Reframing the Graphic Novel: Long-Form Adult Comic Narratives in North America and the UK c.1973-82

Lead Research Organisation: UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: English

Abstract

While the graphic novel has become an important area of contemporary academic research, scholars have paid little attention to the 1970s and early 1980s, a seminal period in its development. Using unexplored archives in Britain and North America, and culminating in a three-month exhibition at London's Cartoon Museum in 2016, 'Reframing the Graphic Novel' will reconstruct the creative practices and business decisions that saw comics being published in book form for adult readers. A handful of texts frequently recur in histories of comics, notably Will Eisner's A Contract with God (1978), but new graphic novels were created every year from the early 1970s to the early 1980s. This project will uncover those forgotten works and outline the institutional contexts that produced them, from the superhero-dominated comic book industry, to the book trade, to the underground comix scene associated with the 1960s counterculture. The story told in 'Reframing the Graphic Novel' proves that no single country had a monopoly on the graphic novel's development; creators in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States were working concurrently on the form, and all were influenced by the 48-page albums published by the French comics industry.

The material format of these comics-published-as-books was crucial to the literary status that their creators sought to attain, as was the rhetorical invocation of the 'graphic novel' (or 'graphic album' or 'visual novel', as they were sometimes called). 'Reframing the Graphic Novel' will demonstrate that the characteristics ascribed to graphic novels (being published as a book, having pretensions to literariness, having long narratives, and challenging adult readers with formal experimentation and controversial content) could be found in a variety of comics printed during the 1970s and early 1980s. By displaying seminal texts from this era at the Cartoon Museum, members of the public can see how the material form of early graphic novels was a bid to sell comics as long-lasting art objects deserving to be shelved next to literary classics. The exhibition attached to this project is not only about 1970s texts, and it will feature original art from the nineteenth century to the present in order to tell the story of Britain's history of graphic novels - something no exhibition has attempted before.

In the mid-1980s the media commotion surrounding the so-called 'Big Three' (volume one of Art Spiegelman's Maus [1986], Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns [1986], and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's Watchmen [1987]) turned graphic novels into objects of public discussion. The publication of MetaMaus in 2011 and films such as Watchmen (2009) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012) have kept these major mid-1980s texts in the consciousness of the reading and viewing public. But there is a world of graphic novels preceding the 'Big Three', and this project will bring that world to light, showing the artistic ambitions of the 1970s graphic novelists and the currents of the comic industry that they had to negotiate in order to create their innovative, complex, book-length comics.

Planned Impact

Who will benefit from this project?

1. Graphic novel readers.
2. Members of the general public who are unfamiliar with the graphic novel.
3. The Cartoon Museum in London.
4. The National Art Library (NAL) at the V&A and British Library (BL).

How will they benefit?
The list below relates to the groups above.

1. This project will transform the knowledge of existing graphic novel readers, increasing their understanding of the form's history and informing them about key texts produced in the 1970s and early 1980s. It will augment their appreciation of graphic novels by displaying first editions and original art by popular British creators who began working in the 1970s. This will take place in an exhibition at the Cartoon Museum (provisionally entitled 'The British Graphic Novel').
2. For members of the general public, this project will enhance their knowledge of the graphic novel's artistic ambitions and long history.
3. The Cartoon Museum, a registered charity, will benefit from the additional income generated by visitors who come to see the exhibition. There will be related commercial gains, notably voluntary contributions and indirect financial benefits accrued through additional users of the gift shop.
4. Many graphic novels at these archives do not show up when searching their online catalogues. As a result, key texts are currently invisible to academics and the wider community. This project will draw attention to Britain's significant archives of comics, inspiring future scholars to consult the NAL's and BL's holdings.

What will be done to ensure that they benefit?
The list below relates to the groups above.

