Simply put, a Graphic Narrative is defined as “narrative work in the medium of comics”.[i] While the definition may seem simple at a glance, it is in fact complicated due to the definition of the word ‘comics’.

The association of the word ‘comics’ with the word ‘comic’ leads to confusion because it seems to suggest a genre, rather than a medium.[ii] To get a clearer understanding of the narrative form, it is important to look at the history behind the etymology of ‘comics’.

While it is not possible to pin-point the first appearance of comics (in the form we understand them today), it is widely accepted that Richard Outcault’s ‘Yellow Kid’ is among the major early influences of the medium.[iii] The ‘Yellow Kid’ was first published in The New York World in 1895 as part of the newspaper’s Sunday supplement. It was meant as a novelty and gimmick to increase readership. It was an instant success with the readers and went on to create a licensing record at the time by endorsing Chewing gum, Candy, Cookies, Games, Puzzles, Cigarettes, Soap, Bicycles, Highchairs and Whiskey.

The subsequent poaching of the Yellow Kid’s artist by rival newspaper The New York Journal led to both papers printing Yellow Kid comics simultaneously for a year while the courts decided on the issue of copyrights. The open rivalry between the newspapers was termed ‘yellow kid journalism’ and later gave rise to the concept of ‘Yellow Journalism’ as used in media today.

The success of the Yellow Kid led other newspapers to start printing cartoons as well. The most successful among them were characters like Popeye, Mutt & Jeff, Little Nemo in Slumberland, and Krazy Kat - all of which were in the genre of ‘humour’. This led to the medium being referred to as the ‘Funnies’ or ‘Comics’.

This confusion of a genre and a medium is largely restricted to the English language due to the misnomer. The French, for instance, refer to them as ‘bande desinee‘ - meaning ‘drawn strips’. It is important to note that the French definition makes no mention of genre whatsoever.

A number of artists and authors in the medium have tried to put forth a proper definition of ‘comics’. The most widely accepted one, currently, is by Scott McCloud who defines comics as “Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence intended to convey information and/or produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.” [1] [iv]

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[1] While this definition has been popularly accepted, it must be noted that McCloud’s Understanding Comics (where he proposed the definition) has come under criticism for being overtly polemic and the proposed definition an extension of Will Eisner’s concepts of sequential art.

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[i] Chute & DeKoven. An introduction. Modern Fiction Studies Journal, 2006.

[ii] Tim Martin. How Comic Books became part of the Literary Establishment. The Telegraph. 2 April 2009.

[iii] Douglas Wolk. Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What they Mean. 2008.

[iv] Scott McCloud. Understanding Comics. 1993.

Comics have fascinated readers for over a century now and it’s only in recent years that people have started recording its evolution. The events which make up the history of the comic book are at least as interesting as the medium itself.

Sequential Art itself has been in existence at least since 113 AD (as testified by the Trajans Column in Rome). And when Gutenberg invented the printing press (circa 1440), he gave birth to the Publishing industry. While the majority of those who embraced it with open arms were writers, a small number of artists also saw its potential. The Incanabula period saw printers hiring a great many artisans to make wood cuts of art for the presses. Erhard Schon was one such artisan whose work in broadsheets of the period spoofed current events - not unlike modern editorial cartoons. And even speech blurbs had been in use since Mayan times (600-900 CE).

However, it took over 400 years from that point to get to what we call the ‘modern comic strip’. In 1894, Richard Outcault, an artist with the New York World, drew four black and white Hogan’s Alley cartoons for Truth magazine. The cartoons consisted of only one panel, but were highly detailed sketches. The last of these cartoons, Fourth Ward Brownies, featured again in New York World in February 1895. A second Hogan’s Alley cartoon featured in April, and in May, the World carried the strip’s first colour print.

The success of Hogan’s Alley is attributed to its subject matter which dealt with class issues and racial tensions of urban New York. By the time the World started carrying the cartoon several times a week (at an undetermined frequency), one of the minor featuring characters, The Yellow Kid, took over the lead. With a bald head and a hand-me-down nightshirt, he was a mirror of New York’s ghetto-dwelling children who often shaved their heads to be rid of lice.

One measure of the Yellow Kid’s popularity at the time is the merchandizing it spurred. He appeared on everything from buttons to crackers to toys to matches to cigarettes and even whisky.

In 1896, William Randolph Hearst, the editor of the New York Journal, lured Outcault away from the World with a pay hike to do Yellow Kid cartoons for the Journal. Refusing to relent the property, Joseph Pulitzer, the World’s editor, hired another artist to continue the Yellow Kid cartoons while the two newspaper magnates fought for ownership rights. And for nearly a year, the Journal and the World both featured The Yellow Kid. The battles they fought in print came to be known as ‘Yellow Kid journalism’ which later gave rise to the term ‘yellow journalism’. The courts finally awarded Hogan’s Alley to the World and The Yellow Kid to Outcault.  

The success of the Yellow Kid was not lost on the rest of the country. Several newspapers started carrying their own cartoons like Clare Briggs’ A. Piker Clerk, though none was as successful at the Yellow Kid. In 1905, Henry “Bud” Fisher, a triple-treat cartoonist (handling theatre, sports & general news) with the San Francisco Chronicle started a series called A. Mutt which dealt with a chronic gambler’s fortunes at the race course. It was well received by the public and Fisher added another character to the strip called ‘Jeff’, renaming it Mutt & Jeff.

Once again, Hearst, who also controlled the San Francisco based Examiner, lured Fisher away. Before he left the Chronicle, though, Fisher managed to gain sole ownership of the strip. Hearst, who owned several newspapers in the US, started running Fisher’s strips across the country and Fisher eventually made so much money off the strip that he went on to own one of the largest racing stables in the US. 

And so began a literary revolution.