DC’s Graphic Novels and William Gibson’s “Neuromancer” in 1985
These days, graphic novels are typically shelved with the sci-fi and fantasy books in physical bookstores. You walk in, find the sci-fi and fantasy section, and there’s often an entire display or wall loaded with graphic novels by Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, IDW, and others.
Thirty years ago, though, things were very different. And in this October 31, 1985 article from the Milwaukee Journal Mark Sabljak fills us in on how location could harm DC’s then-at-the-time graphic novel efforts. Remember, 1985 puts us before such genre-changing works as Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns* and Alan Moore’s Watchmen*. 1985 was a time when comics were shelved with magazines, and as this newspaper article shares DC had concerns about their placement in bookstores.
“The relationship between comics and science fiction hasn’t always been close in the United States. The DC line offers new hope that the two seemingly compatible forms can come together.”
Congratulations, DC! Three decades after this newspaper article ran I feel we can safely say the graphic novel is a success.
As an added bonus, the article offers an extra treat in the form of a quick paragraph discussing the success of William Gibson’s Neuromancer*. Again, you have to keep in mind that cyberpunk was extremely new in 1985, and the success of Gibson’s novel left a breadcrumb trail that fiction authors are still following three decades later.
That gives us two events that changed publishing right in one old newspaper article!
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