1. The exhibition will transform existing readers' understanding of graphic novel history by displaying texts they have never heard about before. Using the Cartoon Museum's archive and contacts, original art and scripts will be on show in the exhibition. Fans would make a concerted effort to seek out 'The British Graphic Novel', in order to increase their knowledge of comics history. Nonetheless, for this to happen they need to know that the exhibition is taking place. To that end, I will use social media (a blog, Facebook page and Twitter feed) to publicise the exhibition before and during its lifetime. I will use those online spaces to engage in dialogue with comic readers about which texts and what other materials would be of interest to this cohort of potential visitors. In other words, graphic novel readers will be consulted on the nature of the exhibition from the outset, and having this dialogue will ensure the exhibition is successful in developing visitors' knowledge of the graphic novel's history.
2. The Cartoon Museum has a record of hosting successful exhibitions reaching beyond existing fans of comics. This project will use the expertise of the Museum, the project consultant and the PI's mentor to publicise the exhibition to the wider public: Dr Sabin has experience of working with the media, and as with past exhibitions at the Cartoon Museum there are children's trails, educational workshops and a symposium built into this proposal.
3. I will liaise closely with the Cartoon Museum to ensure that copies of exhibited graphic novels are stocked in the gift shop, catering to visitors who are inspired by the displays and wish to read further.
4. The publications, social media and exhibition emerging out of this project will raise awareness of the extent and quality of the BL's and NAL's unique, internationally leading comics collections. This impact effect will be amplified by media coverage of 'The British Graphic Novel.' Although the focus is on British texts, the exhibition relates the UK's history of graphic novels to the format's broader history, and visitors will undoubtedly be interested in Rodolphe Töpffer's early-nineteenth-century books of comics (the V&A has expressed their willingness to lend items, and they possess a copy of Töpffer's Histoire de Mr Jabot from 1833)
 
Title The Great British Graphic Novel exhibition 'underground map' 
Description The product is a conceptual visualisation of how the different sections of the exhibition relate to each other. It is modelled on the classic London underground map and takes individual texts as stations and key themes as lines (those themes are the ones that the actual space of the exhibition was divided into). The PI devised the original concept and mapped out the relationship between the texts and themes; this was given to the British graphic novelist Hunt Emerson, who added vignettes from most of the graphic novels featured in the exhibition. 
Type Of Art Image 
Year Produced 2016 
Impact The image was prominently featured in the exhibition for The Great British Graphic Novel: the exhibition brochure folded out into a poster of the map and, as visitors walked in to the main gallery, the first thing they saw was a giant version of the map on the wall. The original art has been donated to the Cartoon Museum for their permanent collection. This image was republished in Stripgids #11 (June 2022), a Flemish-language comics journal, as an illustration accompanying the article "Reis Door Het Verenigd Koninkrijk" by Paul Gravett. 
URL https://assets.londonist.com/uploads/2016/04/i875/graphic_novel_tube_map.jpg
 
Description As a result of this research I have been able to reconstruct the political economy of graphic novel publication in the long 1970s and I have produced an extensive reception history for graphic novels in this period. This research has the potential to transform existing understandings of graphic novel history and is appearing in world-leading journals such as Studies in the Novel, Textual Practice, and the Journal of American Studies. Further, I wrote the chapter on 1970s graphic novels that appeared in The Cambridge History of the Graphic Novel (2018) and my monograph based on this project was published by Rutgers UP under the title Dreaming the Graphic Novel: The Novelization of Comics (2020).

I have strengthened my knowledge of UK graphic novels from the long 1970s, especially in terms of underground graphic novels. I have discovered various little known texts and in some cases was able to interview the people who created them. I have shared these findings on my blog and in the exhibition The Great British Graphic Novel. Through these activities, my research is spearheading more detailed investigations into British graphic novel production. Very few scholars have been asking how British graphic novels are funded, published, sold, and read, and by posing those questions I am invoking future research both by myself and other academics.

One of the project's objectives was to raise awareness of the rich archival resources held at institutions like the British Library, the Penguin Group Archive (Bristol), and the National Art Library at the V&A. Since visiting them I have maintained my links to these institutions, occasionally being consulted on their own exhibitions, and I have used my blog to encourage scholars to visit their holdings.

