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By Vicki Gundrum (Aug. 26, 2005) Perhaps the very first graphic novel was painted on the wall of a cave somewhere, telling of battles with beasts and primitive rituals. Michael Chabon, the Pulitzer Prize -winning author of the The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay-a (nongraphic) novel about a superhero cartoon writing team-is a great fan of the graphic novel form and suggests that right now we are in the Golden Age of graphic novels (www.MichaelChabon.com). So just what is a graphic novel? Wikipedia, the online dictionary, provides this definition: "Graphic Novel is a term for a kind of book, usually telling an extended story with sequential art (i.e., comics). It is not strictly defined, and is often used to imply subjective distinctions between a given book and other kinds of comics." Some notable graphic novels include: American Splendor: Our Movie Year, Harvey Pekar (writer) and Robert Crumb; Ghost World, Daniel Clowes; Men in Black, ; Sin City, Frank Miller; The Road to Perdition, Max Allan Collins; and Maus, Art Spiegelman. The first five graphic novels in that list might be familiar to you from the movies made of them. In fact, Hollywood has looked to comics-short and long forms-as source material for many modern movies: the Superman, Batman, X-Men, and Spiderman movies and their sequels, Ang Lee's The Hulk, Pixar's The Incredibles (the kid's movie came first; is there a juvenile graphic novelization of it yet?), and the newly released Fantastic Four. But it was one single graphic novel-and not the many Hollywood movies based on comics and graphic novels-that popularized the form and did the most to legitimize the best efforts as literary works of art: Spiegelman's Maus. Maus is a powerfully narrated and devastating Holocaust comic, first published as a graphic novel in 1986. The book, actually a collection of an illustrated series begun in the 70's, examines the relationship between a son and his father, a Holocaust survivor. As the father relates his personal experiences, Nazis appear as bayonet-toting cats, and Jews are drawn as mice. Spiegelman won a special Pulitzer Prize for this work in 1992. Maus shook up the perception of the comic book as a medium known for its commercially oriented juvenile appeal. But both Maus and Maus II, published in 1991, were commercially successful. Regarding the phenonmenon, Spiegelman remarked: "I was as shocked as anybody that it was such a success." Spiegelman prefers to use the term "comix"-for its "co-mixing" of images and words. An important appreciation to have when considering graphic novels is the difference between medium and genre. The medium is the long comic book form; genre is the classification into fiction, nonfiction, journalism, biography, autobiography, and so on. Not comic writers and artists-nor readers, librarians, bookstore owners and publishers-are completely satisfied with using the term "graphic novel." One easy to appreciate flaw is that many graphic "novels" are nonfiction. And then there is the problem of categorizing graphic novels. The big chain bookstores put all the graphic novels together on one shelf. Should Maus and Spider-Man appear side by side? It would seem that Maus belongs with the other holocaust memoirs. But Micha Hershman, the graphic novel buyer for the Borders bookstore chain claims that Borders' research shows the "demographics for 'Maus' overlap with the ones for Spider-Man," thus the all-encompassing graphic novel section in their stores. Chip Kidd, an editor at Pantheon, hates the ghettoization of graphic novels-the perception that all are so similar to one another, and so distinct from other quality literary works, that they must be grouped together: "At Pantheon, we do not see these books as part of a 'line" any more than we would books by Ha Jin….They are simply books we want to publish that happen to use the form of visual narrative." (from Andrew Arnold, "The Graphic Novel Silver Anniversary," Time.comix, posted Friday Nov. 14, 2003) The current embrace of the term "graphic novel" has to do with the efforts in the last seven years, or so, to move the comic book into the realm of beauty and great art and away from the disposable and exclusively juvenile comics of the past. Time.comix columnist Andrew Arnold writes that "With just a little care they can combine art, design and language into an orgiastic ménage-a-trois of beauty." Arnold made this rhapsodic comment in his review of a comic anthology: McSweeney's #13 (the 13th issue of the San Francisco -based eccentric literary journal McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, founded by Dave Egger, author of A Heart-Breaking Work of Staggering Genius). Chris Ware, who made the graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan: Smartest Kid on Earth, was the guest editor of #13. Arnold continues his review of McSweeney's #13 by saying it showcases "all of North America's most important living comic creators in a brilliant, gorgeous package" and that it is "the finest comic anthology ever put together." (from Arnold, posted June 18, 2004) Arnold credits Will Eisner's A Contract with God with being the first graphic novel because when it was published in 1978, this book was the first to combine the term "graphic novel" with the long comic book form, and it also treated a "serious" subject: man's relationship with God. If we count 1978 as the birthday of the graphic novel, then the form is 27 years old. The maturing of the graphic novel is seen not only in the stellar quality of many of the latest works, but in the birth of a lower life form: You can now buy "The Idiot's Guide to the Graphic Novel." Noteworthy graphic novels: For young adult readers (list from Steve Raiteri, school librarian; www.my.voyager.net): Kingdom Come Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Marvels Watchmen Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (all four volumes) Astro City (start with the first volume, "Life in the Big City") X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga Superman: Peace on Earth Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man #1-10 and Amazing Fantasy #15 Concrete (start with Complete Short Stories 1986-1989) For adults: Rucka and Lieber's Whiteout Craig Thompson's Goodbye, Chunky Rice Raymond Briggs' Ethel and Ernest Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis Ben Katchor's The Jew of New York Frank Miller's 300 Neil Gaiman's Sandman: Endless Nights Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan: Smartest Kid on Earth Daniel Crowe's Ice Haven Lynda Barry's Cruddy …and Art Spiegelman's first new book since Maus: In the Shadow of No Towers is a powerful witnessed account (Spiegelman and his family lived in lower Manhattan for years) of the events and aftermath of September 11, 2001 Vicki Gundrum reads and edits books in her San Miguel apartment. You can reach her at vicki.gundrum@excite.com |