Brief History of the Graphic Novel.pdf

But in many other countries, comics continued to be marketed on different levels for different readership
groups. In Japan, Manga comics appeared, first as individual issues, then as wholly created album type comic
books. Manga is distinguished as being published in multiple genres, each aimed at a specific age or type of
reader. This concept also became popular in the French comic albums. In 1930 a Belgian artist named Herge
created an adventure story of a boy and his dog, Tintin. The first graphic album, TINTIN IN THE LAND OF
THE SOVIETS was a major success and eventually Herge produced 24 Tintin albums, up until his passing in
the late 1980s. Tintin is still being published in over 29 languages. Other major Belgian graphic novel series
include ASTERIX THE GAUL by Goscinny and Uderzo (starting in 1961 with 37 albums to date in 30
countries) and Peyo's THE SMURFS, arguably one of the most successful comic album series of all time.
Back in the United States, underground comics began to appear in the mid-sixties. Undergrounds were selfpublished
comics that did not conform to the restrictions of the Comics Code. Although many underground
comics dealt with sexual themes and drug related culture, many used satire to comment on political and social
issues of the times such as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement.
A bizarre twist on the concept of graphic novels involves American creations who have had limited success
here in the States, but enjoy enormous popularity overseas. A great example of this is the Phantom. While still
done as a continuing daily strip in American papers, he is extremely popular in graphic novel form throughout
Europe and Australia. By far the most popular graphic album series of all time features the characters of Walt
Disney. Although Disney comics have been sporadically published in the United States since the late 70s, they
have been in constant publication all over the world, usually in graphic novel form not comic books. Currently
Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Uncle Scrooge albums are printed in over 90 languages worldwide.
During the late 1970s and early 80s, a new factor entered the picture. The changing face of retailing, such as the
advent of malls and mass merchandisers, were eliminating the local mom-and-pop retailers, a major outlet for
comic book sales. Comic publishers began to sell to the direct market, stores that sold mainly comic books and
related merchandise. This direct market opened up the way for creators to do comics and albums using specific
themes and target audiences, similar to what the overseas market had been creating for years. Creator's rights,
such as character ownership and profit sharing, became an issue between the publishers and the creators. Up 'til
now, comics were created under a work-for-hire clause.
In 1978, Marvel Comics produced the first original mass-market trade paperback graphic novel, THE SILVER
SURFER, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Lee and Kirby were paid standard rates for their work, but Marvel
reaped all the profit. Later that year, Eclipse Comics released SABRE by Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy.
Sabre, a science-fiction adventure story, was the first graphic novel that granted full copyright ownership and
sales royalties to its creators. Other major creator graphic novels also released around this time were A
CONTRACT WITH GOD by Will Eisner (the first creator owned and published graphic novel) and
ELFQUEST by Wendy and Richard Pini (the first creator owned series to receive mass market distribution in
mainstream bookstores). 1985 saw the release of DC Comics' THE WATCHMEN by Alan Moore and Dave
Gibbons. Watchmen was notable as being the first collected series graphic novel, spinning out of a new comics
vehicle called the limited series, which were designed to only last a finite number of issues. This limited series
concept would prove to be a major factor in today's collected series graphic novels.
Meanwhile, many of the artists from the underground comics were becoming involved in self-publishing
graphic novels. Art Spiegleman, whose work first appeared in 'Raw', released MAUS: A SURVIVOR'S TALE.
Maus, the biographical story of Spiegleman's parents in World War 2 during the Holocaust, was nominated for
several literary awards, and in 1992 received a special Pulitzer Prize. Other non-mainstream creators such as
Dan Clowes (Ghost World) and Harvey Pekar (American Splendor) have seen their graphic novels turned into
critically acclaimed motion pictures.