The research trips funded by the grant allowed me to forge important connections with scholars and cultural industry workers around the world. My discussions with those people have (a) informed my research, (b) provided access to archives (public and private), and (c) helped me conceptualise The Great British Graphic Novel exhibition by enabling me to think about British graphic novels as seen from outside the UK.

I have been exploring funding opportunities for future collaborative projects and in 2018 I applied for a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship that would have led to a exhibition at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (Exeter) in 2020. This bid was unsuccessful but, in conjunction with the RAMM, another funding bid (to the AHRC) is in preparation.
Exploitation Route My research into the novelization of comics in the long 1970s provides other scholars with a map of all the long comics narratives from the period, and with that corpus identified, further research into those texts (e.g. their relationship to historical contexts, their formal properties, the politics of representation) can be conducted.

The Great British Graphic Novel was highly successful in disseminating information about the variety and long historical reach of the UK's graphic novel tradition. It brought together scholars, creators, and curators, not just conceptually but at physical events such as the Private View and the academic workshop. This in turn led to further public events and has facilitated loans of art for future exhibitions. Many of the creators whose work was on display in The Great British Graphic Novel were intrigued to see where their art was hung - and thus what meanings were generated by unexpected (re-)contextualization - and it is possible that these creators will reflect on the connections between their own work and other texts from the past and present, inspiring new graphic novels. The school workshops and professionalizing events attached to the exhibition will potentially shape the UK graphic novelists of the future and at least one visitor to the exhibition was inspired to start drawing their own comics. The impact mandate of the project, to inform the public about the history of comics and inspire young people to pick up a pencil themselves, was extended by the school visits I conducted in June 2017, and through my current relationship with Exeter RAMM those outcomes will be extended to new audiences in the Westcountry.
Sectors Creative Economy,Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Retail
URL http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/1970sgraphicnovels/
 
