9/26

With comics gaining more commercial popularity among average people, the comic industry started to outgrow the limitations of the comic strip format. Through the growth of consumption of comics came a sort of need for comic creators to find a new format for conveying their ideas. This need for innovation fostered the creation of what we call today the Graphic Novel. I read A Contract with God, a graphic novel from the man that coined that term, Will Eisner. Through this work, the difference between more commercialized comics like superhero stories and strips became very clear. The subject matter became darker and more akin to real life rather than a romanticized story or joke with an impossible punchline. There became much more writing and character depth, much like a real novel, and the art felt as though there were less limitations because there was more of a focus on the mood of each panel than there was on fitting a certain style to make it more marketable.

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