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The Term Graphic Novel

I know it's been a little bit since I've posted. Things have been a tad busy in my life, but I'm back again and there is something we should probably talk about. And that is the term Graphic Novel.

Now I know that a lot of people think Graphic Novel is a catch-all term for any comic in bound in a larger book-like format. While that is partially true, that's not exactly the case. So let's talk about it.
While the term Graphic novel has been around since the 60's, the term became popular and well known thanks to Will Eisner's A Contract with God. It is a series of stories based around the lives of poor Jewish people living in a tenement in New York City. This unique form of comic was marketed as a Graphic Novel to distinguish it from the better known superhero, sword and sorcery, western and romance comics that were coming out at the time and the name stuck. That said, the term was specifically meant for this type of work that was originally written and printed as a bound book. This was exemplified by Marvel's use of the term several years later with the Marvel Graphic Novels line.

The Marvel line were complete one-shot stories printed in a larger bound format. While the line used Marvel's staple characters and shared continuity with the comics, these were completed stories meant in one volume, not like the continuing multi-issue arcs that most Marvel and DC were doing at the time. Marvel used this format to release X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, Dazzler the movie (which was intended to have a CD tie-in originally, but fell through), and The Death of Captain Marvel. It was also used to launch several titles like New Mutants and Sensational She-Hulk. They also launched several creator owned series this way. While a lot of this was legitimately a money grab by Marvel, the format was cemented as a format to tell a story and intended to be printed in a larger format.

So what does this really mean? Well technically if a comic was originally printed in individual issues (or floppies as we sometimes call them as fans) and then reprinted in a larger bound format, it is not a graphic novel. It's instead called a trade paperback. The graphic novel is instead a larger work intended to be printed in a bound version. It is typically the only installment of the work as well.

And now you're wondering why I've gone to such lengths to explain all this? Well for one, fans know the difference. Using the terms incorrectly or too generically can hurt your ability to recommend books to some people (not all mind you, but some).

Second of all and more importantly, there are creators who really don't like the term Graphic novel. Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Jeff Smith, to name a few big names, have all expressed distaste with the term. Others have come up with their own terms as well that they seem to prefer like Daniel Clowes using "a comic strip novel" or Craig Thompson choosing "illustrated novel."




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