Description Two related impact activities were attached to this grant: social media activities (primarily a blog) and an exhibition at the Cartoon Museum in London. (1) Blog Between August 2014 and May 2016 I wrote a new post, approximately every month, for my The 1970s Graphic Novel Blog. Up to the end of 2015 most of these posts focused on a single text and shared some of the findings uncovered as a result of my archival research and interviews with creators. Since January 2016 my posts were directed towards promoting the exhibition and responding to news reports; after the end of the project, I have blogged less regularly, but still responding to contemporary events from time to time. Readers have emailed me or posted online comments that their knowledge of graphic novel history has been replenished and sustained by my research. The lyricism of one response suggests how warmly my research has been received and the beneficial effect it has had: "Like a crepuscular ray arcing heavenward from over the horizon or a cultural comet, the plaintive, soulful ennui and torpor reaches out from North America to Australia; from 1974 to 2016; from his mind to mine. Thanks." (Online comment, 1 Jan. 2016) This blog has also promoted the rich archival resources at the Penguin Group Archive, the V and A and the British Library and encouraged comics scholars to use their holdings. To give a measure of the data collected for my blog: it has had over 7,000 visits by over 6,200 users and has been viewed in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and in the US, Canada, Singapore, and Australia. (2) The exhibition The Great British Graphic Novel held at the Cartoon Museum (20 April - 24 July 2016) Starting with the raw figures, the exhibition was a great success: • It was visited by 9,967 people (an average of 712 people per week) • In addition, over 100 people attended the Private View on 19 April, 395 visitors came to 8 evening events, and 141 attendees came to 11 day events • A total of 10,603 people saw The Great British Graphic Novel, making it the Cartoon Museum's eighth-best-attended exhibition • 32 educational workshops attached to the exhibition took place, with 689 students attending from 22 schools. Two-thirds of those schools had not attended any of the Cartoon Museum's previous educational workshops. Children's trails were published for the exhibition and 2,270 of these were used The exhibition was reported in print and broadcast media as follows: • The PI was interviewed on the day before the opening by a television crew from the UAE • A brief mention in the Mail on Sunday (10 April 2016) • Part of a six-page feature in London-based lifestyle magazine Jocks & Nerds (Spring 2016) • A highly favourable one-page review in The Spectator (23 April 2016) that engaged with the themes and history presented by the exhibition. As well as the blog officially attached to the project, the PI wrote guest blogs for the following websites: • Geek Syndicate (http://bit.ly/2kOyGqE) • The University of Exeter's College of Humanities Blog (http://bit.ly/2lk0dNt) • The AHRC (http://bit.ly/2kij6Av) There were various online reviews, including: • James Bacon's review on Forbidden Planet International (http://bit.ly/2lgiwr6) • Rich Johnston's review on Bleeding Cool (http://bit.ly/2kOMAZA) • Tabish Kahn's review on The Londonist (http://bit.ly/2kihjLL) • Eamonn1961's review on 2000AD (http://bit.ly/2kOFEMc) • Three reviews on Tripadvisor (2 x 5-star reviews, 1 x 3-star). While Bacon's, Johnston's, and Eamonn1961's reviews were all addressed to comics fans (and Bacon's very enthusiastic review was retweeted extensively) it is significant that Khan's glowing review appeared on a London-centred lifestyle blog and was likely to reach a different audience. The exhibition's specific hashtag, #GBGNovel received 208 tweets over the course of the exhibition, including recommendations such as "a bold and ground breaking major exhibition charting the evolution of graphic novels" from @mrbtyke (6 May 2016). The search term "Great British Graphic Novel" also yielded an array of positive tweets such as "'The Great British Graphic Novel' exhibition was brilliant" from @bazza7485 (24 July 2016) and "V. much loved the Great British Graphic Novel exhibition @cartoonmuseumuk an oasis of calm full of fantastic comic art" from @AGreatEscapist (13 May 2016). The Cartoon Museum recorded a very significant increase in their social media reach over the course of the exhibition. They achieved 299,500 impressions on Twitter, in comparison to 152,700 for the same period the previous year. They also more than doubled their engagement rate to 3% over this period and gained 744 new followers compared to 402 for this period in 2015. On Facebook, the museum averaged a daily reach of 983 people, which was double the previous year's reach, and they received 291 new page likes. The Cartoon Museum's website received 45,380 sessions or hits, up from 28,951 in 2015 with 12% clicking through to The Great British Graphic Novel exhibition page specifically, more than doubling the previous year's conversion rate of 5%. As such The Great British Graphic Novel had a substantial, positive effect on the Cartoon Museum's online presence and impact. Those positive tweets reflect the overwhelmingly positive and informative responses that visitors gave when they finished looking round the exhibition. 277 people completed a brief questionnaire at the Cartoon Museum reflecting on their visit, with 59% reporting that they had learned a lot from the exhibition and 40% saying they learned a little from the exhibition. An awareness of new or unfamiliar books was the most reported learning outcome (68%) and more knowledge of the history of graphic novels was cited as the second most prevalent outcome (64%). Responses included an appreciation of "historical context," "seeing how great graphic novels are fuelled by overflowing knowledge," "the cross referencing 'tween [sic] graphic novels and other sources," "what inspired the artist/subtext," and noticing "cultural difference." The exhibition's relevance as a snapshot of the graphic novel in Britain was commented upon with reference to the artists involved (e.g. the "role of women in graphic novels"), the national aspect of the collection (e.g. "lovely to see British comics! Very eye-opening"), and different genres ("learning about nonfiction graphic novels"). There were regular comments about the difference made in seeing graphic novel art at an earlier stage of preparation (one example amongst