Graphic novels have exploded off bookstore shelves into movies, college courses, and theNew York Timesbook review, and comics historian and children's literature specialist Stephen Weiner explains the phenomenon in this groundbreaking book—the first history of graphic novels. From the agonizing Holocaust vision of Art Spiegelman'sMausto the teenage angst of Dan Clowes'sGhost World, this study enters the heart of the graphic novel revolution. The complete history of this popular format is explained, from the first modern, urban autobiographical graphic novel, Will Eisner'sA Contract with God, to the dark mysteries of Neil Gaiman'sSandman, the postmodern superheroics of Frank Miller'sBatman: The Dark Knight, and breakout books such as Alison Bechdel'sFun Homeand R. Crumb'sThe Book of Genesis. It's all here in this newly updated edition, which contains the must-reads, the milestones, the most recent...