BAM! It’s a Graphic Novel

Eighty-one original graphic works by some of the leading artists working in the arena of contemporary graphic novels. 

Graphic novels have gained immense popularity in recent years. More varied in content than their early counterparts, they have also reached a new level of artistic respectability. Graphic novels have been the subject of scholarly studies, topics of museum exhibitions, and even the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize. According to the American Library Association, they are among the fastest growing categories in publishing and bookselling.

The cave paintings of ages past and hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt were the first examples of storytelling through pictures. The dawn of the Industrial Age saw the beginning of the graphic novel as a format of entertainment. The first major graphic novel, The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, was published in the U.S. in 1842; the collected edition of The Yellow Kid cartoons in book form (1897) is recognized as the first financially successful graphic novel. The last century saw the emergence of the popular DC Comic heroes Superman, Batman, and Marvel Comic’s Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and X-Man.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website