A brief introduction to ...
GRAPHIC NOVELS
What are they and where should you start from?
A graphic novel is a fictional story presented in comic-strip format and published as a standalone book. The term graphic novel includes fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, and is typically distinct from the comic book, which is generally used for periodicals and trade paperbacks.
In Europe, both original book-length stories such as The Ballad of the Salty Sea (1967) by Hugo Pratt or La rivolta dei racchi (1967) by Guido Buzzelli, and collections of comics have been commonly published in hardcover volumes since the late 19th century (including such later Franco-Belgian comics series as The Adventures of Tintin in the 1930s. The term graphic novel gained popularity after the publication of Will Eisner's A Contract with God (1978) and reached peak popularity with the start of the Marvel Graphic Novel line (1982) and the commercial successes of the first volume of Art Spiegelman's Maus (1986), the collected editions of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (1986) and Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons' Watchmen (1987).
The Classics
A Contract With God (1978)
Will Eisner
Published in 1978, and considered by many to be the first "graphic novel" and the book that popularized the format. The book's short story cycle revolves around poor Jewish characters who live in a tenement in New York City.
Maus (1986)
Art Spiegel
In Maus, Spiegelman interviews his father about his experiences as a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. The work represents Jews as mice and other Germans and Poles as cats and pigs. Until very recently banned from schools in the United States, Maus has been classified as a memoir, biography, history, fiction, and autobiography. It became the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1992.
Una ballata del mare salato (1967)
Hugo Pratt
The Ballad of the Salty Sea is the first episode of the adventures of Corto Maltese, a Maltese sailor. Published in 1967, Hugo Pratt introduces us with Corto, a "rogue with a heart of gold". Upon discovering that that he had no fate line on his palm, he becomes determined to carve his own, both figuratively and literally with his father's razor. Corto is skeptical of national, ideological and religious assertions, and instinctively supports the disadvantaged and oppressed. His feelings for Pandora follow him throughout his adventures.
Ġorġ Mallia's recommendations
Ġorġ Mallia is Malta's foremost comic artist. He has been writing and drawing cartoons and comics since the late 1970's. Ġorġ is a Professor of Communications and also the head of the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Malta. He also lectures in design, illustration, visual narrative, and personal communications.
