Review - Graphic Novels: Everything You Need To Know

Graphic Novels: Everything You Need To Know by Paul Gravett is a first class graphic novel primer for people of all ages and interests who just don't know where to start!  Though the author encourages you to skip around and find what interests you, I read the book straight through and had a hard time putting it down!  I'll go ahead and say that I would highly recommend this book to anyone, old fan or beginner, who wants to learn more about great graphic novels.  Click on to read more!

GN: EYNTK is designed for the beginning reader.  Gravett starts by addressing some of the problems and misconceptions people have with graphic novels, and goes on to create a genre-by-genre snapshot of high quality works in the graphic medium.  Sections covering topics such as war, romance, science fiction, travel/adventure, mystery, and horror begin with a short history and examination of the genre and then continue on with examples from highly esteemed works.  A section will take an in depth look at a work (such as Maus by Art Spiegelman for the War section) which explains the premise of the story and shows examples from the panels and art.  This examination looks at the writing style, content, intent, and how the writer or artist (or both) uses panels, pacing, and art to form the finished prouct.  This takes up about two pages (the book itself is oversized).  Following that, the next two pages explores four more works that relate to the subject or make a simple connection from the first work.  Each one of these gives one example of the panels from that work, and a short paragraph about the premise and style.  All in all, per genre, I would say there are three big examples, and 12 small ones, which gives an insane amount of variety for the new reader to choose from and the correct information to do so.

This book examined some of my all time favorites, and did a good job of it.  Although space constraints kept the author from going into too much detail on any one book, the descriptions paired with the art gave a good idea of what a reader could expect.  The book led me to choose and read Barefoot Gen, and Gravett's examination did not lead me wrong.  It was easy for me to pick a book I felt I would enjoy (and did) using this book as a tool. 

I had very few small problems with the book, but they were a bit annoying.  The book is oversized to allow for a clear view of the panels and pages it describes.  Unfortunately, it is also paperback instead of of hard, which made holding and reading it a pain.  It would flop around quite a bit (I read it in bed) and at times I was afraid that the spine would break.  Also, for the big examinations, the panels were printed large enough to read the content and thus follow the analysis fairly well.  The same could not be said about most of the smaller examples.  With two to a page, the panels were too small to make out, and the analysis was harder to follow.  I feel like Gravett desperately wanted to include these pages, and did so against the grain of better design.  In some cases, the art was so that at this size, it was nigh incomprehensible.  But, I generally got the gist and still loved the book anyhow. 

I give this book an A- for painting a vivid and thorough description of high end graphic novels in a slightly less-than-convenient format.