Who created "graphic novel" originally?

The term "graphic novel" began to grow in popularity two months later after it appeared on the cover of the trade paperback edition (though not the hardcover edition) of Will Eisner's groundbreaking A Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories (Oct. 1978). This collection of short stories was a mature, complex work focusing on the lives of ordinary people in the real world, and the term "graphic novel" was intended to distinguish it from traditional comic books, with which it shared a storytelling medium. This established both a new book-publishing term and a distinct category. Eisner cited Lynd Ward's 1930s woodcuts (see above) as an inspiration.

The critical and commercial success of A Contract with God helped to establish the term "graphic novel" in common usage, and many sources have incorrectly credited Eisner with being the first to use it. In fact, it was used as early as November 1964 by Richard Kyle in CAPA-ALPHA #2, a newsletter published by the Comic Amateur Press Alliance, and again in Kyle's Fantasy Illustrated #5 (Spring 1966).

One of the earliest contemporaneous applications of the term post-Eisner came in 1979, when Blackmark's sequel — published a year after A Contract with God though written and drawn in the early 1970s — was labeled a "graphic novel" on the cover of Marvel Comics' black-and-white comics magazine Marvel Preview #17 (Winter 1979), where Blackmark: The Mind Demons premiered — its 117-page contents intact, but its panel-layout reconfigured to fit 62 pages.

Dave Sim's comic book Cerebus had been launched as a funny-animal Conan parody in 1977, but in 1979 Sim announced it was to be a 300-issue novel telling the hero's complete life story. In England, Bryan Talbot wrote and drew The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, described by Warren Ellis as "probably the single most influential graphic novel to have come out of Britain to date"[13]. Like Sim, Talbot also began by serialising the story, originally in Near Myths (1978), before it was published as a three-volume graphic-novel series from 1982-87.

Following this, Marvel from 1982-88 published the Marvel Graphic Novel line of 10"x7" trade paperbacks — although numbering them like comic books, from #1 (Jim Starlin's The Death of Captain Marvel) to #35 (Dennis O'Neil, Mike Kaluta, and Russ Heath's Hitler's Astrologer, starring the radio and pulp fiction character the Shadow, and, uniquely for this line, released in hardcover). Marvel commissioned original graphic novels from such creators as John Byrne, J. M. DeMatteis, Steve Gerber, graphic-novel pioneer McGregor, Frank Miller, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walt Simonson, Charles Vess, and Bernie Wrightson. While most of these starred Marvel superheroes, others, such as Rick Veitch's Heartburst featured original SF/fantasy characters; others still, such as John J. Muth's Dracula, featured adaptations of literary stories or characters; and one, Sam Glanzman's A Sailor's Story, was a true-life, World War II naval tale.

In England, Titan Books held the license to reprint strips from 2000 AD, including Judge Dredd, beginning in 1981, and Robo-Hunter, 1982. The company also published British collections of American graphic novels — including Swamp Thing, notable for being printed in black and white rather than in color as originally — and of British newspaper strips, including Modesty Blaise and Garth. Igor Goldkind was the marketing consultant who worked at Titan and moved to 2000 AD and helped to popularize the term "graphic novel" as a way to help sell the trade paperbacks they were publishing. He admits that he "stole the term outright from Will Eisner" and his contribution was to "take the badge (today it's called a 'brand') and explain it, contextualise it and sell it convincingly enough so that bookshop keepers, book distributors and the book trade would accept a new category of 'spine-fiction' on their bookshelves."[14]

Cover art for the 1987 U.S. (left) and U.K. (right) collected editions of Watchmen, published by DC Comics and Titan BooksDC Comics likewise began collecting series and published them in book format. Two such collections garnered considerable media attention, and they, along with Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus (1986), helped establish both the term and the concept of graphic novels in the minds of the mainstream public. These were Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986), a collection of Frank Miller's four-part comic-book series featuring an older Batman faced with the problems of a dystopian future; and Watchmen (1987), a collection of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' 12-issue limited series in which Moore notes he "set out to explore, amongst other things, the dynamics of power in a post-Hiroshima world." [15]. Equally praised was Moore's V for Vendetta, drawn by David Lloyd.

