There are still plenty of those but you'll also find graphic novels about growing old, dealing with serious illness, and childhood abuse, with a healthy does of violence, sex, drugs, and rock & roll thrown in for good measure.Ĭonsidered by some to be the first modern graphic novel, A Contract with God by comics legend Will Eisner, first published in 1978, was actually just the first to use the term 'graphic novel' as a marketing tactic - it appeared on the cover of the trade paperback edition. All agree, however, that like comic books in general, the graphic novel has grown up, with titles written for both adults and children that deal with far more complex subject matter then stereotypical superheroes or idealized, fantasy childhoods. Some purists limit the definition to include only never-serialized, stand-alone stories, while others allow room for compilation editions of previously published comic book series. Fiction, non-fiction, biography and memoir can all be considered graphic novels if published in book form and presented through the use of sequential image panels. While the term 'graphic novel' only entered common usage as recently as the late 1970s, novel-length works in either pictures-only forms or pictures in combination with text have existed since the 19th century.Īs defined today, a graphic novel is a book-length story told in comic strip format where the art is of equal or greater importance than text, and published as a single volume.

Asterios polyp graphic novel