Status Updates From The Rise of the Graphic Nov...

In postwar America, society was changing as well. A new American subgroup, the "Teen-ager," was defined by the media and marketers when this term was coined in 1945. Segments of the entertainment industry, such as popular music, began to be produced for consumption by this newly defined group, those in the period between childhood and adulthood.

The first modern "graphic novel" was written and illustrated by veteran cartoonist Will Eisner, who coined the term while trying to persuade the editors at Bantam Books to publish the book-length comic book. Bantam declined, but the term stuck.

Marvel Comics, which had published superheroes under a variety of corporate names in the past, was one of DC Comics’s remaining competitors. Stan Lee, Marvel’s editor and head writer, decided to create a competing band of superheroes. Lee had been a comics writer for over 20 years, and wanted to write something more complex than simplistic children’s stories. 🕷