Graphic novels have come a long way since Marvel Comics and the Sunday funnies. More than , making it among the most best-selling genres, according to Publisher鈥檚 Weekly.
One common trait in the genre's success is one word: connection.
鈥淐omics and graphic novels are a really unique medium where you're taking a narrative and you're putting it with art,鈥� said Stephanie Smith, the teen librarian at the Avon Free Public Library. 鈥淵ou have this emotional connection and impact that you may not get with a traditional novel. You're literally seeing the emotion depicted in front of you.鈥�
Smith spoke on 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 鈥淲here We Live鈥� about the positive impact that graphic stories can have on children 鈥� and adults, too.
Subcategories within the genre explore a variety of topics. Graphic medicine, for example, uses comics for patient care, education and social critique of the medical industry. KC Councilor, a professor at Southern 黑料吃瓜网 State University who鈥檚 a transgender man, used this medium to express a conflict he faced while being treated by a doctor.
鈥淚nstead of keeping it as a private shame, I could write it. I could draw that as a comic, and really tell the story, get it outside of myself,鈥� Councilor said. 鈥淚've then shared with the practice where the thing happened so that they know not to treat people in that way in the future.鈥�
By recreating the situation visually, it allowed Councilor to process and reflect. In doing so, other members of the same community reached out to him with similar experiences.
鈥淚 think that's a big part of it, that you realize other people are having the same experience, and I think that was why I started writing these books in the first place,鈥� said Maria Scrivan, an author and cartoonist from Greenwich.
Scrivan is the creator of the , a collection of children's graphic novels that depict the ups and downs of a middle school girl named Natalie.
She pulls from her own life experiences. The first book 鈥� about losing your best friend to someone else 鈥� was a situation that Scrivan faced in her childhood.
鈥淚 ended up healing wounds I didn't even know I had,鈥� she said. 鈥淣at 鈥� took on a life of her own and ended up becoming one of my greatest teachers.鈥�
Scrivan also uses humor to offset otherwise heavy moments and scenes in her novels.
In a graphic novel, comedy, along with narration and the use of speech balloons, can help convey complex information in a visual panel. However, this doesn't detract from the message.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a simplified version,鈥� Councilor said. 鈥淚t's often equally 鈥� if not more 鈥� complex to be able to convey information in that way because you can truly do so much with the technology of comics.鈥�
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黑料吃瓜网's Catherine Shen and Tess Terrible contributed to this report.
