In comics studies, sequential art is a term proposed by comics artist Will Eisner[Will Eisner, Comics and Sequential Art, Poorhouse Press, 1990 (1st ed.: 1985), p. 5.] to describe art forms that use deployed in a specific order for the purpose of graphic storytelling[Will Eisner, Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative, W. W. Norton, 2008 (1st. ed.: Poorhouse Press, 1996), "Introduction: Comics as a Medium".] (i.e., narration of graphic stories)[The term "graphic stories" is variously used as a synonym for either works of graphic literature (cf. Robert C. Harvey, The Art of the Comic Book: An Aesthetic History, University Press of Mississippi, 1996, p. 109; Robert G. Weiner (ed.), Graphic Novels and Comics in Libraries and Archives: Essays on Readers, Research, History and Cataloging, McFarland, 2010, p. 177) or graphic novels (cf. Robert S. Petersen, Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels: A History of Graphic Narratives, ABC-CLIO, 2011, p. 222); here the former meaning is intended.] or conveying information.[ The best-known example of sequential art is comics.][Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics, Harper Perennial, 1993, p. 5.]
Etymology
The term "sequential art" was coined in 1985 by comics artist Will Eisner in his book Comics and Sequential Art.[ Eisner analyzed this form into four elements: design, drawing, caricature, and writing.][
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Scott McCloud, another comics artist, elaborated the explanation further, in his books Understanding Comics (1993) and Reinventing Comics (2000). In Understanding Comics, he notes that the movie roll, before it is being projected, arguably could be seen as a very slow comic.["You might say that before it's projected, film is just a very very very very slow comic!"—Scott McCloud as quoted in Michael Cadden, Telling Children's Stories: Narrative Theory and Children's Literature, University of Nebraska Press, 2010, p. 149.]
Related terms include: visual narrative,[Will Eisner, Comics and Sequential Art, Poorhouse Press, 1990, p. 26.] graphic narrative,[Lan Dong (ed.), Teaching Comics and Graphic Narratives: Essays on Theory, Strategy and Practice, McFarland, 2012, p. v.] pictorial narrative,[Neil Cohn (ed.), The Visual Narrative Reader, Bloomsbury, 2016, p. 26.] picto-narrative,[Chris Mautner, " An Interview with Jessica Abel and Matt Madden", The Comics Journal, July 26, 2012.] sequential narrative,[Hannah Miodrag, Comics and Language: Reimagining Critical Discourse on the Form, University Press of Mississippi, 2013, p. 143.] sequential pictorial narrative,[Aaron Meskin and Roy T. Cook (eds.), The Art of Comics: A Philosophical Approach, Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, p. xxx.] sequential storytelling,[Carole Ann Moleti, "Graphic Literature: A Blend of Genre, Medium, and Form: An International Survey of Graphic Literature", The Internet Review of Science Fiction, June 2008.][Durwin S. Talon, Panel Discussions: Design in Sequential Art Storytelling, TwoMorrows Publishing, 2007, p. 102.] graphic fiction,[Ivan Brunetti, An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, & True Stories, Vol. 1, Yale University Press, 2006.] graphic literature,[A term first coined in Italian by Hugo Pratt as letteratura disegnata (see Gianni Brunoro, Corto come un romanzo nuovo. Illazioni su Corto Maltese ultimo eroe romantico, 2nd ed., Milan: Lizard, 2008, p. 225).][Andrew D. Arnold, "A Graphic Literature Library", Time, Nov. 21, 2003.][J. J. Llorence, "Exploring Graphic Literature as a Genre and its Place in Academic Curricula", McNair Scholars Journal 15(1), 2011.] pictorial literature,[Paul Young, Frank Miller's Daredevil and the Ends of Heroism, Rutgers University Press, 2016, p. 253 n. 7.] sequential literature,[Keith Dallas, American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1980s, TwoMorrows Publishing, 2013, p. 117.] and narrative illustration.[Shane McCausland and Yin Hwang (eds.), On Telling Images of China: Essays in Narrative Painting and Visual Culture, Hong Kong University Press, 2013, p. 23 n. 12.] The related term sequential sculpture has also been used.[Cf. Elaine H. Kim and Chungmoo Choi (eds.), Dangerous Women: Gender and Korean Nationalism, Routledge, 2012, p. 6: "Yong Min's ... visual essay, "Mother Load", features the bojagi wrapping cloth... The first two parts of this sequential sculpture refer to the past and present of ... Korea."]
See also
