"Everything you need to know" about the graphic novel genre, generously ilustrated by panels of selected titles dissected and analyzed for the art and text content. Each chapter focuses on a theme presented in graphic novels such as childhood, horror, love and war. A resource list in the back lists relevant websites, readings and festivals.

If you're looking for an introduction to the history, depth and breadth of graphic novels, this is a good starting point. In a dozen short chapters that include many illustrations from the stories discussed, Paul Gravett does not presume that his audience knows his subject. Chapter 1, entitled "Things to Hate about Comics" discusses the difficulties and misconceptions surrounding the term "graphic novel" and attempts to dispel the worries of those who have yet to try the format. The meat of the book, however, is about the books. Each chapter presents a theme or genre: childhood (fictional or memoir), realistic fiction, superheroes, war, etc. The chapters are short, readable, and include double page spreads with illustration from particular titles as well as analysis from Gravett and suggestions of what to read next.

So why did I not finish it? A few niggling things here and there - chapter titles being a little obtuse, a list of 30 "best of" titles that would have better served me towards the end, the fact that so many great titles have come out in the last five years since the book has been published - little, personal, quirky things that maybe the author couldn't even help but added up in my reading experience. Primarily, however, I had issues with the "in focus" and "Following on from..." pages, the heart and soul of the book itself. I thought the inclusion of illustrations from the titles he was talking about was essential, and he did a great job of selecting titles that gave readers a glimpse of the diversity of styles available in graphic novels. Yet he sometimes includes pages far into a book, for example Maus I, so I would not recommend reading every word unless you're prepared for spoilers. The second issue I had was with the keywords he includes at the bottom of each "in focus" page. Again, great idea but poor execution. Suggesting further reading along thematic lines is great, and helps with bringing together titles that could have fit into more than one chapter, suggesting words such as "family secrets," "mothers," and "Jews," along with a single page number that brings you to the "in focus" page of another title. The order of the page numbers have no apparent rhyme or reason to them, however, so trying to follow a thematic element such as "Jews" will bring you from page 60 (Maus) to page 68 to page 63 to page 166 - and then I just stopped in frustration, as the book is much to large to be flipping back and forth and holding pages.

A decent reference tool, but not a book to read through. ( )

Essays on graphic novels and samples from selected titles plus thematic "read-alikes." Good overview of what was available five years ago, and the history of graphic literature. I'm a fan of visual literature -- just wish some of it would leave a little bit more to the imagination. ( )

I highly recommend this book as a reference and introduction to graphic novels.

It's an amazing introduction to the world of graphic novels. Each chapter is organized around a theme; 1-3 books are spotlighted and ~8 act have blurbs. The books spotlighted in each chapter can be considered classic graphic novels. ( )