The Graphic Narrative

A graphic narrative is “a narrative work in the medium of comics” (Chute and DeKoven 767).

The reason the term “graphic novel” is controversial is because the word “novel” suggests a particular genre, whereas “graphic narratives” implies that a variety of genres could inform the work of a graphic artist/writer.

“Comics” has been identified with “low” culture; for this reason, the term “graphic novel” seems to appeal to academics.

William Hogarth (1697-1764)

Many scholars point to William Hogarth’s series The Rake’s Progress (1735) and The Harlot’s Progress (1732) as early entrants into genre of sequential art.

Each frame was designed to show the progression of a young person who strays away from conventional life.

Ensnared by a Procuress

Scene in Bridewell

She Expires while the Doctors are disputing

The Funeral

The shift from political satire to more child-centric comics

As Gorg Mallia has noted, “it was not long before the very graphic humour, possible because of the visual-verbal nature of the genre, attracted the young, and the comics changed to accommodate the younger age groups. The humour, adventure and fantasy in the comics on both sides of the Atlantic claimed more and more youngsters” (“Learning from the Sequence”).

Winsor McCay (1867-1934)

Winsor McCay, a native of Spring Lake, MI, created comics under his own name and under the pen name “Silas.”

One of his best-known works was “Little Nemo in Slumberland.”

McCay’s illustrations were often filled with surreal – and even threatening images.

Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)

Lyonel Feininger was born in NYC in 1871 and was one of the founders of the famous Bauhaus school of art.

His series “Kin-der-kids” was extremely popular at the turn of the century.

Like McCay, Feininger did not sugar-coat images.

George Herriman (1880-1944)

Due to the racist conventions of the day, Herriman hid his Creole ancestory for most of his life. However, in his comic strips, he often dealt subtlely with race – as the “white” mouse Ignatz is often depicted as being in love with the “black” Krazy Kat.

E.C. Segar (1894-1938)

Like George Herriman, E.C. Segar was one of the artists who worked for the King Syndicate – one of the first comics publishing organizations that helped to establish the Sunday “Funnies.” His character Popeye has become an American Icon.

Chester Gould (1900-1985)

Beginning in 1931, Gould would write the Dick Tracy comic for nearly five decades.

Although it was extremely popular as a series, Dick Tracy was also controversial, as critics claimed that it was excessively conservative in outlook.

Charles M. Schultz (1922-2000)

Probably the best known cartoonist in the 20th century, Schultz used child characters to delve into philosophical, psychological, and religious questions.

Although his work was not episodic, he did return repeatedly to a number of themes and scenarios, giving his work a seamless nature.

Jack Kirby (1917-1994)

The entire “super hero” genre was revolutionized by Jack Kirby, who co-created such characters as the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, and Captain America.

In addition to his work in the macho “super hero” genre, Kirby helped to start the “Romance” genre that became popular after WWII.

Kirby’s work to appeal to female readers

Harvey Kurtzman (1924-1993)

The founding editor of Mad Magazine, Kurtzman also was a cartoonist for Playboy.

During the 1950s, Kurtzman and many of his colleagues were hounded by federal prosecutors who attempted to control the content of comic books.

Comics Code Authority

Founded in 1954, as part of a sweeping set of Senate Inquiries into American cultural life, the Comics Code Authority would regulate the content of comic books for decades. Though the authority still exists, very few contemporary publishers submit their work for approval.

Will Eisner (1917-2005)

Eisner is widely regarded as the person who coined the term “graphic novel” and the person who helped to set the parameters for the field.

His graphic novel, A Contract with God, was significant for its autobiographic content and for its open – and authentic– discussion of ethnicity.

Alan Moore (1953-) and Dave Gibbons (1949-)

Moore and Gibbons collaborated on a 12-volume set of graphic novels that Time Magazine placed on its list of the Top 100 novels of the 20th Century.

Set in the US, but following an alternative history, the series focuses on the real life issues faced by a number of super heroes who live in the shadow of nuclear war.

Art Spiegelman (1948-)

Most people have come to learn about the graphic novel through Spiegelman’s Maus series.

Maus weaves the events of Spiegelman’s father during the Holocaust with contemporary vignettes in which Spiegelman confronts his father’s own racist leanings.

A Pulitzer Prize Winning Text

Spiegelman’s decision to portray his characters as anthropomorphic animals enabled him to create a powerful parable and to draw readers into the story who might otherwise be turned off by human representations.

In 1992, Maus won a Pulitzer Prize.

Neil Gaiman (1960-)

A creator of an elaborate fantasy world in his series Sandman, Gaiman has demonstrated a wide knowledge of myth, legend, literature, and film.

Over half of Gaiman’s readership is female, a fact that may account for the increase in publishers’ interest in attracting a mixed gender audience.

Daniel Clowes (1961-)

Clowes, a trained artist and writer, has published a number of graphic novels that have subsequently been made into feature films (Ghost World; Art School Confidential)

Jessica Abel (1969)

Publisher of her own handmade comic Artbabe (1992-1999), Abel won a number of awards for her graphic novel La Perdida (2002), which focuses on a young woman living abroad in Mexico.

Ariel Schrag (1979-)

One of the youngest ever graphic novelists, Schrag wrote a series of autobiographical graphic novels WHILE she was in high school in Berkeley, CA.

Schrag focuses on a number of issues relevant to adolescence, including her experience “coming out.”

The Hernandez Brothers

Jaime, Gilbert, and Mario Hernandez have been publishing Love & Rockets since the early 1980s. The series includes a number of intertwining storylines, but the primary focus is on a group of Oxnard, CA teenagers.

Alison Bechdel

Prior to the publication of Fun Home (2006), Alison Bechdel was best known for her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For.

The popularity of Fun Home came as a surprise to most critics, but the graphic novel has introduced many new readers to the genre.

Time Magazine’s #1 Book for 2006

“The unlikeliest literary success of 2006 is a stunning memoir about a girl growing up in a small town with her cryptic, perfectionist dad and slowly realizing that a) she is gay and b) he is too. Oh, and it's a comic book: Bechdel's breathtakingly smart commentary duets with eloquent line drawings. Forget genre and sexual orientation: this is a masterpiece about two people who live in the same house but different worlds, and their mysterious debts to each other.”

Forget Genre?

Well, they may forget genre over at Time Magazine, but in ENGL 5970, that’s pretty much what we’re all about.

For the remainder of the semester, we’ll be investigating how Bechdel uses imagery and text to create a graphic narrative that functions as memoir.

Memoir

“’Memoir’ is a much older term in English than is “autobiography.” The Oxford English Dictionary notes its use as early as the sixteenth century to denote any personal ‘record of events, not purporting to be a complete history, but treating of such matters as come within the personal knowledge of the writer, or are obtained from certain particular sources of information’ (828). On the other hand, the word “autobiography” was first used in the early nineteenth century to describe the more individualistic narratives of the self that were beginning to grow out of the revolutionary period and the Romantic movement” (Buss 2).

Memoir

“At the moment the memoir is proving a flexible vehicle for a great variety of people. For some it is not only an easy discourse to access, but also one that is elastic enough to bear considerable experimentation. It is becoming a discursive practice in which material realities and imaginary possibilities coexist” (Buss 2).