These four works were reviewed in newspapers and magazines and led to such increased coverage that the headline "Comics aren't just for kids anymore" became widely regarded by fans as a mainstream-press cliché.[16] Variations on the term can be seen in the Harvard Independent[17] and at Poynter Online.[18] Regardless, the mainstream coverage led to increased sales, with Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, for example, lasting 40 weeks on a UK best-seller lists

The evolving term graphic novel is not strictly defined, and is sometimes used, controversially, to imply subjective distinctions in artistic quality between graphic novels and other kinds of comics. It suggests a story that has a beginning, middle and end, as opposed to an ongoing series with continuing characters; one that is outside the genres commonly associated with comic books, and that deals with more mature themes. It is sometimes applied to works that fit this description even though they are serialized in traditional comic book format. The term is commonly used to disassociate works from the juvenile or humorous connotations of the terms comics and comic book, implying that the work is more serious, mature, or literary than traditional comics. Following this reasoning, the French term Bande Dessinée is occasionally applied, by art historians and others schooled in fine arts, to dissociate comic books in the fine-art tradition from those of popular entertainment, even though in the French language the term has no such connotation and applies equally to all kinds of comic strips and books.

In the publishing trade, the term is sometimes extended to material that would not be considered a novel if produced in another medium. Collections of comic books that do not form a continuous story, anthologies or collections of loosely related pieces, and even non-fiction are stocked by libraries and bookstores as "graphic novels" (similar to the manner in which dramatic stories are included in "comic" books). It is also sometimes used to create a distinction between works created as stand-alone stories, in contrast to collections of a story arc from a comic book series published in book form.[1][2][3][4]

Whether manga, which has had a much longer history of both novel-like publishing and production of comics for adult audiences, should be included in the term is not always agreed upon. Likewise, in continental Europe, both original book-length stories such as La rivolta dei racchi (1967) by Guido Buzzeli[5], and collections of comic strips have been commonly published in hardcover volumes, often called "albums", since the end of the 19th century (including Franco-Belgian comics series such as "The Adventures of Tintin" and "Lieutenant Blueberry", and Italian series such as "Corto Maltese").

The 1920s saw a revival of the medieval woodcut tradition, with Belgian Frans Masereel often cited as "the undisputed King" (Sabin, 291) of this revival. Among Masereel's works were Passionate Journey (1926, reissued 1985 as Passionate Journey: A Novel in 165 Woodcuts ISBN 0-87286-174-0). American Lynd Ward also worked in this tradition during the 1930s.

Other prototypical examples from this period include American Milt Gross' He Done Her Wrong (1930), a wordless comic published as a hardcover book, and Une Semaine de Bonté (1934), a novel in sequential images composed of collage by the surrealist painter Max Ernst. That same year, the first European comic-strip collections, called "albums", debuted with The Adventures of Tintin in the Land of the Soviets by the Belgian Hergé.

The 1940s saw the launching of Classics Illustrated, a comic-book series that primarily adapted notable, public domain novels into standalone comic books for young readers. The 1950s saw this format broadened, with popular movies being similarly adapted. Also during the 1940s Taro Yashima published The New Sun (1943), Don Freeman published It Shouldn't Happen (1945), and Alan Dunn published East of Fifth (1948), a book that very much reminds later efforts by Will Eisner. By the 1960s, British publisher IPC had started to produce a pocket-sized comic book line, the "Super Library", that featured war and spy stories told over roughly 130 pages.

In 1950, St. John Publications produced the digest-sized, adult-oriented "picture novel" It Rhymes with Lust, a film noir-influenced slice of steeltown life starring a scheming, manipulative redhead named Rust. Touted as "an original full-length novel" on its cover, the 128-page digest by pseudonymous writer "Drake Waller" (Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller), penciler Matt Baker and inker Ray Osrin proved successful enough to lead to an unrelated second picture novel, The Case of the Winking Buddha by pulp novelist Manning Lee Stokes and illustrator C

There's a book called Understanding Comics that goes into this; they explain the separate evolution of comics and graphic novels in Europe and Japan. I can't remember everything they said, mind -- and for a long, long time, people wouldn't just buy a book that was entirely comics, which in Europe were usually used as political cartoons. I think the first actual graphic novel was Japanese, not in the style we recognise today but in a much more traditional one. Also Pogo, Tintin, and Asterix get credit for being very early graphic novels, if not the first. Astro Boy, I have heard, was the first manga. I've read it, it's very good, but I don't know if it's really the first.

