Understanding Graphic Novels: Part 1

The graphic novel is an extension of the comic book format. The idea behind the comic book or single comic dates back thousands of years to the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics, where images and text were used in patterns to tell a story. But there are many other formats of art work that can be seen as using the comic or graphic story telling form. A few of these are: stained glass windows, 18th century picture stories, diagram pamphlets (such as those used on airplanes telling you how to inflate your personal flotation device), tapestries and quilts.

To better understand graphic novels we must first consider the definition of what a comic or graphic novel is. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a comic book as being: a book or magazine containing a single narrative told through comic strips. However, this definition suggests that a story must be told through juxtaposition, that one panel must be next to another panel in order to tell a story. But any of you who have read Family Circus know that it uses one panel to tell its story/joke. So the Dictionary may not be the best place to get a definition for this genre. This is especially true in this era when the way we define comics and grahic novels is changing. If you take the Dictionary's definition of a comic and the inherent need for juxtaposition in order to tell a story - then logically a film strip can also be considered a very slow paced comic or graphic novel.

In reading a comic one must be aware that there is an inherent dialect or vocabulary that we accept as being normal or natural, i.e. in the Batman T.V. series it was commonplace to use words in comic form as the impact during fight scenes. It became accepted that a punch was being thrown and received and that the evidence of this was the word telling us so. 

I will explore this further in an upcoming blog entry. Stay tuned....