Comic book question

HARDKORE · Post by **HARDKORE** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:02 pm

Can you tell me the diff between a comic book and a grapic novel?

ruotwocone · Post by **ruotwocone** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:51 pm

it's largely a semantic difference. comic books are going to be much shorter (graphic novels usually are in the 80-150 page range whereas comics are going to be 20-30 pages*). Also graphic novels are usually stand alone or in a short series whereas comics are episodic and typically run until they are no longer profitable. did i miss anything?

*page length guess is totally coming from me remembering about how long comics were when i was reading them regularly... like 12 years ago or so, so this may be off slightly

mountainmage · Post by **mountainmage** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 3:13 am

Graphic novels often, but not always, apply to manga. There are of course american ones too, but most of the time people are referring to manga.

Lethal Interjection · Post by **Lethal Interjection** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 4:57 am

There are some fuzzy lines, for sure. I know they have put together comic book story arcs into one binding and called it a graphic novel. The almighty Wikisays something about "mature audiences", which I generally agree with. This coupled with the length factor would probably close to my definition.
The Wiki also states the factor of artistic merit. That's a tough line, too, but I have some agreement there as well.
The only two I have read was the Sin City: The Hard Goodbye and 1602. The first was great. I loved the style. The second was a bit of a stretch. Some really cool ideas, but the anachronism was difficult to get past, and ended up a bit distracting and unbelievable.

Sahan · Post by **Sahan** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 8:42 am

I've only come across a couple of graphic novels, The Red Badge of Courage (which I believe is a famous American novel) and The Fog (prequel to the horror film).

My guess is that it would differ from a comic book in the same way a cinema film differs from a TV show. The graphic novel is usually a one-off that holds a full storyline with character development and resolution, whilst a comic book uses the same characters over and over again in a series.

TwoBuy · Post by **TwoBuy** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:21 pm

mountainmage wrote:Graphic novels often, but not always, apply to manga. There are of course american ones too, but most of the time people are referring to manga.

I'd disagree here from my experiences, but that only shows we have different experiences.

Lethal Interjection wrote:I know they have put together comic book story arcs into one binding and called it a graphic novel.

Usually these are called trade paperbacks (TPBs).

HARDKORE · Post by **HARDKORE** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:46 pm

Is there any truth that some manga are read from back to front?

TwoBuy · Post by **TwoBuy** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:05 am

HARDKORE wrote:Is there any truth that some manga are read from back to front?

If it's written in Japanese, it's likely (and by that, I mean it's read from top to bottom and right to left). I guess it's possible in some english-translated versions but probably not very likely unless the publisher is either cheap and doesn't want to reorder the page layouts, or thinks it's artistic.

mountainmage · Post by **mountainmage** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:26 am

TwoBuy wrote:
HARDKORE wrote:Is there any truth that some manga are read from back to front?
If it's written in Japanese, it's likely (and by that, I mean it's read from top to bottom and right to left). I guess it's possible in some english-translated versions but probably not very likely unless the publisher is either cheap and doesn't want to reorder the page layouts, or thinks it's artistic.

Manga is always read back to front, english or japanese. They try to be authentic.

TwoBuy · Post by **TwoBuy** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:09 pm

mountainmage wrote:Manga is always read back to front, english or japanese. They try to be authentic.

That doesn't show authenticity, it shows inability to understand the differences between the english and japanese language. Also, I still maintain it's mostly just publishers trying to save on printing.

mountainmage · Post by **mountainmage** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:12 pm

I'm sure they replace the japanese text with the english translation, but that doesn't mean they don't know english isn't japanese.

Lottel · Post by **Lottel** » Fri May 02, 2008 4:42 am

A lot of the artists were complaining about the the publishers flipping the images. They said it distorted their art and ruined what they had in mind. Combine that with the fact that many manga lovers try to be as authentically Japanese as they can, the majority of manga in America is right-to-left.

Also, I agree with most of your definitions on the comic book/graphic novel debate. Length is the most important factor.

The rule of thumb is if it has a staple, it is a comic book. If it has traditional book binding, it is a graphic novel. The classifications were different a few years ago when the graphic novels started becoming widespread but since the industry has evolved so much recently, the definitions have changed as well. Just stick the the Staple Rule and everything is ok.