Most interesting to me, from Travis Walton's presentation, was the history of the graphic novel itself. I've been purchasing graphic novels and trade paperback collections for so long I began to forget the distinction between the two. Rather a graphic novel is a story in its own right, a comic book in long narrative form, not a collection of several issues under one cover.
I was surprised to lean the graphic novel was such a recent innovation, the first being published by the Godfather of graphic storytelling, Will Eisner, in 1978. More surprising still, and what I cannot believe I was unaware of, that many of the classic Marvel storylines I enjoyed growing up were graphic novels. I had retroactively, and subconsciously, begun to think of them as trades rather than true graphic novels. However, once Travis re-cemented the distinction in my mind it was fun to go back through my collection and firmly identify what was and was not an actual graphic novel.
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