For the Love of Graphic Novels
I’ve never written a graphic novel. “Why, then, are you writing about them?” you might ask. Because I love them. Sometimes, I think they get a short shake in the literary world. Because I’ve seen the smirks from my academic colleagues when I saw I love reading them. So, I guess this is sort of a love letter giving an overview of a graphic novel.
First off, a graphic novel is not a comic book. I love comic books, too. I grew up reading comic books. I’m a comic book collector. Plenty of number ones that I can brag about in my collection. However, a graphic novel is a different experience than a comic book. Graphic novels differentiate themselves by their length, usual literary aspirations (I say usually because I’ve seen some lovely, serialized comics), and usually their standalone quality. Graphic novels are a complete work, a complete story, not part of a larger whole. Like comics, though, they come in various genres, some completely high-brow literary, and encompass both fiction and nonfiction, making them truly accessible to just about any reader.
A graphic novel is a storytelling medium that, like film, combines visual art with dialogue (in bubbles) to create a complete experience for the reader. You read a graphic novel as much for the art as you do the story. Even if you haven’t read the story, a great graphic novel is eye candy. I’ve often sat and flipped pages, not reading at all but simply looking at the art, the layout, the shadings, and the contours. It’s a trip to an art museum without ever having to leave the couch.
A graphic novel is book-length, unlike a serialized comic book. It is a standalone, though one might be a part of a series, but like a good film, it can stand on its own feet independently. Even with reading what I call “the bubbles,” you can usually follow the story as though you are watching some of those old silent films I adore. I think that’s why they are so universal. It doesn’t matter your spoken language, if done well, the visual representation, the framing, and the body language of the characters tell you almost all you need to know.
There is text. Dialogue, captions, speech bubbles, thought balloons, and sometimes narration appear within or around the panels, and the best layout artists can do some nice, imaginative things with these. Whereas in a novel, the words carry the story, in a graphic novel, the words work in tandem with the art, each complimenting the other, to lay out the plot, character arcs and feelings, and themes.
I work both in literature and film. I think that’s why I genuinely enjoy and appreciate graphic novels like I do. As I mentioned, a graphic novel is both art and story. Both pull the reader in. Like at a museum, you can take as long as you like admiring a particular panel, looking for hidden nuggets the artist had hidden within the picture. Going beyond words, you can get lost in the emotional resonance of the drawings. I like the accessibility of graphic novels because just about anyone can read and understand them, but as in my museum analogy, if you want to stop and study or admire, you can get as much out of the graphics and story as the time you want to put into it.
I usually write about writing, so let’s focus on that before I close. As I’ve said, I’ve never written a graphic novel. I’d love to. Maybe sometime I will have the opportunity. I have many friends who have created incredible graphic novels, and they all tell me the same thing that, like film, graphic novels are labor-intensive, requiring collaboration between writers, artists, letterers, and sometimes colorists. Like film, because it’s more than just a writer sitting in a room with a keyboard, the production costs are higher, in fact, production costs are higher than if the writer published his work as a traditional book rather than a graphic novel.
I like experiencing graphic novels. For example, two people can read a graphic novel and remember completely different details. Again, it is like an art museum, where the diligent get the most out of it. Subtle details can sometimes be missed if you’re not paying attention, yet if you have little time, you get a beautiful adventure, even if you simply want to take a cursory tour. If you’ve never read a graphic novel, some of my favorites are Fun Home (Alison Bechdel), Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi), Watchmen (Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons), and Maus (Art Spiegelman). Try one of these four if you’ve never given graphic novels a chance. Let me know what you think.
