Campbell's (Revised) Graphic Novel Manifesto. Accessed on May 1, 2005.
• "The Comics Journal Message Board Thread." The Comics Journal Message Board: NYTimes Mag Article 7/11/04 – within which Eddie Campbell formulated his Graphic Novel Manifesto). Accessed on May 1, 2005.

External links

• The Big Comic Book DataBase an online searchable database of graphic novel and creator information.
• grovel.org.uk: Graphic novel reviews
• Recommended Graphic Novels for Public Libraries
• Graphic Novels and Comic Trade Paperbacks – An Annotated List
• The Visual Telling of Stories Archive
• The Comics Journal Message Board: The history of the term "graphic novel"