The Comic Book Lover tries out Graphic Novels

Like reading comics? Then you'll perhaps appreciate where some of them are headed: graphic novels. Especially if you're a "mature" reader who's a bit worried about the snickers when you mention your cartoons and comics. Nothing here for your (stupid) insecurity, but plenty for that comic lover in you!

A rough definition of graphic novels is that they're comics, but with largely self-contained storylines, and amazing artwork. If you've read Bill Watterson's comments on wanting to break through the panels and raise comics to an art form, well these artists are trying and they're very good! Furthermore, they're also aimed at a more mature audience, in case you care for that. I'm a bit late to the graphic novel genre, what with India's comic scene being the way it is, but as it's said: better late then never! In the paragraphs the follow, three of my favourite graphic novelists, and their works.

Let's begin with Frank Miller. He has a significant body of work in the Batman mythos, and is widely credited with bringing back the darker shades of the Batman. So no surprise that I picked him. In chronological order, start with Batman: Year One, which does satisfy the self-contained feature of most graphic novels, but continues to "look like a comic." It introduces some characters, like Flass (Gordon's initial partner), for instance, who figure in the Batman Begins movie as well.

Then move onto Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. This totally self-contained (and sometimes contradictory to the mythos) graphic novel is both written and drawn by Frank Miller. It is also a significant deviation from the comic form I'm used to, with rich colours, and comic "art" that demands the quotes to be dropped. As a bonus, it includes Superman as well!

But Frank Miller gained fame, in large part, for his Sin City novels and the movie adaption by Robert Rodriguez. Starkly black and white (the novel, not the movie), and most definitely for mature readers, I'm still reading this. Not for the squeamish or the "prudent".

And finally, remember that Frank Miller is also an author accessible to most non-comic readers, thanks to his (and Zack Synder's) 300. This graphic novel (and also a rather recent movie) is a work of art. Absolutely no doubt about it. Every "panel" (if you may) is a double-spread, rich in colour and visually gorgeous. The dialogues lack a certain "royal" quality, and the book is a bit too short (an artefact of the double-spreads?) for my tastes, but definitely worth a read.

Of course, the genre doesn't include only the works of Frank Miller, and it's fun to go exploring for other graphic novelists. It's not hard to find the other "famous" guy in this genre. Alan Moore's V for Vendetta and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen have movie adaptations (the League's is not very good), and his Watchmen featured in Time Magazine's list of 100 best novels (in 2005), and also won a Hugo Award. I've yet to read his works, but they're high on my list!

And while trawling the net, I also came across Mike Mignola's Hellboy. It's hard to resist trying it out when Wikipedia suggested themes of the occult, the paranormal, and the clincher: (paranormal) legends of various cultures weaved into the story line! So we have the Nazis who bring Hellboy into being on this Earth with the aid of the Russian "Mad Monk" Rasputin (whose eternal soul is placed in Yggdrasil (the Norse "World Tree")). Fun with a capital F. Highly recommended, both for its incredible artwork and great storylines.

And the best thing about these novels? They're novels in the "real" sense. It takes me an hour at least to get through the average 200 pages of artwork and dialogues, compared to the five minutes for the average comic! Also, thanks to their being unavailable here, my parents are not going to be worried about the physical space required to store them. Suddenly 80G looks to be very less. (Wicked grin).