A Few Words About the Mini-Series, Part 1

I had read somewhere (can't find it now, so perhaps I imagined this) that Watchmen was one of the first mini-series ever produced. This got me to hop up on my semantical, nit picky high horse.

First: It technically wasn't a mini-series. At 12 issues, it is a maxi-series.

Second: It wasn't one of the first, either. I believe that distinction belongs to Contest of Champions. And then, there were a few mini-series - Falcon, Hawkeye, Wolverine, Punisher, Magik, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Power Lords, Sword of the Atom, Elektra Assassin, Thriller and Dark Knight - just to name a few, that were out there before Watchmen.

In fact, I think that two other immensely popular 12-issue maxi-series may have preceded Watchmen. Namely, Crisis on Infinite Earths and Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars.

And even though I dispute the use of the term mini-series and the implied timeframe of Watchmen, it made me bristle even more every time that Watchmen was referred to as a graphic novel. It was not a graphic novel. It is, at most, a trade paperback. It can't be a graphic novel because it was published as 12 individial comic books.

I can't decide if the people who use the term 'graphic novel' use it (a) to make themselves seem knowledgeable on a topic that they may only have to write about once in a while - whenever a movie based on comic books comes out, or (b) to make themselves feel better about the fact that they read and enjoy comic books.

It's no secret what the perception is of folks who read comic books. There is no shortage of movies and TV shows that promote the timeless - and quite frankly, lazy, uninformed and unchanging - perception of comic book readers. Even mega sucessful movies like Dark Knight, Sin City and Spider-Man haven't changed this percetion.

But, please, do some research. Find out what a graphic novel is before you lump anything to do with comic books into the category. Just because it's a comic book, doesn't mean it's a graphic novel.

I can forgive the mini-series / maxi-series thing. After all, this is purely a semantical concern anyway, and only true fanboys (and I use this term with affection) would even bother to note the difference. Just as long as you know that Watchmen was not "one of the first" mini-series...that's good enough for me.