ABSTRACT
The term graphic novel is not easy to define. Not only is it difficult to distinguish between comics (→ III/26) and graphic novels in general, but the work published under the labels graphic novel or novela gráfica have variously been seen as exclusively a form of comic for adults; as an especially avant-garde or even postmodern form of expression (→ Modernism and Postmodernisms, II/15); and as a genre based on the number of pages and the richly ornamented material quality of the books in which they appear on book shelves and in libraries (Barrero 2000, 2012). Upon examination of the situation in Latin America, other problems further complicate any attempt at a definition. While their mainstream comics submarkets had been losing ground since at least the beginning of the 21st century, Latin American countries have seen a renaissance of the sequential art form with formats that focus on new themes and perspectives, are aimed at a new audience, and have been subsumed under the designation of graphic novel (García 2000, 2010). While this has been a general tendency throughout most of Latin America, the effects are idiosyncratic in each of the regions and nations, given the heterogeneity of cultures and historical contexts.
