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Current Trends in Graphic Novels
by
Mark Ellis & Melissa Martin Ellis
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- Many graphic novels have been made into films
- Sales of graphic novels is increasing annually
- Graphic novels are sold in mainstream stores
Unlike the standard prose novel, graphic novels aren’t bound by marketplace trends. However, since the medium is primarily visual, the quality and style of the artwork and the narrative is both the package and the product.
Movie Adaptations
The types of stories in graphic novels are limited only by the imaginations and artistic skills of their creators, which makes graphic novels one of the very few media with built-in cross-platform elements.
Hollywood producers are attracted to graphic novels for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that a potential film is already storyboarded. A graphic novel is much easier to visualize as a movie than a book or even a script. Take a look at the number of movies adapted from graphic novels over the last few years:
A History of Violence by John Wagner and Vince Locke
Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
Road to Perdition by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner
Art School Confidential by Daniel Clowes
From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
The Rocketeer by Dave Stevens
Sin City by Frank Miller
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
The Crow by James O’Barr
In fact, a graphic novel conference was organized a few years ago in New York City that featured filmmaker and comics writer Kevin Smith as the celebrity guest. The conference brought together industry professionals to discuss the business and cultural facets of graphic novels, from Japanese manga to superhero comics.
Obviously, superheroes such as those published by Marvel and DC will always be a major presence in the graphic narrative format, particularly as more movies are based on their characters and the publications reach wider audiences. According to Publishers Weekly, retail graphic novel sales were around $245 million in 2005, an 18 percent increase from 2004.
Mainstream Media
Bookstores, publishers, and mainstream cultural venues are devoting more resources to graphic novels. They can be found in Borders, Barnes & Noble, and online as promotional collateral for television shows such as Heroes. But just as popular culture is diverse, so are the genres featured in graphic novels.
With graphic novels, the sky isn’t the limit; the boundaries extend to all times and places and the stretches of the universe itself.
…from The Everything Guide to Writing Graphic Novels.
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