A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term graphic novel is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics scholars and industry professionals. It is, at least in the United States, typically distinct from the term comic book, which is generally used for comics periodicals and trade paperbacks.
Gilberto Hernández, usually credited as Gilbert Hernandez and also by the nickname Beto, is an American cartoonist. He is best known for his Palomar/Heartbreak Soup stories in Love and Rockets, an alternative comic book he shared with his brothers Jaime and Mario.
Eightball is a comic book by Daniel Clowes and published by Fantagraphics Books. It ran from 1989 to 2004. The first issue appeared soon after the end of Clowes's previous comic book, Lloyd Llewellyn. Eightball has been among the best-selling series in alternative comics.
Fantagraphics is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint.
James William Woodring is an American cartoonist, fine artist, writer and toy designer. He is best known for the dream-based comics he published in his magazine Jim, and as the creator of the anthropomorphic cartoon character Frank, who has appeared in a number of short comics and graphic novels.
Alternative comics or independent comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream superhero comics which in the past have dominated the American comic book industry. Alternative comic books span a wide range of genres, artistic styles, and subjects.
Daniel Gillespie Clowes is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter. Most of Clowes's work first appeared in Eightball, a solo anthology comic book series. An Eightball issue typically contained several short pieces and a chapter of a longer narrative that was later collected and published as a graphic novel, such as Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron (1993), Ghost World (1997), David Boring (2000) and Patience (2016). Clowes's illustrations have appeared in The New Yorker, Newsweek, Vogue, The Village Voice, and elsewhere. With filmmaker Terry Zwigoff, Clowes adapted Ghost World into a 2001 film and another Eightball story into the 2006 film, Art School Confidential. Clowes's comics, graphic novels, and films have received numerous awards, including a Pen Award for Outstanding Work in Graphic Literature, over a dozen Harvey and Eisner Awards, and an Academy Award nomination.
Barry Windsor-Smith is a British comic book illustrator and painter whose best-known work has been produced in the United States. He attained note working on Marvel Comics' Conan the Barbarian from 1970 to 1973, and for his work on the character Wolverine, particularly the 1991 "Weapon X" story arc. His other noted Marvel work included a 1984 "Thing" story in Marvel Fanfare, the "Lifedeath" and "Lifedeath II" stories with writer Chris Claremont that focused on the de-powered Storm in The Uncanny X-Men, as well as the 1984 Machine Man limited series with Herb Trimpe and Tom DeFalco.
The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a year in 2001 due to the show's cancellation after the September 11 attacks. As of 2014 SPX has been held in either Bethesda, North Bethesda, or Silver Spring, Maryland.
Peter Kuper is an American alternative comics artist and illustrator, best known for his autobiographical, political, and social observations.
Ghost World is a graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. It was serialized in issues #11–18 of Clowes's comic book series Eightball, and was published in book form in 1997 by Fantagraphics Books. It was a commercial and critical success and developed into a cult classic.
Ed the Happy Clown is a graphic novel by Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown. Its title character is a large-headed, childlike children's clown who undergoes one horrifying affliction after another. The story is a dark, humorous mix of genres and features scatological humour, sex, body horror, extreme graphic violence, and blasphemous religious imagery. Central to the plot are a man who cannot stop defecating; the head of a miniature, other-dimensional Ronald Reagan attached to the head of Ed's penis; and a female vampire who seeks revenge on her adulterous lover who had murdered her to escape his sins.
The Duplex Planet is a zine edited and published by David Greenberger since 1979. It contains transcriptions of his interviews with elderly residents of senior centers and "meal sites" in the Massachusetts area. For many years, the zine focused on the residents of the Duplex Nursing Home, located in Boston.
David Heatley is an American cartoonist, illustrator, graphic designer, and musician.
Gabrielle Bell is a British-American alternative cartoonist known for her surrealist, melancholy semi-autobiographical stories.
Buenaventura Press was a publisher and distributor for comics, prints, anthologies and graphic novels based in Oakland, California, run by Alvin Buenaventura.
Ghost World is a 2001 black comedy film co-written and directed by Terry Zwigoff. Based on the 1990s comic book Ghost World by Daniel Clowes, the story focuses on the lives of teenage outsiders Enid and Rebecca, who face a rift in their friendship as Enid takes an interest in an older man named Seymour, and becomes determined to help his romantic life.
Wilson is a satirical graphic novel by American cartoonist Daniel Clowes, published in 2010 by Drawn & Quarterly. Starring the misanthropic Wilson, the book is structured as 70 one-page gag strips, with days or even years passing between the strips. Clowes says, "The story is really what you interpret happens in between each strip." The middle-aged, divorced Wilson, who lives in Oakland, California, finds himself lonely, smug, and obsessed with his past. He is condescending and supercilious, and insists on communicating his alienating dissatisfactions with all those he meets, even with strangers, and most often unsolicited.
Pussey! is a comics serial and graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. It was originally serialized across nine non-consecutive issues of Clowes's alternative comic book Eightball, and was later collected by Fantagraphics Books.
Tim Hensley is an American alternative cartoonist. Hensley's most notable works are Wally Gropius published by Fantagraphics Books in 2010 and Sir Alfred No. 3 published by Pigeon Press in 2016. Hensley has been published in numerous anthologies, such as Smoke Signal, Dirty Stories, The Believer, Comic Art, Duplex Planet Illustrated, and special editions of The Comics Journal.
