Litcomix : literary theory and the graphic novel In the old days there was a clear delineation between comics and high literature. Now the prospect has become a lot less unthinkable and perhaps indeed a pressing question. Can there be a theory of the graphic novel that is commensurate with literary theory This book answers with a resounding yes. First coined in 1964 by an early scholar of fandom Richard Kyle the graphic novel now has an undisputed place in literary culture receiving reviews in venerated journals such as the New York Review of Books. They are willing to publish comment and criticism in recognition of a serious endeavor and field of experience. It may still be uncomfortable for graphic novels to be inserted into academic curricula but less so for reasons that may have been when high art was far more easily separable from low. It may be because that there is still a dearth of material that offers a methodology for evaluative critical practice. This book joins the growing critical literature that have set about to address this. Using the methodology of Georg Lukács and his detailed defense of literary realism as a socially embedded practice this book examines the debates around the rise of comics and graphic novels then moves to a series of case studies that demonstrate the importance of graphic novels as vehicles of subjective expression and social critique