The term 'graphic novel' was first coined in 1964, but it wouldn't be broadly used until the 1980s, when graphic novels such as Watchmen and Maus achieved commercial success and critical acclaim. Dreaming the Graphic Novel examines how notions of the graphic novel began to coalesce in the 1970s, a time of great change for American comics, with declining sales of mainstream periodicals, the arrival of specialty comics stores, and (at least initially) a thriving underground comix scene. Paul Williams investigates many texts that have fallen out of graphic novel history and demonstrates that what makes a text a 'graphic novel' was the subject of fierce debate among fans, creators, and publishers, inspiring arguments that are still taking place today. Date Available: 01/22/2020
