Expert: Ted Nesbitt - 7/12/2008

Question
Hi,
   Can you define graphic fiction?  Does it specifcally pertain to gore and the detailed description of it?  What's the difference between what Stephen King writes that would generally be considered "Horror Fiction."  Is there a fine line between the two?

Thank you for your time.

JD

Answer
Dear JD:

The usual term is "graphic novel."  The very simplest definition is "a comic book for adults."

The book usually credited as being the first "graphic novel" is "A Contract with God," written by Will Eisner in 1978.  [The "Eisner Award" is given each year to the best new graphic novel.]

You would almost have to look at one to see the difference between a graphic novel and a comic book.  Graphic novels have far more words than comic books, but they are also illustrated.  Although many young people read graphic novels, their themes are of an adult nature -- but I do NOT mean pornographic.  There are extensive character developments and complex plots, all of which are illustrated, with drawings that accompany [explain] the texts.

Last year, I heard a successful graphic novelist describe his view of this relatively new literary genre.  His name is Robert Tinnell, and his popular graphic novel is "Feast of the Seven Fishes," a story about Italian families and their troubles at Christmas.  The story and the illustrations are not "comic."  In fact, the novel was filled with a range of human emotions -- from love to violence.

Stephen King's horror stories are NOT graphic novels.  They are certainly "wordy," but they lack the "comic strip panels" of illustrations.

Try searching online for "graphic novels."  You'll find many of them at http://www.amazon.com -- and, in some of these, you can actually "look inside the book" to view various pages.

An excellent article about graphic novels appeared several years ago in "Time Magazine."  It is available online at this address:

<http://www.time.com/time/columnist/arnold/article/0,9565,542579,00.html>

[I hope the URL works.  If it does not, trying removing the "< and >" signs at the beginning and the end of the address.]

Ted Nesbitt