Graphic novel

A graphic novel is a book-length work of sequential art, meaning it tells its story through comics. While the term is used broadly to include fiction, nonfiction, and collections of works, this wide application is disputed by comics scholars and industry professionals. In the United States, it is usually set apart from the term "comic book," which refers to periodical issues or trade paperbacks. Some also view "graphic novel" as a marketing label for comic books.

The term was first coined by fan historian Richard Kyle in a November 1964 essay for the comics fanzine *Capa-Alpha*. It gained traction within the comics community following Will Eisner's *A Contract with God* (1978) and the launch of Marvel's Graphic Novel line in 1982. The general public became familiar with the term in the late 1980s, after the commercial success of Art Spiegelman's *Maus* (first volume, 1986), collected editions of Frank Miller's *The Dark Knight Returns* (1986), and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' *Watchmen* (1987). The Book Industry Study Group adopted "graphic novel" as a bookstore category in 2001.

The definition is not strict. Merriam-Webster defines it as "a fictional story that is presented in comic-strip format and published as a book." However, libraries and bookstores also stock collections of comic books that lack a continuous story, anthologies, loosely related pieces, and nonfiction under this label—similar to how dramatic stories are included in "comic" books. The term can also distinguish standalone works from collected story arcs originally published in comic book series.

In continental Europe, book-length comics—both original stories like Hugo Pratt's *The Ballad of the Salty Sea* (1967) and Guido Buzzelli's *La rivolta dei racchi* (1967), as well as collected series—have been commonly published in hardcover volumes called albums since the late 19th century, including Franco-Belgian series like *The Adventures of Tintin* in the 1930s.

Because the definition is debated, the form's origins are open to interpretation. The oldest recognized American example is *The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck*, which began as the 1828 Swiss work *Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois* by Rodolphe Töpffer. It was first published in English in 1841 by London's Tilt & Bogue, using an 1833 Paris pirate edition, and the first American edition appeared in 1842 from Wilson & Company in New York, using the 1841 printing plates. Another early work is *Journey to the Gold Diggins by Jeremiah Saddlebags* by brothers J. A. D. and D. F. Read, inspired by *Obadiah Oldbuck*. In 1894, Caran d'Ache proposed a "drawn novel" in a letter to *Le Figaro* and began a 360-page wordless book that was never published. In the United States, reissuing comic strips in book form has a long tradition; the Hearst Syndicate published a collection of *The Yellow Kid* by Richard Outcault in 1897, which became a bestseller.

The 1920s revived the medieval woodcut tradition, with Belgian Frans Masereel called "the undisputed king" of this revival. His works include *Passionate Journey* (1919). American Lynd Ward also worked in this tradition, publishing *Gods' Man* in 1929 and more during the 1930s. Other prototypes include Milt Gross's *He Done Her Wrong* (1930), a wordless hardcover comic; Max Ernst's *Une semaine de bonté* (1934), a collage novel; and Charlotte Salomon's *Life? or Theater?* (composed 1941–43), combining images, narrative, and captions.

The 1940s saw *Classics Illustrated*, a series adapting public domain novels into standalone comic books for young readers. *Citizen 13660*, an illustrated novel-length account of Japanese internment during World War II, was published in 1946. In 1947, Fawcett Comics released *Comics Novel #1: "Anarcho, Dictator of Death"*, a 52-page single-story comic. In 1950, St. John Publications produced the digest-sized, adult-oriented "picture novel" *It Rhymes with Lust*, a 128-page film noir story by pseudonymous writer "Drake Waller" (Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller), penciler Matt Baker, and inker Ray Osrin. Its success led to a second picture novel, *The Case of the Winking Buddha* by Manning Lee Stokes and Charles Raab. That same year, Gold Medal Books released *Mansion of Evil* by Joseph Millard. In 1959, cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman wrote and drew the four-story mass-market paperback *Harvey Kurtzman's Jungle Book*.

By the late 1960s, American comic creators were experimenting more. Gil Kane and Archie Goodwin self-published the 40-page magazine-format *His Name Is... Savage* in 1968, the same year Marvel Comics published two issues of *The Spectacular Spider-Man* in a similar format. Columnist Steven Grant argues that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's *Doctor Strange* story in *Strange Tales* #130–146 (1965–1966) is "the first American graphic novel," and critic Jason Sacks refers to the 13-issue "Panther's Rage" as another early example.