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Graphic Novels and Comics
The Oxford Dictionary defines a graphic novel as “a novel in a comic-strip format”. Therefore, in essence, a graphic novel is a very long and complete comic book. The term “graphic novel” was coined by Richard Kyle (a Comic book historian) in 1964. However, it gained popularity after the publication of the first graphic novel in 1978. It was penned by Will Eisner and is known as “A Contract with God”.
Comic-strips, on the other hand, emerged as a tool to put forward political and social commentary through illustrations and very few words. They have been fashionable since the early 19th century. It should be understood now, that illustrations to communicate ideas or stories can be divided into types, like:
Comic-strip
A comic-strip is a witty commentary on the current social and political mood, which uses anywhere between one to six panels to depict an idea.
Comic Magazine
A comic magazine is a like a bi-weekly or bi-monthly periodical which uses comics to narrate a story. Most comic magazines are about fictional characters and universes, and the complete story is built in parts through a series of magazines. Generally, when people talk about comics, they refer to comic magazines.
Graphic Novel
As discussed above, a graphic novel is a complete story which narrates the events in the book with the help of illustrated panels.
Over the years graphic novels and comics have grown in popularity, and in today’s day and age, where content is more visual than textual, graphic novels and comics are becoming even more popular.
Most popular children’s novels are also available as graphic novels and comics. The most successful examples of the same are Marvel’s graphic novels and comics series. However, Marvel is not the only one with graphic novels and comics for its superheroes. DC boasts of its own range of heroes. Other graphic novels include the Calvin and Hobbes comic-strips, which have now been converted into different volumes of graphic novels. Additionally, popular novels like the Agatha Christie Series, Harry Potter Series and so on have also been converted into graphic novels. Even, Indian mythologies like the Mahabharata, the Jataka Tales, the Ramayana and others have been converted into graphic novels.
On the other hand, Amar Chitra Katha to this day remains popular for its comic magazines which depict stories from Indian mythology, as well as, the Panchtantra series. Other popular comic magazines belong to the Marvel and DC universe of superheroes, the most popular of them being Batman, the Flash, Superman, the Lantern series, Captain America, Iron Man, the Punisher and so on. Indian comic magazines have largely been centred around characters like Chacha Chaudhary, Pinki, Tantri the Mantri, Shikari Shambu and so on.
Buy Graphic Novels Online
Retail bookshops are a booklover's paradise, but they may not hold the variety of graphic novels you may find on online marketplaces like Flipkart. Physical storage space and popularity of a graphic novel contribute to its physical presence in a bookstore, however, e-book shops don’t come with such restrictions. You can easily find and buy graphic novels like Asterix and Obelisk (omnibus series), Game of Thrones, Illegal, Piper, Beauty and the Beast, Captain Underpants and many more on online marketplaces.
Buy Comics Online
Unlike the popular Big Bang Theory, you won’t find a comics bookstore in your locality in India. The world is going digital, and so should you. You may even find rare comics magazines online. So, return to your childhood or give your child the gift of imagination and pure potential with comics magazines like the Tintin series, the Batman series, Tinkle magazines, Amar Chitra Katha magazines and so on.
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