What's the difference between comics and graphic novel? In my column in StarMag today, I use the terms interchangeably, but on reflection, I think that while all graphic novels can be called comics, not all comics can be called graphic novels.
Here's my rationale: A novel is an extended fictional work (or story) in prose form. A graphic novel would be the same, but using sequential art (usually paired with text/a script) to tell the story.
Comics are sequential art of any length, even one panel. In that case, it would not be a graphic novel. But a comic of, say, 140 pages, that tells a fictional story would be a graphic novel.
Therefore, graphic novels, being made up of sequential art, are comics. But comics aren't always graphic novels.
Definitions of Comics:
Typically only a separate section on Sundays; daily papers will include a page or more of comics in another section. Although new colour printing technology has seen the spread of the use of colour in comics (and other editorial content) to daily editions, for many years the expense of colour printing meant that only the Sunday editions of many newspapers carried most comics in full colour. - The NationMaster reference website
Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence. - Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud (HarperPerennial, 216 pages, ISBN: 978-006-097-6255)
Comics (sometimes spelled comix) are combinations of
words and images into a medium for telling stories. They are typically
printed on paper, with the most common formats being newspaper strips,
magazine-format comic books, and larger bound volumes called graphic
novels.
- Wikipedia, entry on Comics
Definitions of Graphic Novel:
Generally, any self-contained story in a single binding
that uses a comic book-like page layout. In the comic book industry,
the term is sometimes used to refer only to self-contained stories of
48 or more pages that has not been previously published serially. (The
minimum page count varies; 64, 72, and 96 pages are other popular
cut-off points.) - The Comic Book Awards Almanac glossary
"Graphic novel" (sometimes abbreviated GN) is a term for a kind of book, usually telling an extended story with sequential art (i.e. comics). It is not strictly defined, and is often used to imply subjective distinctions between a given book and other kinds of comics. - Wikipedia, entry on the graphic novel
P.S. I don't claim to know very much about graphic novels/comics. I like a comic strip as much as the next person and I have several Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side compilations. I also have a few Too Much Coffee Man comics and Lat's various books. I owned all of the above many years before I came to possess my first graphic novel, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, but, hang on, now I realise that Lat's Kampung Boy is a graphic novel. I guess I never gave the format much thought. I just took it for granted, just I took all books and the pleasure they give for granted.
Tots to Teens, StarMag
1st April 2007
I SPENT an hour yesterday laughing out loud over Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese. The book just won the Michael L. Printz Award, which is awarded for excellence in young adult literature. It's the first time a graphic novel has won this prize (the book was also nominated for the National Book Award's Young People's Literature prize). Fans of the format are, I'm sure, over the moon, as this is surely a huge step towards graphic novels being valued, celebrated and promoted as worthy of a teenager's time, money and attention.
Of course, most children and teens have no doubt that comics are cool. It's their parents and teachers who have reservations about them. (Comic books are not allowed in school and will be confiscated if found in bags during spot checks!)
In the States, Britain, Australia and even Singapore, comics and graphic novels are being given much-deserved shelf space in libraries, and long overdue recognition by librarians and educators. However, there are still those who are dismissive about this medium of storytelling, seeing it as inferior to "real" books.
In Malaysia, most of our teachers and librarians still have negative opinions about graphic novels. They are seen as "rubbish", "uneducational", "violent", "immoral". There are graphic novels which are just those things. There are also "real" books that could be described thus. The term graphic novel/comic (I use it interchangeably) refers to a format. Within this format there are many genres. So, not all comics are violent and not all are pornographic. And not all are just for kids.
In 1992, Art Spiegelman's comic book about the Jewish Holocaust, Maus: A Survivor's Tale, won a Pulitzer Prize special award for literature. It's just one of many graphic novels that tell stories as powerfully, compellingly and creatively as any Booker Prize-winning novel.
Yang's American Born Chinese is a funny and sensitive portrayal of a young boy's struggle to come terms with who he is. You don't need to be an American-Chinese, an immigrant, or belong to any kind of ethnic minority group to appreciate the story or relate to the main protagonist, Jin Wang. We've all had moments of self-doubt. And most of us have struggled with peer pressure.
Two other stories run alongside Jin Yang's: the fable of the Monkey King and a kind of comic farce in which an American boy becomes a social outcast when his Chinese cousin, Chin Kee, comes to town! All three tales merge, surprisingly and cleverly, if somewhat abruptly, in the end.
I'm one of those people who gets a headache when they read manga (scoff all you want) because of the (I'll call it) excessive action on the page: panels of different sizes, no clear sequence to the narrative, speech and thought bubbles everywhere, graphics that burst out of their boxes, etc, etc. Yang's book didn't give my head a single twinge. It's so ... neat: Clean artwork with simple lines and just enough colour (not too gaudy, not too dull); orderly arrangement of panels, with nice white spaces between each of them (no feelings of claustrophobia, yay!); and conversations that you can follow because the speech bubbles aren't placed in arty (read: annoying) angles.
(This may be a good graphic novel for comics virgin to start with!)
Parents, teachers and librarians, reading graphic
novels will not ruin your child's chances of scoring 13As for his SPM.
In fact, comics can be used to turn reluctant readers on to books. Many
children are turned off by huge blocks of text in books. All those
words can be very intimidating and so comics solve that problem right
away by presenting less text and in smaller, manageable chunks
(bite-size servings, so to speak, of narrative and dialogue) to
children. And if language is a problem, the pictures help kids figure
out what's going on.
Booklist, the American Library Association's
publication, recently announced its 2007 Top 10 Graphic Novels for
Youths. American Born Chinese is on the list and, guess what, so is
Kampung Boy by our very own Lat.
The American
Library Association's 2007 Top 10 Graphic
Novels for Youths:
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (Roaring Brook/First Second)
Bumperboy and the Loud, Loud Mountain by Debbie Huey (AdHouse)
Castle Waiting by Linda Medley (Fantagraphics)
Girl Stories by Lauren Weinstein (Holt)
Kampung Boy by Lat (Roaring Brook/First Second)
Kristy's Great Idea (Babysitters Club Series) by Ann M. Martin and Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic/Graphix)
Missouri Boy by Leland Myrick (Roaring Brook/First Second)
The Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea by Anne Sibley O'Brien (Charlesbridge)
To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel by Siena Cherson Siegel and Mark Siegel (Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson Books)
also
http://www.myspace.com/bradleysorganicgraphics
Think of Graphic Novels as an extension of the concept of the American Comic book, as many are, but also as a lengthy sequential art narrative. Just as the early American Comic books were collections from the Funny pages in the American newspapers, the early graphic novels incorporated several comic books into one volume. Think Manga.
Posted by: Yusuf/Martin | Monday, June 18, 2007 at 12:19