Graphic Novels

Graphic Novels

    In Bird Library, I read a few pages of a graphic novel titled, "The Cambridge Companion to the Graphic Novel", by Stephen E. Tabachnick. It was interesting for me because I remember graphic novels from when I was little with more images and drawings than words, but this one contained only a few images, despite its misleading title. The images in the novel were interesting, and as you can see, quite different, There were obviously different tools used to create each one, and they were also done by different artists. I'm assuming that the images were drawn using technology, possibly on an iPad with a stylus or something similar, which shows how technology was employed to create the visuals. Also, the novel was typed, which means that technology was used to write and construct the novel. At first, I was confused by the prompt to think about the graphic novel as a form of technology, but after conscious deliberation, I have concluded that because the technology was used for a larger portion of the creation of the book, we can consider it a form of technology. Though the novel that I picked up is a printed copy of the book, it originated as a digital novel and can still be accessed at any location as a digital novel. This challenged me to consider whether any print, image, or text is a form of technology if it was produced and can be accessed digitally. I am still perplexed by this idea, but until I come up with a conclusive answer, I can conclude that I enjoyed reading the graphic novel and found it nostalgic to my childhood when I highly enjoyed books that included helpful imagery. 

Tabachnick, Stephen E. The Cambridge Companion to the Graphic Novel. Cambridge University Press, 2017.