Comics and Novelization

Benoît Glaude is a researcher at Universiteit Gent and a visiting lecturer at Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium. He has published several books about French-speaking comics, including his PhD on comics dialogues (La Bande dialoguée, 2019), as well as a volume on novelization in children’s literature (Les Novellisations pour la jeunesse, coedited with Laurent Déom, 2020).

• Introduction. Comics-related novelsComics and literatureA novel perspective on comics and adaptationsComics novelization and the visual turn of literary writingTwo adaptation processes generating comics-related novelsTowards a literary history of bande dessinéeChapter 1. Textual margins of early comicsHow to verbalize a picture story?Close reading: Voyages and Adventures of Dr FestusCaptions rewritten as a bridge over redrawn illustrationsBig Little Books and the French book market: a missed rendezvousFrom captioned picture stories to serials-under-imagesMickey et Minnie, a precursor to the modern French junior novelizationChapter 2. Enunciative issues of comics verbalizationsThe literary adventures of TintinAn issue of enunciative responsibilityLiterary initiations to a visual universeClose reading: The Adventures of TintinWhen comics fans write literary panelsFrom ekphrasis to fanfiction Chapter 3. Why self-novelize a comic strip?The illusion of a deeper reading experienceComics artists and literary illustrationA logic of supplementClose reading: Acknowledgment of Murders, Ric Hochet’s First CaseFrom graphic to literary novelsA logic of substitutionChapter 4. The comics heroes’ childhood told to childrenHow to relate the past of comics heroesThe literary prequels of French comics charactersMultiple childhoods of a Belgian-Japanese comics heroineClose reading: The Froth of Dawn, the First Adventure of Yoko TsunoComics-related French junior novelizationsWhen a comics character writes his own autobiographyConclusion. Reading novels as comics novelizationsComics on the threshold of literary textsComics as a frame for multimodal storytellingComics in the factory of literary writingReading novels as comics scriptsReferencesComics-related fictionOther primary sourcesSecondary criticismIndex

"The relationship between comics and literature is not one-way traffic: literature is not only adapted in graphic novel format, it also owes a lot to the world of comics, appropriating its forms and themes in many ways. Relying on a strong theoretical framework and robust case studies, Benoît Glaude’s trail-blazing study discloses this less known but vital dimension of intermedial connections in modern transmedia culture."Jan Baetens, KULeuven, Belgium"The meticulous research and clever thinking shown in this new work represents some of the most influential scholarship in the last decade. Benoît Glaude is a scholar of the highest order and his nuanced treatment is rigorous and powerful."Hugo Frey, University of Chichester, UK"Up until now, novelizations had attracted little academic interest. Benoît Glaude’s compelling study shows the interest of looking into this little-known corpus of texts adapting comics into literature. Nourished by fascinating case studies, his book considerably renews our approach to transmedia cultures and opens up a field of primary importance in our understanding of the history of the ninth art."Sylvain Lesage, Université de Lille, France"This remarkable work of scholarship brings a new perspective and sharp analytical insights to the study of transmedia adaptation, while providing a master class in the close reading of some famous comics alongside the fascinating and little-known novels that they have engendered." Ann Miller, University of Leicester, UK