Graphic Novels: Not Just Comic Books

▪ 2005

      Long a fixture on the fringes of American popular culture, the graphic novel seemed poised to enter the literary mainstream once again in 2004. The year saw the film adaptation of Harvey Pekar's American Splendor nominated for an Academy Award, the final issues of both Dave Sim's 6,000-page magnum opus Cerebus and Jeff Smith's influential Bone, and the long-awaited debut of Alan Moore's Lost Girls. With collected volumes of Sandman by Neil Gaiman (see Biographies (Gaiman, Neil )) and Japanese manga titles becoming a common sight on public library shelves and film versions of landmark books such as Sin City, Watchmen, and Batman: Year One in production, the graphic novel had reached levels of respectability and marketability that transcended the disparaging label “comic book.”

      While the graphic novel format had a long tradition in Europe (albums collecting Belgian artist Hergé's Tintin stories appeared as early as the 1930s) and Japan (with manga publications aimed at every age and interest), it struggled to take hold in the United States. One reason for this was the creation of the Comics Code Authority in 1954. The Authority, created by the comics industry to police itself, had a chilling effect on creativity. Publishers dared run only the tamest of stories; sales plummeted; and a once-thriving medium was soon seen as disposable entertainment for children. By the late 1980s, however, most major publishers had dropped the code's certification stamp from their books, and, not coincidentally, a flood of creativity had followed.

      The other difficulty faced by the medium is the necessarily vague answer to the question “What is a graphic novel?” Most loosely defined, it is an illustrated story that stands alone or as part of a limited series (a distinction that sets it apart from monthly comic books or serials). The book frequently cited as the first modern graphic novel, Will Eisner's A Contract with God (1978), is actually a collection of four semiautobiographical novellas. Art Spiegelman's Maus (1986) is perhaps the most critically acclaimed graphic novel, and yet it is not a novel at all but a work of nonfiction that uses animal characters to depict the horrors of the Holocaust. The conflict in the Balkans produced notable works that could most accurately be called illustrated journalism. Joe Kubert's Fax from Sarajevo (1996) and Joe Sacco's Safe Area Gorazde (2000) stretched the boundaries of the medium by offering uniquely personal accounts of life in a modern war zone. Eisner has suggested the term sequential art to more accurately describe this evolving genre, but it appears that, however inaccurate it may be, the current label will stick.

      With the advent of direct marketing to bookstores and specialty shops (thus bypassing the Comics Code and the newsstand comics vendors), publishers are far more open to the graphic novel format than they were in the past. The continued interest in groundbreaking titles such as Moore's Watchmen (1987), Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986), and Gaiman's Black Orchid (1988) has opened the door for the next generation of graphic novelists. Craig Thompson's Good-bye, Chunky Rice (1999), Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth (2000), and Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis (2003) eschew the superheroic to focus on human stories of friendship, hope, and despair. Critical acclaim has led to increased sales and a more prominent place in the retail landscape. Although graphic novels still account for less than one percent of the book trade in the United States, they represent one of the fastest-growing markets, with over $120 million in sales in 2003.

Michael Ray

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