The English Teacher Reflects: Graphic Fiction

Our maverick English Teacher and genre enthusiast looks at the burgeoning world of graphic fiction. No longer denigrated as merely "comic books", the graphic novel and the long form illustrated story have gained literary and academic respectability and more. Here, our compiler lists 43 examples of the melding of art and narrative. Some are justly famous; others are less well-known. All are well worth the time spent reading them.Note: with one exception, our compiler has excluded manga because he doesn't know enough about it. The exception, "Ghost in the Shell", is here because he read it on a recommendation from a student, and found it fascinating.