The graphic book’s comprehensive acceptance by the literary mainstream is one of the most startling publishing developments of recent years. Hailed as the bastard child of Peanuts, MAD magazine and comic artist Robert Crumb, the form has become for youth culture what the guitar was to the 60s: a pre-eminent means of counter-culture expression. In the wake of Art Spiegelman’s iconic 1986 graphic biography Maus – the true progenitor of the genre – has come a torrent of diverse publications, websites and periodicals feeding an ever-expanding audience. The Holocaust, childhood under the Ayatollahs, urban existentialism, suburban coming-of-age antics – the themes and geographies range as widely as the practitioners. Dylan Horrocks produced the first New Zealand graphic novel, Hicksville (1998), a beautifully crafted comic tour-de-force of suburban Kiwi life. Joe Sacco’s autobiographical reportage from Bosnia and Palestine has been credited with broadening the genre to incorporate political journalism. Joining the discussion is comic book artist, writer and Tintin specialist Tim Bollinger.

 

 

Concession Pass to 15 Writers Upfront sessions of your choice: $150 [FR $140]

 

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16 Mar, 12:30pm