I love Asterix especially. I think I prefer Alan Moore to Miller, because of V for Vendetta and his work on Batman. I can't recall if he also does Sandman, but it wouldn't surprise me. One of my favourite graphic novels is actually one which just turns a bunch of Poe stories into that format, with a bunch of different artists.

Much as I'd like to think it was a statement that everyone should have the same rights, it was probably a reference to the monarchies. The Revolutionary War was very much about getting away from Kings and Queens and having a more democratic style of government. Either way it did have the effect of elevating the status of ordinary people by freeing them from being subservient to "royal blood". Edit; The words " all men are created equal" are part of The Declaration of Independence, not the United States Constitution. The Declaration of Independence had a far different purpose than the Constitution. The last paragraph of the declaration clearly demonstrates what it was about. "We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Graphic Novels...........................................................................

Weatherman is a good movie. But i can give u the summary.

Summary...............................................................................

Dave Spritz is a weatherman for a Chicago TV station. And his life is as gray as the sullen Chicago winter forecast he dutifully delivers.

Despite working only two hours a day reading a teleprompter and pocketing $240K a year for doing so, Dave's life is a mess. His chronic self-absorption, blame-deflecting lies and laissez-faire attitude have already cost him his marriage. And his two children, 15-year-old Mike and 12-year-old Shelly, are not faring well in the aftermath of divorce. (Mike is in rehab for marijuana addiction, while overweight Shelly bears the brunt of cruel junior high jokes and secretly smokes.)

To top it off, Dave is regularly pelted with fast-food castoffs—shakes, sandwiches, drinks—derisively pitched at him (and landing unerringly on his left lapel) by disgruntled viewers.

The one ray of hope in Dave's melancholy life is a shot at the big time: serving as weather man for the nationally broadcast morning show Hello America. Even as he pursues that dream, however, things go from bad to worse when his father learns he's dying of lymphoma. Desperate to earn his father's approval before the older man passes away, Dave redoubles his efforts to make the most of his life (professionally and personally), learning what it means to enter into his children's struggles even as he faces his own.

Conclusion .................................................................

The Weather Man might best be described as a tragedy fueled by heedless secularism. As Dave's disastrous life—and the lives of his family members—deteriorate, he struggles to make sense of what's happening. And he simply can't do it, even after he begins to invest, if somewhat clumsily, in the lives of his son and daughter, his ex-wife and his father. That's when it becomes apparent that his attempts to find significance in life and repair the damage he's done don't acknowledge any of the spiritual realities that might actually enable him to make some sense of the chaos of his life.

The movie does offer a redemptive message about perseverance when life is tough, as we see real growth in Dave's ability to commit to relationships with his kids. But that positive theme is still quite shallow and hopeless as it's stripped of a faith-informed worldview.

The other dose of rain and sleet in The Weather Man is how it is so thoroughly battered by a storm of profanity and graphic, demeaning representations of sex—both visually and in several sequences of shocking dialogue. Such no-holds-barred storytelling may currently be in vogue in Hollywood, and the boundaries of what's considered "acceptable" in R-rated movies may be lurching into ever-more vulgar territory, but such cultural relativity doesn't prevent it from objectively obliterating whatever virtues this story about a broken man and his broken family might illustrate.

Now about graphic novel............................................................

What exactly is a graphic novel?

Are the words simply a euphemism for comic book? In a society that races to replace any term that has a whiff of the lowly with a high-flown alternative (sanitation engineer for garbageman, for instance), it’s easy to assume this is the case. However, after a decades-long evolution, drawn stories told frame by frame with inked dialogue have come a long way from pulpy superhero tales that sold for a nickel.

In a very basic sense, a comic is still what it used to be, a slim thing on flimsy paper that’s usually published at regular intervals and often has ongoing story elements. A graphic novel, like a regular novel, is a stand-alone story that is published as a book. It’s easy to get confused, though, because some people will still use comics for the whole genre or graphic novel for any comic-style work that’s handsomely published, even if it’s just a collection of superhero stories. And although comic is fine with some folks, for others it’s an insulting implication that they like to curl up with a copy of Archie.

History..................................................................................

Comics have long been collected into book form, with The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck (1837) being the earliest recognized American example. [6] The United States has also had a long tradition of collecting comic strips into book form. While these collections and longer-form comic books are not considered graphic novels even by modern standards, they are early steps in the development of the graphic novel.

