Graphic fiction is a hybrid genre that combines words and sequential images. It developed from prehistoric cave paintings and woodcut novels, and became popular in comic books in the 1930s and graphic novels later in the 20th century. A graphic novel combines visual and verbal elements through image panels, text boxes, and speech/thought bubbles. Notable graphic novels include Maus, which won a Pulitzer Prize, and works by Art Spiegelman, Jason Lutes, Chris Ware, and Sarnath Banerjee. Graphic fiction is an interactive medium that encourages imagination and blends qualities of books and film.

1. Graphic Fiction: A
Hybrid Genre of the
Modern Age M. S. Xavier Pradheep Singh
Assistant Professor of English, V. O. Chidambaram College, Thoothukudi

2.  What is Graphic Fiction?
 How did it develop?
 What are its parts?
 Can a graphic novel be considered as literature?
 What are its unique features?

3. Graphic Fiction
 Meaningful interaction of words, image panels and
typography.
 “a new hybrid form of reading that combines visual
and verbal rhetoric”
- Stephen E. Tabachnick
“A Comic Book World.” World Literature Today. 81.2 (2007)

4. Graphic Fiction
 “a comic book narrative that is equivalent in form and
dimension to the prose novel.”
- Eddie Campbell
“What is a Graphic Novel?” World Literature Today. 81.2 (2007)

5. Graphic Fiction
 Pictures are arranged
in sequential image
panels and words are
given in speech
bubbles and text
boxes.

6. History of Graphic Fiction

7. Prehistoric Cave Paintings
 “Visual narratives of
juxtaposed images”
- Marie Fernandes
“Comic Books as Literary Discourse.” New Quest. 133
(1999): 427-431.
 Words were not essential

8. Woodcut Novel (1910s)
 It did not have any sentence.
 Used a sequence of images, “typically executed in a
woodcut or wood-engraving technique”
- Chris Lanier
“The woodcut Novel: A Forerunner to the Graphic Novel.” World Literature Today. 81.2 (2007): 15-23.
 The effect was something like a silent film
 Famous Woodcut Novel
 God‟s Man by Lind Ward (1905-1985)

9. Comics (1930s)
 developed after the crash of stock market in 1929.
 Flash Gordon by Alex Raymond, Dick Tracy by
Chester Gould, Tarzan by Hal Foster

10. Comics (1930s)
 Children-related themes
 evolved as part of mass culture
 Between 1940 and 1945, four hundred super-heroes
were created based on „Superman‟s model‟.
 Batman created by Bob Kane in 1939
 1940s the magazine format of comic books
developed

11. Graphic Novels (Later part of 20th century)
 Developed due to the impact of electronic media
(films & internet) towards the end of 20th century
 Many readers have lost their habit of reading. They
wanted a quick reading rather than thick texts. They
are used to quick electronic perception.

12. Graphic Novels (Later part of 20th century)
 Graphic novels allow us to imagine and experience
characters and places
 provides many advantages to both print and
electronic media

13. Literariness of Graphic Literature
 “Comic art does possess the potential for the most
serious and sophisticated literary and artistic
expression, and we can only hope that future artists
will bring the art form to full fruition”
- Lawrence Abbott
“Comic art: Characteristics and Potentialities of a narrative medium.”
Journal of Popular Culture. 19. 4 (1986): 155-176.

14. Literariness of Graphic Literature
 Art Spiegelman won the Pulitzer Prize for his graphic
Novel Maus.
 Many universities, especially University of Memphis,
offer courses on Graphic Fiction.

15. Uniqueness of Graphic Fiction
 Unique approach to plot, narration, and theme
 Depth and density of characters

16. Anatomy of Graphic Fiction

17. Anatomy of Graphic Fiction
 Image Panel

18. Anatomy of Graphic Fiction
 Text Box
 Time line of narration
 develops the plot of Graphic Novel

19. Anatomy of Graphic Fiction
 Speech Bubble
 Words spoken by characters in a Graphic Novel
 Arranged vertically to show the order in a conversation
 either rectangular or oval in shape with a tail pointing
towards the character that speaks those words

20. Anatomy of Graphic Fiction
 Thought Bubble
 thoughts running in the minds of
characters
 circle in shape and the border of the
circle is spiral. Thus it looks like a flower.
 There is no tail like speech bubbles. But
there are some more thought bubbles
each decreasing in size.

