Love isn't brains, children, it's blood, blood screaming inside you to work its will.

Spike ,'Sleeper'


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Discussion of Buffy and Angel comics, books, and more. Please don't get into spoilery details in the first week of release.


amych - Jul 12, 2004 7:47:34 am PDT #4721 of 10000
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

I also feel like I should use air quotes around difference there for some reason.

Because it's a vague distinction at best. It's pretty standard that a GN started out that way, but since TPB is also just a name for a publishing format, it's a lot less clear -- if you're talking to a comics collector, they're most likely referring to a collected run of a serial title; if you're talking to a bookseller, it could be that, or the paperback edition of the GN....


§ ita § - Jul 12, 2004 7:50:45 am PDT #4722 of 10000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

I can't find consensus. The terms are used so erratically on the web. And everything sounds so plausible.

Watchmen was notable as being the first collected series graphic novel, spinning out of a new comics vehicle called the limited series, which were designed to only last a finite number of issues. This limited series concept would prove to be a major factor in today's collected series graphic novels.

See? Why not. I'm down with that, as well as with the usage in the NYT article.


Tom Scola - Jul 12, 2004 7:52:52 am PDT #4723 of 10000
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.

I interpret "trade paperback" as a term used by the industry to describe the format of the product, while "graphic novel" is a vague to meaningless term used to market the product to the masses.


Gris - Jul 12, 2004 10:10:49 am PDT #4724 of 10000
Hey. New board.

amych: bittorrent is great for picking up big runs of books (like: Every Ultimate X-Men Ever! style) but seems to be very sporadic with releases of individual books. As I'm not currently in reach of a comic book store (god, this town sucks), I need my individual fixes until i can pick them up in real form...


amych - Jul 12, 2004 10:13:43 am PDT #4725 of 10000
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

"graphic novel" is a vague to meaningless term used to market the product to the masses.

For "masses", substitute "people who like to say they don't read comics".


Nutty - Jul 12, 2004 10:32:22 am PDT #4726 of 10000
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."

graphic novel

The joke is how many years librarians have been fighting over what to call visual print works of non-fiction. That goes double when it's a not-funny visual print work of non-fiction, like Maus, because then 'comic book' is also ruled out.

The other joke is how many people look at the term 'graphic novel' and think it means, by definition, some kind of hard core sex or violence.

I think the word 'graphic' needs a take-back-the-night rally.


§ ita § - Jul 12, 2004 10:34:13 am PDT #4727 of 10000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

I think 'graphic' needs to take back the day. It seems very at home in the night.


DavidS - Jul 12, 2004 11:08:23 am PDT #4728 of 10000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

As noted, "graphic novel" was part of a marketing ploy on the part of the comics industry to get bookstores to carry their products. It was tied with the pushing of comics-are-art agenda and the early examples published as whole works, rather than series collections. (Things like, Will Eisner's Contract With God - which is where I first saw the phrase "graphic novel.") Anyway, Sandman kind of blew that distinction out of the water since they've been successfully marketed in bookstores for yonks now, have the imprimatur of ART and are collected trades.


Glamcookie - Jul 12, 2004 11:13:34 am PDT #4729 of 10000
I know my own heart and understand my fellow man. But I am made unlike anyone I have ever met. I dare to say I am like no one in the whole world. - Anne Lister

After that was a storyline about Christian's history which isn't essential to the current plot.

Are you mad, man? Since when is graphic monkey love not essential to the plot??

(You know I'm just playing. That issue sucked. I loved the China stuff, though.)


Kalshane - Jul 12, 2004 1:56:58 pm PDT #4730 of 10000
GS: If you had to choose between kicking evil in the head or the behind, which would you choose, and why? Minsc: I'm not sure I understand the question. I have two feet, do I not? You do not take a small plate when the feast of evil welcomes seconds.

Spider-Man the Musical?