Definitions of the graphic novel vary widely, and can be based on the form, the content, or even the intent. Stephen Weiner, author of three books about graphic novels, defines them simply as "book-length comic books that are meant to be read as one story" (xi). While Weiner's definition is primarily quantitative in nature, Roger Sabin, author of Adult Comics, sees graphic novels as qualitatively different from a comic book story arc in that they are characterized by greater complexity and thematic unity. Cartoonist Eddie Campbell declares that "graphic novel is an abstract idea. It's a sensibility, it's an advanced attitude toward comics" (qtd. in Deppey). To many artists, the attitude is more important than the label.

            As Campbell points out in his tongue-in-cheek Graphic Novel Manifesto, a true graphic novelist "would never think of using the term graphic novel when speaking among their fellows," but "publishers may use the term over and over until it means even less than the nothing it means already."  While publishers eagerly embrace the term as a marketing device, quite a few of the cartoonists produce the best graphic novels reject the term. Art Spiegelman's Maus is simply referred on the back cover as "a new kind of literature."  Three of the most critically acclaimed authors of graphic novels in recent years purposely avoid using the term on their covers. Craig Thompson chose to call Blankets "an illustrated novel," Dan Clowes' Ice Haven is labeled a "comic-strip novel," and Alison Bechel's Fun Home is a "tragicomic."
 

            The creative and fan communities will continue to be debate about whether the term should be used at all, and, if so, how it should be applied. What is the minimum length to qualify as a novel? Which works are serious enough in intent and sophisticated enough in execution to warrant be labeled a graphic novel? Rather than being so presumptuous as to provide definitive answers to any of these questions, we simply fuel the debate by providing a chronology of works that present a complete comics story, of some length and ambition, that was either created for or collected into book form.

1842    The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck

                        by Rudolph Töpffer 

                        40 pg. / Wilson and Co.

                        Published in the magazine supplement Brother Jonathan Extra no. 9

                        A reformated version of the priated English translation of Töpffer's 1837                                    work Les Amours de Monsieur Vieux Bois

1929    God's Man: A Novel in Woodcuts
                        by Lynd Ward

                        approx. 114 pgs. / Cape & Smith

1930    He Done Her Wrong: The Great American Novel and Not a Word in It - No Music Too
                        by Milt Gross

                        246 - 264 pgs. / Doubleday, Doran & Co.

1931    The Four Immigrants Manga
                        by Henry (Yoshitaka) Kiyama

                        112 pgs. /

1950    It Rhymes with Lust
                        written by Drake Waller (Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller), art by
                        Matt Baker and Ray Osrin

                        128 pgs. / St. John Publications

                        "Pictures Novels" across the cover (It was intended as the first in a series                                   by St. John); "an original picture novel" on the title page

  
          The Case of the Winking Buddha
                        written by Manning Lee Stokes, art by Charles Raab

                           / St. John Publications

            Mansion of Evil
                        by Joseph Millard

                          / Fawcett Publication / Gold Medal    

1958    Sweet Gwendoline: The Race for the Gold Cup

                        by John Willie

                        144 pgs. / Nutrix

1959    King Ottokar's Scepter

                        by Herge

                        62 pgs. / Golden Press

                        One of four U.S. editions of Tintin albums Golden Press issued in 1959

1968    His Name is . . . Savage
                        plot and art by Gil Kane, script by Archie Goodwin

                        40 pgs / Adventure House Press / magazine format

            The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist
                        written by Michael O'Donoghue, art by Frank Springer

                        over 100 pgs. / Grove Press

                        had been serialized in Evergreen Review from 1965 to 1966

1971    Blackmark

                        plot and art by Gil Kane, script by Archie Goodwin

                        119 pgs / Bantam Books

1972    Tarzan of the Apes
                        Edgar Rice Burroughs novel adpated by Robert M. Hodes (script)
                        and Burne Horgarth (art)

                        32 pgs (?) / Watson-Guptil

1976    Fiction Illustrated:  Schlomo Raven
                        written by Byron Preiss, art by Tom Sutton

                        112 pgs. / Pyramid Publications / Byron Preiss Visual Publications

                        Back cover: "Volume one of America's first adult graphic novel revue!"

                        First inside page:  "America's first full-color adult graphic story revue"

            Bloodstar
                        Robert E. Howard short story adapted by John Jakes and John Pocsik                          (script) and Richard Corben (art)

                           / Morning Star Press

                        The front flap of the dust jacket reads: "Bloodstar is a new revolutionary                                    concept - a graphic novel, which combines all the imagination and visual                               power of comic strip art with the richness of the traditional novel."

            Beyond Time and Again by George Metzger

                        48 pgs. / Kyle & Wheary

                        One of the publishers is Richard Kyle, who coined the term "graphic                              novel" in the mid-60s

                        A collection of the underground comic that ran from 1967-1972

                        Subtitled "graphic novel" on the title page

            Fiction Illustrated: Starfawn
                        written by Byron Preiss, art by Stephen Fabian

                        104 pgs. / Pyramid Publications / Byron Preiss Visual Publications

                        back cover: "Volume Two of America's first adult graphic novel revue!"

            Fiction Illustrated:  Red Tide
                        by James Steranko

                          117 pgs. / Pyramid Publications / Byron Preiss Visual Publications

                        "Visual novel" on front and back covers; "Illustrated novel" on title page;                                    called a "graphic novel" in the introduction

                        Actually, an illustrated novel rather than a comic

1977    Even Cazco Gets the Blues
                        by Phil Yeh

                         / Fragments West

  
          Heavy Metal Presents: Candice at Sea

                        written by Jacques Lob, art by Georges Pichard

                        50 pgs. / Heavy Metal Communications

                        One of a dozen graphic novels Heavy Metal published from 1977 to 1979

                        translation of a French graphic album

1978    The First Kingdom
                        by Jack Katz

                         / Pocket Books

                   / soft cover / Simon & Schuster

                   collected the first six issues of the eventual twenty-four issue epic

1978    The First Kingdom
                        by Jack Katz

                         / Pocket Books

                   / soft cover / Simon & Schuster

                   collected the first six issues of the eventual twenty-four issue epic