"The Graphic Novel" the comic book for grown ups

Not sure if that's the right title for it, but that seems to be the sentiment I got from both the books we read as well as the stuff spoken about it.  

I'm not sure if I'd 100% agree on that, given that I don't feel like comics are "for kids" or "for adults"  but it's true back when graphic novel came out that was the way they sold it.  A longer, more mature story continued in a single novel in the style smilier to a comic book.  The word "mature"  comes to mind with especially Eisner's style in "Contact with God" and subject matter with Thompson's Blankets.   Again I feel like these two put together are a good started for what graphic novels would turn into later one.

You have the serious gritty dramas in both style and story that Eisner seems to be starting, maybe even some of the historical fiction added on it. This is seems later on as gritty does became more of the marketed term for comics.


Meanwhile Thompson's "Blankets' is always a "How to" on writing autobio comics that have become super popular in the last few years. Even down to the simple style matched with a lot of emotional storytelling along with the use of a lot figurative dreamlike images.  

They are both very different but give a lot the same ideas for continuing the ideas of comics could be.