many: "original art always gives a new perspective. Brush strokes, white out, different materials"). The ability to scrutinise the original artwork closely was an important aspect of the exhibition for these visitors. The exhibition encouraged a number of visitors to read more graphic novels, and one respondent wrote "I'll be going away and finding copies of these works after today." Finally, someone was inspired to create comic work after attending the exhibition, saying they "made a cartoon by myself- my first." A few respondents took the opportunity to provide sketches on the feedback forms. In June 2017 I carried out further impact activities in Devon and London schools, extending the project's public engagement by using graphic novels as a way to get pupils to discuss local history and social issues such as bullying. It was also an opportunity to talk to young people who saw The Great British Graphic Novel and see what they had learnt about the history of comics. After the exhibition closed, we contacted visitors who had left their email addresses with an additional survey, asking them to reflect further on the exhibition. Demographically, these respondents broke down as follows: • 8% were 35-44; 62% were 45-54; 23% were 55-65; 8% were 65+. • 31% of respondents were female and 69% male. Several respondents explained how much they had enjoyed learning about the history of the graphic novel. This was something which they had not previously appreciated (e.g. "I previously thought of graphic novels as being very much mid-20th century til now; my understanding has been significantly broadened"), and this was something they wanted to learn more about. Many of the respondents avowed to return to old favourites and seek out new comics as a result of attending the exhibition. These responses suggest that the exhibition achieved its aim of promoting and celebrating the graphic novel form as well as educating the public about its history. The exhibition has had several important legacies for the Cartoon Museum. In terms of influencing their curatorial practice, the museum did the following for the first time: • Provided visitors with an app to enhance the exhibition experience. Working with the company Smartify, this app provided additional information about pieces of art on display, including extra content written by the project PI giving further details about the contexts of production and reception. • Provided QR codes next to key works in the show so that smartphone users could scan these codes and be taken to relevant online material (e.g. recorded interviews with creators, historical context). These QR codes were organised by Dr Mónica Walker, an intern at the Cartoon Museum. • Ran Spotlight talks highlighting different pieces of art in the exhibition. These were primarily delivered by Dr Walker and included work from the graphic novels V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Luther Arkwright, and The Tale of One Bad Rat. • Hosted live page-turnings of Woodrow Phoenix's She Lives! This is a giant, hand-bound graphic novel of which there is only one copy in the world, the artist's original. There were five of these page-turnings, and in each case Phoenix turned the pages and narrated the action before fielding questions afterwards. The exhibition also had a significant impact on the Cartoon Museum's holdings of artwork. Various pieces of art from the exhibition have become part of the permanent collection, either as a result of the Cartoon Museum agreeing purchase terms with the artists or the artists donating those pages for free. At present 6 pages from 5 graphic novels have been added to the permanent collection as a direct outcome of the exhibition. These negotiations reflect how the exhibition strengthened the museum's existing relations with comics creators and added new ones. This was in evidence at the Private View: the museum had never had so many comics artists at a launch before and many of them had never worked with the museum previously. Featured creators such as Gary Spencer Millidge, Warren Pleece, and Mary Talbot all took to social media to praise the exhibition; Ian Williams tweeted that he was "proud to be a part of The Great British Graphic Novel"; an anonymous respondent to an artist questionnaire said that they "very much appreciate being part of the exhibition." The museum's new and renewed relations with these and other stakeholders has already had beneficial effect for future shows: collectors and artists who loaned work for the first time for The Great British Graphic Novel agreed to do so again for the Museum's exhibitions in 2017, namely an exhibition on the British comic 2000AD and a showcase of female creators entitled The Inking Woman. In relation to the latter, The Great British Graphic Novel provided a platform for female artists through various Laydeez Do Comics (a female graphic novel forum) events, including a publishers' roundtable, an artists' roundtable, and two other evening talks. Further, the relationships built up by the exhibition were not restricted to British creators. The PI ran a one-day workshop in May 2016 that brought academics and creators together, and as a result of this, the Cartoon Museum's Director met the Indian graphic novelist Shweta Taneja and invited her to give a talk at the museum a few weeks later. Finally, there was a measurable financial benefit to the exhibition. Since the Cartoon Museum moved to its current location in Little Russell Street it has staged 44 shows, and The Great British Graphic Novel generated the fourth-largest income out of those exhibitions. Additionally, sales of books featured in the exhibition massively increased in the museum gift shop. During the lifetime of The Great British Graphic Novel these titles accounted for sales of 377 units for a total of £5,364.46. During the same period in 2015 only 18 of these titles were sold for £234.30, an increase of £5130.06. This is partially explained by an increase in new books stocked by the museum shop in line with those featured in the exhibition, as organised in advance and projected in the original funding bid. In conclusion, The Great British Graphic Novel achieved a substantial, measurable legacy in terms of disseminating the PI's research on the history of the graphic novel and enhancing the curatorial practice, social capital, and visitor numbers of the Cartoon Museum.
First Year Of Impact 2014
Sector Creative Economy,Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Retail
Impact Types Cultural,Societal,Economic
 
