While examining the history of comic books, The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, written and illustrated by a Swiss professor Rodolphe Topffer (1942) is considered to be the first comic book. However, the first comic book that created buzz was Hogan’s Alley which described the life of a yellow kid on the streets of New York. It was published in 1895.
Phantom came in 1936 and Superman in 1938. These gave a Superman in 1938. These gave a historical turn to the comic books. These superheroes became popular all over the world.
In the 20th century, many comic strips reached the audiences through newspapers and magazines. Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) by Anant Pai came on the scene in 1960 and took the medium to every household. Chacha Choudhry of Pran (1971) took the trend to climax. There was an audience of children and youngsters for comic books in India.
These are the days of digital media. The entire communication happens to be through images, videos, audios and text. Visual messages influence us deeply. We have started thinking in terms of images. These images come in sequence. Sequential art is the forerunner of graphic novels.
Graphic novels have their own grammar. There are panels in graphic novels. Sound is recorded in big font. Manga comics are read in the reverse direction. The superheroes have been replaced by graphic novels.
In graphic novels, we pay attention to both the script and visuals. There is an audience for graphic novels. Orijit Sen’s River of Stories (1994) is considered the first graphic novel in India. It relates to the construction of Narmada dam. The graphic novel that created buzz is Corridor by Sarnath Bannerjee. There were many attempts to make this genre popular here in India, but these attempts were not successful.
We had a comic culture till 1990s, but later the satellite TV and OTT channels left the comic culture behind. There were serials on OTT channels based on graphic novels. That attracted youngsters to graphic novels.
We see the Manga comics re-arrival on roadside stalls. There are pictures books in regional languages. These are paving the way to the emergence of graphic novels. Graphic novels tell the stories more through the pictures and less through the words.
A Contract with God describing slum life in New York (1978) by Will Eisner is considered to be the first graphic novel. Will Eisener never claimed to be a graphic novelist. He used to consider himself as a comic book artist or cartoonist. However, when he wrote A Contract with God, he made it clear to the publisher that he is writing a graphic novel.
Comics prospered after the Second World War. They were widely available. They told the stories of Spiderman, Superman, Batman. These comics had limitations. Graphic novels rose above these limitations. Many new topics and scientific were touched in graphic novels. There was a dozen of such graphic novelists. Frank Miller (Three Hundred, Sin City), Alan Moore (From Hell, Watchman, V for Vendetta), Marjane Satrapi, (Persepolis), Jonathan Entiwistle (The End of the Fucking World) presented the serials based on graphic novels. This made graphic novels popular among the common public. These books acquired a literary dignity.