21. Features of Graphic Novels

22. Features of Graphic Fiction
 Autographic Forms
 The mark of handwriting in Graphic
Novels is an “important part of the rich
extra-semantic information a reader
receives.”
- Hillary Chute & Marianne DeCoven
“Introduction: Graphic Narrative.” Modern Fiction Studies.
52.4 (2006): 767-782.
 The mark of handwriting creates an
impact that the whole novel is a
manuscript and thus provides a sense of
intimacy.

23. Features of Graphic Fiction
 Imaginative Creativity
 The use of blank spaces between image panels makes
readers to fill in the blanks, imagining a good deal of
action. Thus it encourages “imaginative creativity”
 - Stephen E. Tabachnick
 “Of Maus and Memory: The Structure of Art Spiegelman‟s
Graphic Novel of the Holocaust.” Word & Image. 9.2
(1993): 154-162.

24. Features of Graphic Fiction
 Interactivity
 As the readers use their imagination to fill in the blanks
between image panels, Graphic novels encourage
interactivity in the minds of the readers.

25. Features of Graphic Fiction
 The language, syntax and meaning of a graphic
novel spring primarily through the relationship
between images rather than words.
 A Graphic Novelist cannot waste words and image
panels. They are essentials of a Graphic Fiction.
 Combination of the qualities of book and screen

26. Important Graphic Novels

27. Maus by Art Spiegelman
 Won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize
 Autobiographical
 Novel of Holocaust
 Authors’ father’s story of
survival
 Contains three separate
genres found in verbal novels
 the Kunstleroman
 the bildungsroman, and
 the epic

28. In the Shadow of No Towers: 9/11 by Art
Spiegelman (2004)
 deals with the terrorist attack
on America on 11th September
2001 and the trauma of the
Americans following the
tragedy

29. Berlin: City of Stories by Jason Lutes
 Historical fiction focusing on Weimar-era Berlin.

30. Epileptic by David
 Originally published in France
 David’s memoir of growing up with an older brother who
suffers from epilepsy

31. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
by Chris Ware
 adventures of Jimmy Corrigan as he searches for his lost
father.

32. Louis Riel by Chester Brown
 Chester Brown – a Canadian Graphic Novelist
 Fictionalised History of Riel, a revolutionary and mystic of
the 19th century who led the French / Indian population

33. The River of Stories by Orijit Sen
 The first Indian Graphic Novel
 narrates the story of displaced adivasis and the visit of a
young reporter to the Rewa Dam site.
 This Graphic Novel was a vehicle for launching a critique
of political and social inequalities.

34. The Barn Owl’s Wondrous Capers by
Sarnath Banerjee (2009)
 Portrays 18th century Calcutta
 Exploits the myth of the
Wandering Jew

35. Harappa Files by Sarnath Banerjee
Presents India of 1980s

36. Stupid Guy Goes to India by Yukichi
Yamamatsu
 Indian Manga Novel

37.  Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud (1993)
 only truly successful book-length comic essay
 Provides real vocabulary to discuss the medium

38. Conclusion
 Graphic Fiction “suits the complexity of modern life
with its babble of signs, symbols and stimuli”
- Eddie Campbell
“What is a Graphic Novel?” World Literature Today. 81.2 (2007): 13.
 Combines visual and verbal rhetoric and offers a
hybrid form of reading.

39. Conclusion
 “Graphic Novel will continue to displace (if never
completely replace) purely textual writing and that it
will eventually become the most popular form of
reading.”
- Stephen E. Tabachnick
“A Comic Book World.” World Literature Today. 81.2 (2007).