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‘Since Nolan’s Batman, Joss Whedon’s Avengers, Coogler’s Black Panther, Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, and the Russo Brothers’ Infinity War, superhero comic books have become the de-facto literary canon of a modern mythology. But that’s not how it began! From their inception in the late 1930’s and well into the mid-eighties, comic books were considered gutter entertainment. Here Are 5 Graphic Novels that changed the world.
Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, Watchmen was one of two graphic novels that dramatically altered the evolutionary course the comic book medium. It tackled not only heroes, but their monstrous failings and psychological issues, it discussed questions of time, cause and effect, freedom of will, and the sheer futility of engagement. From this grotesque menagerie of not-quite-heroes and fairly-deluded-villains, it extracted moments of wonder, meaning, and passion. As a side effect, it also changed the industry so radically that Moore himself felt its impact had been detrimental to the fledgling art form.
Also written by Moore, who easily gets two out of five entries, V for Vendetta is better known for the movie adaptation that eventually followed. Moore himself, as with Watchmen, hated seeing his work made into movies, refused any royalty payments for both movies, and had the money sent to his collaborator and illustrator, David Lloyd, instead. Although the movie took liberties, the relatively straightforward narrative form of the original graphic novel helped make this adaptation more faithful to the source material than that of Watchmen.
Although it was a long way from the onomatopoeic Adam West Batman to the Batman the world came to know in Nolan’s Batman movies, it can almost be argued that most of that transformation was accomplished by this one pivotal book that DC Comics published in the mid-eighties. Frank Miller’s Batman was downright pathological and frequently sadistic, he was a Batman we’d never quite seen before; a middle-aged Batman who explained that he had to be a criminal and in a post-fight adrenaline rush almost believed he was in his twenties once again.
Remember when we said there were two graphic novels that dramatically changed the form? This, undoubtedly, was the other one.
Identity Crisis is divisive among some comic book readers, despite being released at a time when ‘grimdark’ had already been adopted derisively by fans as a portmanteau to describe the atmospheric trend of the time. Identity Crisis, written by novelist Brad Meltzer took this further and had some heroes mindwipe their own to hide a secret. In making some iconic DC characters decidedly unheroic, Meltzer angered fans, and some decided his book was not ‘cannon’.
Palestine isn’t by Marvel and isn’t by DC. It’s not at all about superheroes, and it’s not even that popular. But it should be. It’s written and illustrated by Joe Sacco, who refers to it as a work of “Graphic Journalism.”
Palestine is a profoundly important book served well by Sacco’s stylized art. It is autobiographical, informative, and brutal. It retells the history of Palestine through the author’s own journey in a country torn apart by occupation.