Description The Great British Graphic Novel (exhibition) 
Organisation Cartoon Museum
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution In organising the exhibition The Great British Graphic Novel (April-July 2016) at the Cartoon Museum in London I contributed the following: * Offered expertise on the selection and organisation of original art, informed by my scholarship and discussions with industry stakeholders * Contacted artists with inquiries about borrowing material * Suggested designs for posters / leaflets * Used the University of Exeter press office to publicise the exhibition * Conducted interviews with the media * Raised awareness of the exhibition on my blog and through personal contacts
Collaborator Contribution * Provided expertise in exhibition organisation * Contacted artists with inquiries about borrowing material * Contacted publishers to set up publicity events during the life of the exhibition * Promoted the exhibition on their website and related social media * Liaised with the media * Bought original art to be displayed in the exhibition * Provided space for the exhibition and related events (including the academic workshop) * Provided staff time
Impact This is an ongoing collaboration with many activities falling under the umbrella of the exhibition.
Start Year 2014
 
Description Using graphic novels as educational resources in schools (Yrs 6, 7, and 12) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact In June 2017 I conducted follow-up sessions at two of the schools that visited The Great British Graphic Novel (and at one other school). These sessions were with pupils ranging in age from Year 6 to Year 12 and encouraged the students to think about the specific forms of storytelling possible in graphic novels, their particular combinations of words and images and their use of other comics conventions. At the request of the teachers I used this approach to cover non-literary aspects of the curriculum, primarily the History and Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education programmes of study.

• Year 6, Mayfield Primary School, Ealing
This session used extracts from the young adult graphic novel The Case of the Team Spirit and went through a series of exercises (guessing what happens next, filling in blank panels / speech balloons) designed to get the pupils to reflect on the themes of starting a new school, managing relationships, bullying, and dealing with dares. This was in response to the teacher's request for a session that would address the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education Programme of Study in the National Curriculum.

• Year 6, St. Barnabas Primary School, Westminster
This session used extracts from three graphic novels (Just So Happens, From Hell, and Sally Heathcote, Suffragette) and encouraged the pupils to discuss their usefulness as historical sources. The session was devised to meet Key Stages 1 ("significant historical events, people and places in their own locality") and 2 ("local history study" and "a significant turning point in British history") of the History Programme of Study, and all three extracts contained recognisable locations in London.

• Year 7, Torquay Boys Grammar School, Torquay
This session used extracts from the young adult graphic novel The Case of the Team Spirit to ask the pupils to reflect on the differences between reading a graphic novel and reading a book without pictures.

• Year 12, Torquay Boys Grammar School, Torquay
This educational enrichment activity had the aim of (a) familiarising students with what an undergraduate at seminar would be like and (b) inspiring the students and raising their aspirations, whether that meant further study at university or elsewhere. It used extracts from the graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth.

Following my visit to St. Barnabas three of the pupils there gave a presentation in assembly about history in comics, using the pages in From Hell we had read in my session. Their teacher also reported that some of the pupils were trying to read the rest of Sally Heathcote, Suffragette.

Questionnaires were completed by the classes before and after the teaching session to gauge the desirability and effectiveness of teaching with comics. When asked after the session whether they would like more classes with comics, 59% responded "Yes, definitely" compared to 11% who responded "Not really." 29% of respondents stated they would definitely or probably read more comics by the specific artists we looked at and 43% responded they probably would read more comics after the session.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016,2017