When did graphic novels graduate to being considered an art form and adult fare?
“That’s a fascinating question,” Rickey comments. “Cartoonist Lynda Barry argues that the onetime disdain for illustrated narratives comes from the perhaps unremembered feeling of “graduating” from books with pictures to books without pictures and that maybe now we’re restoring the balance.” Ringel says it was when they “found a firm footing in their cult status.” while Voynar mentions the “popularity of Japanese manga and anime and its increasing acceptance in Western culture.” Langfield claims that “These adaptations have always been around, albeit in “B” forums.” But once Tarantino scored with “Pulp Fiction,” it cleared the way for pulpier mainstream.” Emerick sets the transition during the mid-90s, but Johanson and McDonagh think it was earlier, with the work of Alan Moore (“Watchman”) and Neil Gaiman (“Sandman”), whose comics were literature. As McDonagh says, during the 80s, adults stopped being embarrassed to read comic books in public because a handful of writers started trying
