Introduction to Graphic Novels: Not Just Picture Books
"The old brown dog walked on the slate sidewalk. Mysteriously, it started to run as it passed the yellow fire hydrant. At the end of the lush and green-treed street, a ginger-coloured cat sauntered casually across the road . . ."
When reading this text, can you picture in your mind what's happening because of the descriptive details?
In written texts, a reader must imagine the appearance of the character or setting based on the author's description. Graphic novels challenge readers just as written text does because readers interpret the visual information differently than they interpret written text. Instead of discovering meaning and understanding from words alone, a reader of a graphic novel must find meaning and relationships through visual images, limited text, and specific visual effects used to relate the story and description.
Where comic books or volumes of manga may have "to be continued" at the end, graphic novels are usually richer, with a more complex story presented visually in its entirety. Graphic novels spend more time developing plot and character details and are seldom serialized. Images are drawn and arranged ( composition and sequencing) on the page very deliberately so the attention of viewers is held by the "view", enabling them to follow along and be entertained by the plot and characters of the story.
Many older written texts have been adapted into graphic novels, including many Shakespearean plays, novels, and even history books! Various graphic novels have been adapted to film, such as Persepolis, Ghost World, Watchmen, The Losers, 300, and V for Vendetta. In an English course, you will discover likely that the books are much better than the films are!