The graphic novel is a variation of comics, not in genre, but in format. Graphic novels came to be as a result of the process of comic books becoming more and more serious in quality and format, claiming a place for themselves on the shelves of bookstores instead of newsstands, where comics were usually sold. Will Eisner is considered to be the first to create a graphic novel, with his work titled A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories (1978). Originating in the USA in the 1980s, the graphic novel has spread to all the comics markets of the world, the publishing of graphic novels being a global trend in the world’s comics industries today.
The distinction between comics and graphic novels is based on format alone, rather than on other characteristics like substance, form, or quality. According to the definition of Thierry Groensteen, the graphic novel differs from ordinary comics in four aspects: (1) variable dimensions, (2) a less vivid colourization, (3) a much more extensive pagination, and (4) a conception of the page layout in which text and drawings are intertwined more freely than in the regular arrangement of panel frames (the waffle-iron grid). Like Persepolis (2000-2003) by Marjane Satrapi, graphic novels can be published in multiple volumes, or previewed in comic magazines like other formats of comics, such as comic strips or Franco-Belgian albums (Maus by Art Spiegelman was pre-published in Raw magazine), but they can also appear in one volume, e.g., Habibi (2011) by Craig Thompson. It is generally assumed that graphic novels are aimed at a wide, adult audience.
Graphic novels can appear in different genres, both fiction and non-fiction, as memoir, autobiography, or comics journalism. These genres often suppose that the author, the narrator, and the protagonist are the same person, and include the acts of writing and drawing in the narrative. Sometimes graphic novels fit into more than one generic category at the same time, for instance, Maus (1986) by Art Spiegelman which tells the life-story of the protagonist’s parents and reports on the trauma they suffered in concentration camps during World War II. This work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1992, being the first graphic novel to receive the prize. For graphic journalism, the graphic novel format proves to be very favourable, as for example in the case of Guy Delisle, who publishes reports on his travels in separate graphic novels, such as Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea (2004) and Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City (2011).
