Rebirth of the comic form

The graphic novel has moved far beyond its superhero beginnings, says Don Mahony

AT a time when mainstream comics were dominated by fantasy worlds of superheroes, Art Spiegelman’s Maus showed that they were a suitable medium for portraying weighty themes such as the horror of the Holocaust while also telling a deeply personal story of the strained relationship between Spiegelman and his survivor father.

There have been some acclaimed memoirs since then, such as Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical account of life during the Islamic Revolution in Iran in Persepolis, Alison Blechdel’s Fun Home, David B’s Epileptic, David Small’s Stitches and Craig Thompson’s Blankets.