I read this quick little introduction to the history of graphic novels on Thursday, and I gotta say it was quite good. Naturally, I’m not too versed in the history of these things myself, but the book didn’t seem to disagree with what little I knew from earlier.

First there was a couple of chapters dealing with the history of comics, more generally speaking, decade by decade. Which was interesting; Stephen Weiner managed to contextualise and draw the lines between periodic trends and developments, and he looked broadly at comics while at the same time not just beingsuperficial. Which is something of an achievement, considering that the whole book was only sixty pages long or so.

Second, he dealt more specifically with the genres that evolved in the 60s and 70s, and that would soon become or influence graphic novels. He also had a look at the institutional structures surrounding the genre in the 70s — with the origin of comic book stores, the publishing conditions, and the Comics Code, amongst other things — and he was more thorough then I had expected here, too.

Finally, he spent a few chapters looking at individual works within the genre, some developmentsin later years, as well as graphic novels’ place in the mainstream and at the genre’s future. Very interesting that, too.

I consider this an excellent buy– even though it might eventually cause the 60 NOK I spent on it to multiply hundred-fold, with all the awesome comics I now just gotta read…