Alright. Let me say this right now, and if you're offended by it, well, sorry.
Actually, no, I'm not sorry.
I HATE the phrase "Graphic Novel". It just sounds horribly pretentious to me. This is probably because I used it way back in the Early Days of Citrus! when I was young and stupid (it was 2006, I was like seventeen) and everyone said comic books were for kids. This was before I realized what I was making -- A fucking comic book, people! You wouldn't say "A superman graphic novel". That just sounds stupid.
As I got older and wiser I realized something: The only things that I saw around with the phrase "Graphic Novel" were... Well... Boring. Either that or impossibly professional and actually making money. And lets face it, I was a kid with a website. Hell, I still AM a kid with a website, albeit a kid finishing out his senior year of college and writing blogs as a reward for doing homework.
It's gotten to the point that I can't take the term "Graphic Novel" seriously. "Honey, are you reading those silly comics again instead of doing your homework?" "No mom, Geez, it's a Graphic Novel! Come on. It's Literature. See, look, it's a re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet."
... Yeah. It's kinda like that.
So while many of the things I'm working on could in all reality be considered a graphic novel, I just can't call them that. Well...
I suppose it comes down to this: "Graphic Novel" just seems to say "Stuffy, boring, and pretentious", while "Comic" says... Well, if not necessarily funny, then at least fun. There can be sorrow, danger, action, adventure (murdering bastards, soul-stealing, paranoia, homophobia, a whole host of other "Mature" themes) but... It's not... Taking itself too seriously. It doesn't think it's something it isn't.
In any case, I think I'll stop ranting on this now.