Antecedents: 1920s to 1960s..............................................

The 1920s saw a revival of the medieval woodcut tradition, with Belgian Frans Masereel often cited as "the undisputed King" (Sabin, 291) of this revival. Among Masereel's works were Passionate Journey (1926, reissued 1985 as Passionate Journey: A Novel in 165 Woodcuts ISBN 0-87286-174-0). American Lynd Ward also worked in this tradition during the 1930s.

Other prototypical examples from this period include American Milt Gross' He Done Her Wrong (1930), a wordless comic published as a hardcover book, and Une Semaine de Bonté (1934), a novel in sequential images composed of collage by the surrealist painter Max Ernst. That same year, the first European comic-strip collections, called "albums", debuted with The Adventures of Tintin in the Land of the Soviets by the Belgian Hergé.

The 1940s saw the launching of Classics Illustrated, a comic-book series that primarily adapted notable, public domain novels into standalone comic books for young readers. The 1950s saw this format broadened, with popular movies being similarly adapted. Also during the 1940s Taro Yashima published The New Sun (1943), Don Freeman published It Shouldn't Happen (1945), and Alan Dunn published East of Fifth (1948), a book that very much reminds later efforts by Will Eisner. By the 1960s, British publisher IPC had started to produce a pocket-sized comic book line, the "Super Library", that featured war and spy stories told over roughly 130 pages.

In 1950, St. John Publications produced the digest-sized, adult-oriented "picture novel" It Rhymes with Lust, a film noir-influenced slice of steeltown life starring a scheming, manipulative redhead named Rust. Touted as "an original full-length novel" on its cover, the 128-page digest by pseudonymous writer "Drake Waller" (Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller), penciler Matt Baker and inker Ray Osrin proved successful enough to lead to an unrelated second picture novel, The Case of the Winking Buddha by pulp novelist Manning Lee Stokes and illustrator Charles Raab.

By the late 1960s, American comic book creators were becoming more adventurous with the form. Gil Kane and Archie Goodwin self-published a 40-page, magazine-format comics novel, His Name is... Savage (Adventure House Press) in 1968 — the same year Marvel Comics published two issues of The Spectacular Spider-Man in a similar format. Columnist Steven Grant also argues that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's Doctor Strange story in Strange Tales #130-146, although published serially from 1965-1966, is "the first American graphic novel".[7]

Detail from Blackmark (1971) by scripter Archie Goodwin and artist-plotter Gil Kane.

Detail from Blackmark (1971) by scripter Archie Goodwin and artist-plotter Gil Kane.

Meanwhile, in continental Europe, the tradition of collecting serials of popular strips such as The Adventures of Tintin or Asterix had allowed a system to develop which saw works developed as long form narratives but pre-published as serials; in the 1970s this move in turn allowed creators to become marketable in their own right, auteurs capable of sustaining sales on the strength of their name.

By 1969, the author John Updike, who had entertained ideas of becoming a cartoonist in his youth, addressed the Bristol Literary Society, on "the death of the novel". Updike offered examples of new areas of exploration for novelists, declaring "I see no intrinsic reason why a doubly talented artist might not arise and create a comic strip novel masterpiece".[8]

Modern form and term...................................................

Gil Kane and Archie Goodwin's Blackmark (1971), a science fiction/sword-and-sorcery paperback published by Bantam, did not use the term originally; the back-cover blurb of the 30th-anniversary edition (ISBN 1-56097-456-7) calls it, retroactively, "the very first American graphic novel". The Academy of Comic Book Arts presented Kane with a special 1971 Shazam Award for what it called "his paperback comics novel". Whatever the nomenclature, Blackmark is a 119-page story of comic-book art, with captions and word balloons, published in a traditional book format. (It is also the first with an original heroic-adventure character conceived expressly for this form.)

Hyperbolic descriptions of "book-length stories" and "novel-length epics" appear on comic-book covers as early as the 1960s. DC Comics' The Sinister House of Secret Love #2 (Jan. 1972), one of the company's line of "52-Page Giants", specifically used the phrase "a graphic novel of gothic terror" on its cover.

The first six issues of writer-artist Jack Katz's 1974 Comics and Comix Co. series The First Kingdom were collected as a trade paperback (Pocket Books, March 1978, ISBN 0-671-79016-1),[9] which described itself as "the first graphic novel". Issues of the comic had described themselves as "gra