Literature of Comics and the Graphic Novel

The main difference between a comic book and a graphic novel is that the graphic novel is usually the compilation of comics. If a comic series does really well, it might get turned into a graphic novel. Graphic novels are usually a lot thicker because obviously, they have a lot more pages to them. They are usually printed on a slightly glossy paper similar to that of a comic. Graphic novels can also come in paper back as well as hardcover, though this can depend on the publisher. Comic books are a bit different because they are not as long; they tend to be quite a bit shorter. Also depending on publisher, there can be variant issues, which is something comic readers enjoy. For example, one issue of a comic can have several different covers; each cover having its own separate value. Price also comes into play. While comics can run from about four to seven dollars apiece, graphic novels can run to twenty dollars or higher. However, when thinking about it, one graphic novel can con...

Comic books vs. comic strips - the visual language of two is the same, but there is not much translation from one format to the other. Most of the comic strips that got published as comic books were compilations of already published material, reformatted in some way. The daily newspaper strip does not lend itself to extended story-telling. Most of the strips around are 3 and 4 panel bits. Some of them have themes that run for about a week at a time, and very few have storylines that go over several weeks or months. But typically, the strip format does not allow for much story progression, leading to the decline of long, ongoing strips. This further lends itself to comedy and the set-up/punchline format. Comic books, on the other hand, have more time to get a story moving. At twenty-two pages, even a minimal two-strips-per-day format would give you more room to tell a story than a month's worth of comic strips. Plus, the larger format allows for greater flexibility in what the ar...

Peanuts by Charles M Sparky Schultz debuted on October 2 nd , 1950, and ran until February 13 th , 2000 for a total of 17,897 strips published. At its most popular, the strip ran in over 2,600 newspapers, 75 countries, 21 languages, and over 355 million readers. The precursor to Peanuts was a strip Called Li’l Folks that ran from 1947-1950 in Schultz’s hometown newspaper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press. This strip also featured a close look at the lives of children, however did not have a set cast. The name Charlie Brown was even used for four different children in various Li’l Folks strips. When Schultz revised his strip to get picked up for syndication, he was told the name Li’l Folks was too close to the extremely popular Li’l Abner strip. The syndicate decided to call the strip Peanuts, after the peanut gallery from the Howdy Doody TV show. Schultz never like the name, saying “…it is simply confusing and has no dignity.” Charlie Brown’s famous pet beagle Snoopy debuted in...